PM for prompt, proper action
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday asked the authorities concerned to take prompt and proper action against those unleashing violence at educational institutions irrespective of their political affiliations.
“Action must be taken promptly against those who commit this kind of acts,” Hasina told the Sylhet divisional commissioner and police commissioner through a video conference after a weekly cabinet meeting at the Secretariat.
“You are not supposed to see who belongs to which party,” Hasina, also president of the ruling Awami League, told them.
The PM's directive came four days after a deadly clash between two groups of Bangladesh Chhatra League, a pro-AL student wing, left BCL activist Suman Das dead at Shahjalal University of Science and Technology.
Meanwhile, BCL leader Husain Mohammad Sagar, who was hit by a bullet during the clash, emailed an open letter to the PM on Sunday night narrating his and other BCL men's plight after the clash.
Sagar, who is set to be the president of the proposed committee of Sylhet International University BCL unit, is undergoing treatment at a hospital while under arrest.
Expressing grief over his arrest, he mourned the loss of his comrade Suman Das.
Hearing that university's BCL unit vice president Anjan Das was under attack, he along with Suman and a few others went to the Shahjalal University campus that day, said Sagar.
He criticised BCL president Badiuzzaman Sohag for terming them outsiders and disowning them.
Sagar wrote that he got involved in BCL politics being inspired by his family members who cherish Awami League's ideology.
He requested the PM not to take away his identity as a BCL activist.
During the video conference, the PM referred to the murder of Rajshahi University Professor Shafiul Islam, and said such acts can be stopped if the culprits are arrested and prompt actions taken.
“We want you to take punitive measures without regard for anyone,” the premier told them.
At times, it is seen that non-students and outsiders, rather than students, are the ones who unleash violence at educational institutions, Hasina said.
She also held video conferences with administrative officials of Rajshahi, Moulvibazar and Pabna, and enquired them about law and order, health services, education and development activities.
Local representatives also took part in the video conferences, and discussed different issues with the PM.
Emerging from the cabinet meeting, Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan told reporters that the PM would hold at least two video conferences a month to communicate directly with field-level officials.
“Field-level officials can raise issues before the premier, and she will instruct them directly through the video conference,” he added.
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