BANGLADESH

The Vice-Chancellor of the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology on Tuesday approved the decision to resume classes from Saturday.

"The Deans' Committee members came to me with the new academic calendar to resume classes from Saturday. I'll give my permission," Professor S M Nazrul Islam told bdnews24.com .

The Committee devised a new academic calendar in Monday's meeting to end the deadlock at Bangladesh's premiere engineering university. At a media briefing following the meeting, the teachers said they had decided to return to classes.

The teachers had been demonstrating since April demanding ouster of the VC and the Pro-VC on corruption charges. Later students of the university joined them.

The demonstrating teachers and students abstained from classes and tests, pushing the university into turmoil.

Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid met the teachers in an apparent bid to resolve the crisis roiling the institution. After the meeting, the teachers announced to return to classes following Nahid's assurance to remove Pro-VC Prof Habibur Rahman and withdraw the cases.

The agitation at BUET gained pace as authorities filed two cases with the Shahbagh police on Sep 2 accusing around a hundred teachers and students of attacks on the offices of the VC and Pro-VC, vandalism, ransacking records and looting Tk 0.3 million.

The BUET authorities had filed applications to withdraw the cases on Sep 5 following the VC's order.

The government on Sunday removed Professor Habibur Rahman from the office of Pro-Vice Chancellor.

The move met one of the assurances the Education Minister had made to them to pull the top engineering university out of the turmoil.

In the wake of the joint movement, the authorities had advanced the Ramadan and Eid-ul-Fitr vacation by a month to close it on July 10 until Aug 24. The decision, however, failed to deter the protesters from going ahead with the movement.

The university resumed on Aug 25 but classes and examinations did not take place as the teachers and students pressed on with their protest.

Having already become a 'talk of the town' for his productions like Khoj-The Search and Most Welcome, actor M A Jalil Ananta has now become the 'voice' of student movement.

Demonstrating BUET students seeking ouster of their vice chancellor and pro-vice chancellor, laid siege to the VC residence with their placards with Jalil's taunting words.

The businessman turned actor, whose movies have become an unequivocal source of entertainment for cinemagoers, himself became a source of bemused discussion.

Reopening after a 44-day closure, the stalemate at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology persisted as teachers and students resumed their protests from Saturday refraining from classes.

Jalil Ananta had appeared on a talk show of Somoy Television where he recounted an anecdote with much gusto about how he had strived to dispel the common misconception about Bengali movie stars.

Conspicuous with his face-painted sideburns, Ananta said on the show – broadcast over the long Eid vacation – that he had been to a restaurant where a bunch of 'unsavoury' youths called out to their fellows that there was a Bengali movie star in the restaurant.

Jalil had taken serious exception and recounted how he had put them in their place.

The Dhallywood action movie star told the audience that he had instead, asked them, "(Are) you pom (from) Gana (Ghana)?", "You think Bangla chhobi (films) hero means they are uneducated?". He continued, "You are living in Bangladesh, ok, man, you have to respecting Bangladesh because you are eating food from Bangladesh."

On Saturday, the BUET students taunted their VC and Pro VC with the same questions. They laid the siege around 1pm and left the place two hours later with more demonstrations in the offing.

The video of that programme with Ananta's questions became an instant hit when it found its way to Youtube and Facebook.

The deadlock at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) has taken a new turn as a group of teachers, students and employees of the institution have emerged to support the beleaguered Vice-Chancellor and Pro-Vice Chancellor.

'BUET Teachers-Students-Officers-Employees Unity Forum' held a rally in front of the BUET Cafeteria on Saturday afternoon and told reporters that the teachers association's demands were irrational.

They also added a political flavour to the movement, claiming most of the teachers protesting against the VC were Jamaat-e-Islami aligned.

Professor Munaj Ahmed Noor, convenor of the newly-formed forum, said after the rally that the most of the 16-point demands put forth by the protesters had been met.

"Moreover, 10 of their demands are contrary to the interests of the officers and employees," he added.

Speakers at the rally urged the demonstrators to withdraw the movement and let a judicial commission investigate allegations against the VC.

BUET Deputy Registrar and Bangabandhu Parishad President Kamal Ahmed said, "Seeing the involvement of pro-Jamaat teachers among the demonstrators, I suspect that this is a deep conspiracy against the state, government and BUET."

Earlier in the morning, the demonstrating teachers and students vowed to continue their protests seeking removal of the VC and his deputy.

On the fourth day of the continuous protests, the agitating teachers and students brought out a silent procession from in front of the academic building and paraded across the campus and the Central Shaheed Minar.

The BUET Teachers Association General Secretary Professor Ashraful Islam administered an oath of the teachers and students. More than 200 teachers and students reportedly took part in the oath and vowed to continue with their demonstration until the VC and Pro-VC step down.

They have been staging sit-in protests in front of the academic building since last Wednesday demanding VC Prof SM Nazrul Islam and Pro VC Prof M Habibur Rahman's resignation.

The students have initiated a mass signature campaign in support of their demand. They said the collected signatures along with their demands would be handed over to the President Zillur Rahman, who is also the Chancellor of the university, on Sunday.

The opposition alliance can sit with the government if it agrees for a non-partisan poll-time government and if there is a clearly spelt out agenda, BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia has said.

"I want to tell the government that we want to discuss. But before that the government will have to make a clear and written announcement on non-partisan and impartial government," she said at the end of a mass hunger strike organised by the BNP-led alliance at Mahanagar Natya Mancha in Gulistan.

"We won't sit for any discussion without any agenda," she added.

The strike ended after Khaleda received sherbet from the daughter of missing party leader M Ilias Ali.

Khaleda's statement was aimed at clarifying her and her party's stance in response to various quarters calling the two parties across the table to settle their disputes.

The hunger strike programme was announced to demand release of BNP's missing leader M Ilias Ali, withdrawal of cases against BNP leaders and reinstatement of non-party caretaker government for overseeing the national election.

"No matter how many changes the government brings to the constitution, passes laws … no election will be held in this country under Awami League," Khaleda said.

"Now the government is luring the opposition saying that the president will oversee the election," she said.

"But we want to make it clear that this president is a partisan president. [No election] under his supervision will be accepted," she said.

"The government will have to either meet the demand of non-partisan government or step down," she added.

According to the latest constitutional amendment the ruling party brought last year, the next general election can be held under a partisan government as the non-party caretaker government provision has been scrapped.

BNP has been demanding cancellation of the amendment to reinstate the system of non-party caretaker government.

The European Union and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently urged the political leaders for sitting in a dialogue to settle the issues through discussion.

During her hour-long speech, Khaleda threatened to continue with movement if their demand of non-partisan government is not met by Jun 10. She also threatened of launching intensified agitation if arrested BNP leaders are not released from jail.

"We won't have any alternatives but to enforce countrywide general strike," Khaleda said. She also criticised police harassment of the family of Ilias Ali by setting up close circuit TV cameras at their house.

She once again blamed the government and the law enforcers for kidnapping Ilias Ali.

Regarding the killing of Sagar Sarwar and Meherun Runi, she said, "The journalists had learned a lot of information regarding corruption in the government. They would have disclosed those outside the country, had they survived."

"The government itself helped their killers escape. The law enforcing agencies are unable to capture the killers as they have already left the country," she added.

The opposition chief claimed that a relative of the prime minister and a member of the cabinet are directly involved in the alleged corruption in the Padma bridge project.

She claimed that many of the ruling party lawmakers are laundering money as they are preparing to flee the country in future.

Regarding the recent appointment of VC at JU, she said, "A partisan professor has been appointed from another university flouting rules."

Some BNP activists who had not been seen in active politics for quite a long time for their controversial role during the last caretaker government also participated in the hunger strike programme.

Family members of the arrested BNP leaders also joined the strike.