Assault on Sust teachers a surreal experience: Zafar Iqbal
Eminent educationist Prof Muhammed Zafar Iqbal, who sat shell-shocked in the rain after students of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (Sust) assaulted their teachers, said that the incident was a surreal experience for him.
His comments on the August 30 incident at Sust came in the form of a writing on which he talked about the education minister, local Awami League leaders, the university administration, teachers and Chhatra League leaders.
The professor of Computer Science and Engineering in the essay explained that the teachers’ movement for the resignation of the vice-chancellor of Sust has been ongoing for the last four months. Regular classes and exams have been held in this period, he said.
He wrote how the Chhatra League activists’ physically assault on a group of his colleagues who were demonstrating against Vice Chancellor Aminul Haque Bhuiyan was a surreal incident.
He criticised the university administration and the vice-chancellor for standing by while a group of students assaulted the teachers.
“The university proctor, student welfare adviser and everyone else just stood silently and watched the incident happen. Numerous youths assaulted a group of few elderly teachers, including women,” he wrote.
Zafar Iqbal, also a popular children’s writer, expressed disappointment at the incident and repeated that those who used the students for their own ends should be punished.
He added that although no media was present during the assault, CCTV footage on the campus clearly shows what had happened that day.
On August 30, alleged activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League attacked the teachers’ demonstration at Sust.
Several teachers including Dr Yasmin Haque, wife of Professor Zafar Iqbal, is said to have been abused by the ruling Awami League’s student front.
The programme was part of a movement of a faction of teachers, demanding the resignation of the university’s Vice Chancellor Dr Aminul Haque Bhuiyan, reports our Moulvibazar correspondent.