Teachers hold token hunger strike
Protest killings, rise of fundamentalist forces
DU Correspondent
The Federation of Bangladesh University Teachers' Associations yesterday observed a three-hour token hunger strike at the Central Shaheed Minar in the capital protesting the killing of prominent teachers, journalists and politicians through bomb and grenade attacks, rise of fundamentalist forces in the country, as well as irregularities, politicisation and nepotism in public universities. Around 50 teachers from different universities and colleges joined the hunger strike from 10:00am to 1:00pm. Leaders of different social and professional bodies came to the venue to express solidarity with the federation's programme. The federation alleged that the BNP-Jamaat-led alliance government is 'patronising' fundamentalist forces to stop free thinking in the country. Addressing a rally at the Shaheed Minar, leaders of the federation said important persons in different fields are being killed one after another but the government has yet to bring the killers to book. Fundamentalist forces are creating an unhealthy situation across the country in a planned way to serve the interest of their foreign mentors, they expressed. The federation leaders said fundamentalist forces grew in madrasas and their number is now increasing fast at the public universities, creating an alarming situation. Teachers allied to fundamentalist forces are being appointed at the universities to cripple free thinking, they said. President of the federation AAMS Arefin Siddique said injustice and corruption have gripped public universities. Arefin, also president of Dhaka University Teachers' Association (DUTA), called for united resistance to all irregularities at the universities. DUTA General Secretary Akhtaruzzaman demanded immediate arrest of fundamentalists who speak against women's organisations and NGOs. Justice KM Sobahan, president of Bangabandhu Parishad, Subrata Chowdhury of the Supreme Court Bar Association, Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury, president of the Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists, among others, expressed solidarity with the federation and also addressed the rally. Gazi Saleh Uddin, secretary general of the federation, conducted the rally. Participants in the hunger strike included former DU vice chancellor AK Azad Chowdhury, Prof Hamida Banu, Prof Khalekuzzaman, Prof Bashir Ahmed and Prof Kazi Faruk Ahmed. Meanwhile, Jatiya Shikhhak Samity Oikyo Jote yesterday formed a human chain in the city demanding that educational institutions be free from hartal and politics.
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