Diaz's mother stages hunger strike at CU

Mother of slain BCL leader Diaz Irfan Chowdhury staged a hunger strike on Chittagong University campus yesterday morning demanding immediate arrest and suspension of the alleged killers.

After a couple of failed attempts by the university administration and Diaz's friends to dissuade the bereaved woman and send her home, her daughter and other family members finally took her home in the afternoon.

With the names of BCL leaders, she accuses of killing her son, written on white shroud, Jaheda Amin Chowdhury sat at Bangabandhu Chattar around 10:30am.

Several university officials started trying to convince her to go home soon afterwards.

At one point, some nurses and doctors called in from the university medical centre forcefully picked her up and took her to the centre.

Acting Registrar Kamrul Huda told reporters that the woman was not well and needed medical attention.

“We are sending her home in an ambulance,” he added.

But the attempt failed as the woman forced her way out of the vehicle and walked to the Central Shaheed Minar on the campus to resume the demonstration.

Between sobs, she kept telling students and bystanders how her son was killed and there was no justice to till 3:00pm.

She then went back to Bangabandhu Chattar where Diaz's family members, friends and university officials again tried to send her home.

They picked her up and took her home. But the desperate mother came back and stood at the campus gate.

Her daughter and other family members finally took her home at 4:20pm, Diaz's sister Jobaida Sarwar said.

The body of Diaz, who was the assistant secretary of the central committee of Bangladesh Chhatra League, was found hanging at his home near Gate No-2 of CU on November 20 last year. His family members were not at home at the time.

A second autopsy on the body concluded that he was strangled to death.

The case is being investigated by the Criminal Investigation Department.

His family members said they were frustrated at lengthy investigation and alleged that police deliberately did not arrest the accused who roamed free on campus and sometimes threatened them.

“Diaz was murdered. But police are not arresting any of the accused,” his sister Jubaida, a lawyer, said.

Diaz was also known to be loyal to Chittagong City Corporation Mayor AJM Nasir Uddin. Most of the BCL men accused in the case are also loyal to the mayor.

After his death, the first autopsy at Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH) concluded that he died by suicide.

But family members and fellow leaders said he was murdered by rival BCL group over tender manipulation.

Rejecting the post mortem report, his mother lodged a complaint with a Chittagong court accusing 10 people, including nine BCL men and a sociology teacher at CU on November 24, 2016, of murder.

The court ordered Chittagong CID to investigate the case.

A second autopsy report published by Dhaka Medical College Hospital on July 30, this year, concluded that Diaz was strangled to death.

A court on August 7 asked the CID to prevent the accused from leaving the country.