December 12, 2007 In an educationally impoverished country such as ours, the teachers, especially the university teachers, are the embodiment of public intellectualism, and the way they have been treated is not only an indictment of a few individuals but also a serious affront to the very concept of public intellectualism. Also, we have maintained all along that, as custodians of the space for freethinking, which a university, for that matter any educational institution, is, they have done what they are expected to do – voice opposition to an indefinite suspension of the people's democratic right to freedom of expression, thought and conscience under the state of emergency and stand by their students in the face of an onslaught from truncheon-wielding, teargas-lobbing and rubber bullet-spraying law-enforcement and security forces. The attempt to brand them as criminals for doing what they are morally obliged to do is itself no less criminal. It looks increasingly likely that the government will take a similar course of action vis-à-vis the detained teachers and students of Dhaka University. Charges were pressed against the detained teachers and students on Tuesday and we are afraid that they may also be tried and convicted in similar haste so that the government's take on the August 20-22 holds. The Dhaka University Teachers' Association has deferred its programme in the expectation that the detained teachers and students will be released unconditionally and the charges against them dropped. However, the government appears intent on having them prosecuted and convicted as charged and even ready to manipulate the justice delivery system – from investigation to conviction – to implement its design. Such a blatant and essential disregard for public intellectualism, freethinking and dignity of teachers are bound to stir resentment and there are signs that it already has. I ask your reputable organization to intervene in order to safeguard and protect human rights activists such as members of the University of Dhaka. I ask for your understanding and action to protect teachers, students and their families and their legitimate defence for the basic and fundamental rights in Bangladesh.
London
WC1X 0DW, UK
Teachers in Bangladesh have traditionally been the recipient of respect and honour in society because of the invaluable contributions they make to the education of the young. In these past many months, the manner in which some of these teachers, all honoured for the degree of wisdom they have displayed in imparting education to their pupils, have been treated has left the nation worried. That worry can only be rolled back through all of us, in every stratum of society, making sure that dignity and respect are restored to our teachers. At the same time, we expect that with the freeing of the teachers and the students, a proper, peaceful academic atmosphere will return to universities all over the country. Our teachers and our universities are our pride, for patently historical reasons. Which is why we hope that such conditions as those that have seen some of them subjected to the humiliation of detention will not recur.
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