A series of infighting between two factions of the ruling party’s student organisation, Bangladesh Chhatra League, threw Chittagong University into chaos on Sunday, leaving several injured.
The clash and a subsequent attack on a journalist by a BCL faction for writing a report on it prompted BCL leadership to dissolve its CU unit, raising tension on the campus.
The latest clash between two BCL groups broke out on Thursday and continued sporadically until Sunday afternoon.
On Sunday afternoon, law enforcement agencies raided Sahid Abdur Rabab Hall and recovered sharp weapons following a fresh clash between two BCL factions, respectively led by BCL CU unit president Rezaul Hoque Rubel and general secretary Iqbal Hossain Tipu.
The BCL activists targeted and carried out attacks on Musharraf Shah, the CU correspondent of Prothom Alo, near the Arts Faculty on the campus at about 11:00am on Sunday after he wrote a news story exposing the identities of BCL activists seen clashing with sharp weapons on Thursday.
Plainclothes people on duty on the campus rescued the reporter and rushed him to the medical centre while the rival BCL groups continued clashing. Musharraf bore marks of injuries on his face, hands, and other parts of his body, witnesses said.
According to Musharraf, while he was beaten, the attackers questioned him about his reporting and threatened him not to write on BCL, who often lock into clashes on campus over establishing supremacy.
Musharraf said that he was attacked while he was on his way to the vice-chancellor’s office to collect information and to take a comment regarding the clash, vandalism, and the beating of the university’s chief engineer by BCL activists on Saturday.
The university’s acting registrar, KM Noor Ahmad, said that no one had been arrested yet in this connection.
He said that in order to keep the atmosphere of the university stable, non- students and outsiders, especially students before the academic year 2014–15, had been asked to leave the halls.
Strict action will be taken if they do not leave the hall by 6:00pm on Monday, he added.
The BCL central committee, in a statement signed by BCL president Saddam Hossain and general secretary Sheikh Wali Asif Inan on Sunday, dissolved the campus unit.
A four-member investigation committee, headed by Professor Mohammad Danesh of the forestry department, was set up to probe into the attack on journalist Musharraf.
The committee was asked to submit its report within five working days.
On the campus, BCL activists have made headlines several times in the recent past for their clashes on the campus over establishing supremacy and sexual harassment against female students.
On June 1, at least 10 people, including the Chittagong University proctor and a police inspector, were injured as two groups of the BCL CU unit clashed.
In the latest, the attackers, who are known as the CFC (Choose Friends with Care) group, led by BCL’s CU-unit president Rezaul Haque, wanted to know why he had written reports about BCL before, said journalist Musharraf, a fourth-year student of the Department of Communication and Journalism.
The injured journalist said that he would decide whether to take legal action or not after receiving treatment.
While denying his involvement in the attack, the BCL’s CU-unit president Rezaul Haque, said that necessary action would be taken against the attackers.
Chattogram district police superintendent SM Shafiullah said that the process of arresting the perpetrators was underway.
University proctor Mohammad Nurul Azim Sikder said those involved in this incident would be identified and punished.
Journalists alleged that they had been subjected to multiple attacks on the CU campus recently by BCL members.
On June 19, a journalist named Deen Mohammad was injured in an attack on the CU campus, allegedly by BCL members.
A journalist was allegedly beaten up by members of a BCL faction of the Chattogram University unit for not attending the birthday party of one of its members on September 26, 2022.
The victim, Ridwan Ahmed, a second-year student in the Arabic department of the university, was the campus correspondent of Dhaka Mail, an online news portal.
Mahbub A Rahman, president of the CU Journalists Association, said that despite repeated incidents of attacks on CU campus journalists, the administration had not taken effective measures.
He demanded that those involved in Sunday’s incident be permanently expelled from the university and arrested as soon as possible. source : new age
