5 university teachers held for 'questioning'

1) Saidur Rahman Khan, 2) Harun-or-Rashid, 3) Anwar Hossain, 4) Abdus Sobhan

Security personnel picked up five teachers--two at Dhaka University (DU) and three at Rajshahi University (RU)--in the early hours yesterday and took them to unspecified places for interrogation.
The joint forces hauled in Dhaka University Teachers Association (Duta) General Secretary Professor Anwar Hossain and Social Science Dean Prof Harun-or-Rashid at about 12:30am from their campus residences on the Fuller Road.
They also seized three computer CPUs and two mobile phones from the flats of the senior academics.
Meanwhile, plainclothes Rab men held former vice-chancellor of RU and a member of Awami League Advisory Council Prof Saidur Rahman Khan and Convenor of RU Progressive Teachers Society Abdus Sobhan at around 3:00am yesterday at their residences.
Moloy Kumar Bhowmik, a professor of management, too was seized at his sister's on the RU campus at about 5:30pm yesterday.
Mobile phones of all the three have also been seized.
The capture followed the last couple of days' student protests that prompted the military-backed interim administration to clamp an indefinite curfew on the capital and five other divisional headquarters Wednesday night.
Different political parties including Workers Party of Bangladesh, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD) and Samajtantrik Dal of Bangladesh (BSD), Bangladesh Chhatra Union (BCU) and Colonel Taher Sangsad yesterday strongly condemned the 'arrests' and demanded immediate release of the educators.
Family members of the detained teachers remained worried as they did not know as of filing this report at 10:00pm where their dear ones have been taken to.
Talking to The Daily Star, Anwar's wife Ayesha Akhter said some 12 men in plainclothes arrived at their flat on the Teachers' Tower at about 12:20am and kept ringing the door bell without a pause.
"As I opened the door, they identified themselves as members of the joint forces and asked, 'where is sir?'. When I said he was sleeping, they asked me to wake him up," said Ayesha.
Woken up, Prof Anwar asked them what brought them there so late at night. The security personnel replied that he would have to go to the Shahbagh Police Station as they have orders from the high-ups, she added.
"They said, 'Sir, you are a patriot and so are we. We are not the Pakistani army. We are Bangladeshi.' Then they asked him to get ready sharp," Ayesha said.
She said she could only manage to slip some medicine, food and clothes in her husband's bag.
Before stepping out, Anwar, brother of Colonel Taher, a gallant freedom fighter who was executed by a military tribunal in 1976, said this was not the first time he was being taken away by the security personnel. The same thing happened to him in 1975.
"I asked them [security men] when we could meet him [Anwar], they said they don't know," said Ayesha adding that the joint forces men however told her not to worry.
The family members were waiting at the Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court yesterday evening in hopes that Anwar, a biochemistry professor, might be taken there, family sources said.
Talking to The Daily Star at around 2:00pm, Prof Harun's son Ishtiaque Rashid said, "We are still in the dark about my father's whereabouts."
The only son of the social science dean said they hope wherever he is he is safe and would return home shortly and unscathed.
The DU acting VC had phoned him and gave assurance of taking necessary measurers. But nothing was done yet, he added.
Duta President Prof Sadrul Amin told The Daily Star that they are closely observing the situation but currently they have no plans for a meeting or a press statement demanding release of the detainees. He said he does not even know the details about the developments as he was not home Thursday night.
Our Rajshahi staff correspondent reports: Director of Rab-5 Lt Col Shamsuzzaman Khan yesterday told The Daily Star that Prof Saidur, Prof Sobhan and Prof Maloy have been detained for their alleged role in the student violence on the campus.
“They are being questioned, and we are yet to be sure of their involvement,” he said.
Prof Sobhan’s wife Monwara Sobhan said the Rab personnel came to their flat at the RU teachers’ quarters at around 2:45am and rang the bell repeatedly.
They asked Sobhan to come out at once, said Monwara adding that they had no contact with him since he was taken away.
Talking to the newsmen, Prof Saidur’s wife Qamrun Rahman said that Rab members in plain-clothes rapped on their door at Bihas Residential Area at around 3:00am. As Rahman opened the window, they asked him to come down for some talk.
"As he asked if they had any government order for his arrest, they replied they only wanted to talk to him," she said adding, "When he opened the door, they asked him to go with them. Then I asked where exactly they were taking him to, they said he would be back within half an hour."
The security personnel also raided several other teachers' Friday night.
Meanwhile, Rahman and Sobhan, an applied physics professor, were among those who under the banner of RU Progotishil Shikkhok Samaj issued a statement on Wednesday afternoon, blaming the daylong violence on Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing. They also demanded immediate removal of the incumbent RU administration for failing to ward off the incidents.
REACTIONS
In a statement yesterday, Workers Party President Rashed Khan Menon and General Secretary Bimol Biswas called on the caretaker government to release the teachers immediately.
JSD President Hasanul Haque Inu and General Secretary Syed Zafar Sajjad expressed concern at the 'arrest' of the senior academics.
Bangladesh Samajtantrik Dal Convener Khalequzzaman also demanded release of the teachers.
Colonel Taher Sangsad and Bangladesh Chhatra Union, the student wing of the Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB), also deplored the 'arrests'.
Taher Sangsad President Kamal Lohani and General Secretary Advocate Ruhul Kuddus Babu in a statement said taking the DU professors to unknown places instead of the concerned police station was a breach of law and their fundamental rights.