Judicial probe body wants to talk to 2 detained DU teachers

The one-member judicial probe commission of Justice Habibur Rahman Khan is to ask authorities concerned to produce the two detained Dhaka University (DU) professors before it to record their accounts of the recent student violence on DU campus.
"I would ask authorities to produce them [the detained professors] before the commission," said Justice Habibur Rahman Khan while talking to journalists at his Central Circuit House office yesterday.
The teachers are Prof Anwar Hossain, dean of Life Science faculty and general secretary of Dhaka University Teachers Association (Duta) and Prof Harun-or-Rashid, dean of Social Science faculty.
Prof Nazmul Ahsan Kalimullah, chairman of the department of public administration at DU, gave his account of the recent DU incident before the commission around 4:45pm yesterday, the commission's first working day. Prof Kalimullah was the first person to give statement to the commission after it formally started its work at 11:00am yesterday.
To a private television channel yesterday Prof Kalimullah said he gave the commission a detailed account of the events he observed.
The probe commission, formed to investigate the recent violence on DU campus, was given a 15-day timeframe to submit its report.
Justice Habibur Rahman said the commission would submit its report on why the incidents occurred and who were the people involved.
If the commission finds that the DU incident spilled over into the capital, those incidents would also be reported in the commission's report, he said.
"We are also thinking about investigating the incidents that occurred in Rajshahi University bringing those within the purview of this commission," he added.
The commission would take into account statements of students, army personnel involved and a number of DU teachers.
Asked how does he expect to get students' accounts when law enforcers are trying to identify students from video footages and sue them, and when the dormitories have been vacated, the Justice said he is also concerned about this problem.
Justice Rahman said the commission would ask the government to ensure security of the students who would give their accounts before the commission.
He suggested that if the commission did not get a satisfactory number of students' accounts, the tenure of the commission could be extended. When the university activities resume, students would certainly be available for having their accounts recorded before the commission, he said.
In order to record accounts, the commission prepared a 20-question questionnaire on the violence. People interested in giving their accounts can get the questionnaire from the commission's office and send their replies to the commission via mail, said Khurshid Alam, deputy secretary of the home ministry, now attached to the commission.