Students call off hunger strike
Students of Dhaka University ended their hunger strike yesterday as the Election Commission deferred the date of Dhaka north and south city corporation elections to February 1.
They brought out a procession on the campus celebrating the occasion and thanked the EC for its decision, reports our DU correspondent.
The demonstrators had started the hunger strike on Thursday, demanding rescheduling of the polls which coincided with Saraswati Puja on January 30.
On the last day of their event held at the base of Raju memorial sculpture, three DU students fell sick. With them, a total of 13 students faced similar fate while observing the hunger strike.
Jagannath Hall Union Vice-President Utpal Biswas said one of the three students were admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) while the rest were given first aid.
Of them, a student named Ovi Das Pritom was taken to DMCH around 11:30am yesterday.
The other two -- Tanvir Hasan Saikat, member of Dhaka University Central Students’ Union (Ducsu), and Dipto Saha, joint secretary of DU unit of Bangladesh Chhatra League -- were administered intravenous saline in the morning.
“Most of the students, who had been observing the strike since the beginning, fell sick. They should be taken to hospitals,” Utpal told The Daily Star.
Earlier students had said until the EC deferred the polls date, they would not take treatment.
Arnab Hore, who fell sick during the strike, had said, “If needed, the strike will continue till the day of the polls.”
Five DU teachers -- Jagannath Hall provost Prof Mihir Lal Saha, Gobinda Mandal of law department, Nepal Chandra Roy of mathematics department, Dr Mukul Kumar Baroi of sculpture department, and Prof AKM Jamal Uddin of sociology department -- had visited the protesters and expressed solidarity with them.
On Friday, a total of 10 students, including Jagannath Hall union General Secretary Kajal Das, Social Welfare Secretary Pradip Das, and general students Apurbo Chakrabarty and Arka Saha fell sick.
Students ended the hunger strike after the EC had agreed to shift the polls date to February 1, they said.
PROTESTS AT JU
In Jahangirnagar University (JU), a section of students formed a human chain on the campus yesterday to press home the same demand, reports our JU correspondent.
Under the banner of “Shachetan Shikkharthibrindo of Jahangirnagar University”, they formed the human chain in front of JU Central Library around 11am.
Criticising the Election Commission, speakers said despite being a constitutional institution, the EC violated the basic rights of people guaranteed by the constitution by announcing the city polls that coincided with Saraswati Puja.
A number of Bangladesh Chhatra League’s JU unit members also joined the programme.
JU BCL organising secretary Pankaj Das said, “We think it’s a conspiracy plotted to rupture communal harmony.”
Over 100 students from different departments took part in the event. They had also threatened to go for tougher programmes, if their demand was not met.
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