Violent campus in Bangladesh
Since Awami League led 'Grand Alliance' government came in power in January 2009, most of the campuses in the country turned terribly violent, mostly by the ruling party student wing.
But, the latest episode of such anarchism took place at Rajshahi University [situated at southern part of Bangladesh], where student wings of the ruling party and Jamaat-e-Islami entered into severe clash, where police mostly remained silent. During this incident, a ruling party student activist named Faruk Husain was brutally murdered on February 8, 2010.
According to reports, the clash between the student's wings started when ruling party activists tried to grab most of the residential seats in the dormitories at Rajshahi University. Earlier, when Awami League formed government in 2009, Bangladesh Chhatra League [name of the ruling party's student front] activists went into massive rampage and terror in almost all the educational institutions with the goal of grabbing majority of the dormitories as well driving out opposition student activists from the campus.
Such violence by the ruling party student activists continued for months despite repeated warnings by the Prime Minister, who chairs the student wing of her party.
At Rajshahi University, since 1982, twenty-four students belonging to various political groups were killed in campus violence. Out of this figure, 16 students were from Jamaat-e-Islami's student wing named Chhatra Shibir [Student's Camp], 5 were from Bangladesh Chhatra League and rest were from Bangladesh Nationalist Party's student wing named Chhatra Dal and other small left wing student fronts.
Commenting on the latest violence at Rajshahi University, minister of local government and general secretary of the ruling party, Syed Ashraful Islam told reporters that, a large number of Chhatra Shibir [student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami] activists have already infiltrated in ruling party's student front and several important posts in ruling party's student front are held by these elements.
He said, these infiltrated Chhatra Shibir activists are behind campus violence in the country under the banner of the ruling party's student wing.
When reporters asked, why the government or ruling party did not take any action, when they were sure of such infiltration of Jamaat-e-Islami student activists inside the ruling party's Chhatra League, the general secretary of Bangladesh Awami League said, they came to know this matter just recently and proper action would be taken soon.
Syed Ashraf said terrorism and hooliganism in the name of student politics shall not be tolerated. When he was reminded that, similar warnings were uttered by him, his cabinet colleagues, party seniors as well the Prime Minister during past one year and their student wing activists did not pay nominal heed to it, the general secretary of the ruling party in an embarrassed voice said, "we shall do our best to bring this matter under control."
When the ruling party's general secretary was speaking to reporters regarding violence at Rajshahi University on Monday [February 8, 2010], members of his own party's student wing were engaged in serious violence at Dhaka College where more than 20 students were injured.
The clash took place between four factions of the ruling party's student wing inside Dhaka College. Members of law enforcing agencies did not take any initiative in bringing the situation under control, as the clash was within the ruling party men.
It is alleged that, most of the student leaders and activists of any ruling party in Dhaka College campus, always gets into various forms of crime, including massive extortion. Students compel the business establishments and traders in the locality of paying extortion on a regular basis. Every month, a few million Takas is collected from extortion by students of Dhaka College.
Student politics unfortunately has gone into grips of hooligans, thugs and professional criminals. In Bangladesh, the top-rated culprit in student politics can only attain a better position in any party's student wing. Some of the leaders of the political partyies consider such elements as a kind of 'might' in facing political opponents. There are even allegations that, leaders of large political parties in the country regularly use such 'mighty forces' within their student wings in various forms of political violence, especially during anti government movements.
In the history of Bangladesh, records of campus violence mostly by the ruling party activists crossed all previous records. The government has completely failed to address this issue. It became very clear, when the general secretary of the ruling party and local government minister Syed Ashraful Islam while endorsing such limitless violence, finally came up with the theory that such misdoings were by infiltrated Islamist students inside the student wing of the ruling party. If the minister's statement is taken as authentic and prolific, then we can surely assume that, Islamists are already at the control of the ruling party's student wing. In this case, should we rise eyebrows to question Syed Ashraful Islam to let us know, how many Islamists have also infiltrated inside Awami League? Are you gradually going inside the tight grips of Islamists?
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