Bid on to capture DU halls ahead of power handover

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Tension has been mounting among the student wings of political organisations in Dhaka University (DU) over taking control of the campus as well as residential dormitories as the BNP-Jamaat led coalition government is scheduled to hand over power to a caretaker government next week.
The DU authorities recently have taken special preventive measures on the campus and had talks with the law enforcement agencies in anticipation of violence in the university prior to the national election.

DU Assistant Proctor Mohammad Siddiqur Rahman Khan said the university authorities are keeping a close eye on the student politics and the national politics, especially, the reform talks. The authorities are determined and making preparations to maintain stability and security on campus at any cost.

The authorities have so far placed additional police at the dorm entrances and the Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) will also be deployed in a day or two as part of the preventive measures, Rahman added.

They are also thinking of deploying armed Asnars inside the residential area of the university after the recent murder of Prof Aftab Ahmed on the campus, he said.

However, a number of concerned teachers and students termed the steps insufficient and they reasoned that haphazard and random steps would not ensure security. They emphasised a full-fledged security system under the supervision of the university authorities.

Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD), the student wing of BNP, and Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL), student wing of main opposition Awami League (AL), are practically on a head-on collision course and they are believed to face-off the very moment the caretaker government takes over.

Both organisations are sneaking in and piling up weapons in dorms to have an upper hand in the fight for control of the dorms, a number of leaders from both organisations admitted.

The JCD high-ups directed its leaders at the residential dormitories not to leave the “stations” during the Eid vacation as “BCL may attempt to take over the dormitories” and to make sure the control of the dorms remains under JCD as it had been ever since the alliance government came to power in 2001, sources in JCD said.

On the other hand, BCL sources said it is preparing for taking control of at least two dormitories that are known to be BCL strongholds — Jagannath Hall and Sergeant Zohurul Haq Hall.

JSD Chhatra League is also believed to be preparing to take over Shahidullah Hall.

Alongside JCD and BCL, their mutinous factions are equally on the go for establishing supremacy.

Clashes may erupt during the period of caretaker government at Jagannath Hall among three rivals — JCD and BCL, led by the central president and general secretary, and a mutinous faction of BCL. The rebel BCL faction was not awarded as many posts as they demanded on the central or the DU committee and the posts they were given were not satisfactory either.

The mutinous BCL faction might attempt to take over a dorm or two and if they succeed, they are likely to demand more posts of their choice from the party high-ups, a BCL leader said.

Meanwhile, factional feud in JCD has been escalating at the eleventh hour of the coalition government’s tenure.

On last Monday, two shots were fired inside Salimullah Hall over a feud between two factions of JCD.

Shafiul Bari Babu, JCD general secretary, said they did not instruct the dorm level leaders to stay at the dorms during the Eid vacation, but only asked them to return to campus as early as possible after Eid.

He denied any allegation of his organisation sneaking arms into the dorms and said JCD is not worried about BCL because BCL is not strong enough organisationally to fight JCD.

BCL President Mahmud Hasan Ripon also denied the same allegations and said, “We urged the university authorities to ensure co-existence on the campus as well as in the dorms.”

“If JCD tries to execute any plot against us, we will fight them politically,” Ripon added.

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