In the GD, Hasan said Islami Chhatra Shibir, student wing of the ruling Jamaat-e-Islami, under the banner of Sachetan Chhatra Samaj staged demonstration on RU campus and threatened to kill him.

"My family and I feel insecure under the present circumstances. I urge you [police] to take necessary actions," Prof Hasan said in the GD.

Different political, cultural and social bodies in Rajshahi condemned the Shibir threat on Hasan and on Muhammad Zafar Iqbal of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet.

Several hundred teachers, students, cultural activists, students' organisation leaders and journalists of RU and Rajshahi city took part in a procession which was brought out to protest the threat. The procession paraded the streets of RU campus.

Progressive Teachers Society of RU will bring out a procession today and hold meeting on the campus.

They said the fundamentalist forces have made a 'blueprint' to suppress the secular movement and kill democratic intellectuals, progressive politicians and the litterateurs one by one.

They demanded immediate arrest and exemplary punishment of the Shibir activities and measures to ensure security of the teachers. They also blamed RU authorities for patronising Shibir.

Sammilito Sangskritik Jote, Bangladesh Chhatra League, Bangabandhu Parishad Sangskritik Jote, RU Theatre and Onirban Drama Group also staged similar protest rallies.

Shibir activists of RU threatened Hasan for his speech on secularism. They labelled the eminent litterateur as 'an atheist and enemy of Islam' and declared him persona non grata on the campus. They also burned his effigy.