Release of five university teachers demanded

Several socio-political and cultural organisations yesterday condemned the arrest of five teachers of Dhaka and Rajshahi universities and demanded their immediate release.
The South Asian People's Union against Fundamentalism and Communalism made the demand in a statement signed by its President National Professor Kabir Chowdhury, Justice KM Sobhan, human rights activist Hena Das, Prof Borhanuddin Khan Jahangir, Prof Ajay Roy and writer and columnist Shahriar Kabir.
They also condemned the harassment of journalists during the curfew period.
They criticised the government for arresting the academics without any warrants and for not producing them before the court even 30 hours after their arrest.
The rights activists also criticised the government for its treatment of journalists and teachers, comparing the present government's action to that of the BNP-led four-party alliance government.
In another statement, The Edu-Rights and Peace, a human rights organisation of Rajshahi University (RU) students, urged the caretaker government to release the teachers and grant amnesty for general students who violated the state of emergency and staged demonstrations on the RU campus.
They also called for a tripartite meeting between the RU authorities, students and the caretaker government to restore congenial atmosphere on the campus.
Bangladesh Muktojuddha Nou Commando Association Chairman Md Shahjahan Kabir Bir Pratik and Secretary General Md Khalilur Rahman in a statement demanded immediate release of the teachers and condemned the attacks on students.
Condemning the arrest of teachers, Dilip Barua, general secretary of Bangladesh Samyabadi Dal, said the filing of cases in a bid to harass the students and teachers would only worsen the situation.
Bangladesh Group Theatre Federation denounced the arrest of Prof Moloy Kumar Bhowmik who is a dramatist and director. The Federation also urged the government to release him immediately.
Expressing the hope that the caretaker government would seek a peaceful solution to this crisis, Bangladesh Chhatra Moitree said, "We urge the government to stop harassing the teachers and release them immediately."
Dhaka University teachers not only supported all the democratic movements since the language movement in 1952 but also took part in those movements, it observed.
Chhatra Sangram Parishad also condemned the attack on students.