Shibir men run amok in Carmichael College

Rangpur Carmichael College was closed indefinitely yesterday as Islami Chhatra Shibir activists rampaged through the campus, torched the house of a teacher and a power substation, ransacked the college principal's house and vandalised several motor vehicles.
The Shibir workers roamed around the campus for nearly five hours since 10:00 in the morning and set fire to the house of Dr Hafizur Rahman, a professor of Mathematics and secretary of academic council of the college. They also ransacked the house of Dip Chandra Roy, the principal of the college, and vandalised his car.
The mob vandalised at least ten automobiles and set a power substation on fire. They also ransacked the academic building, damaged the furniture in it and destroyed official records of the college.
At around 3:00 pm in an emergency meeting presided over by Principal Dip Chandra Roy, the academic council of the college decided to suspend all classes of the college sine die and vacate all dormitories.
At the meeting, a number of teachers complained that a few teachers of the college have been aiding and abetting Shibir violence on the campus, said sources.
Principal Roy told The Daily Star, "Such violence on the campus is unprecedented and incidents of this sort did not take place here even during the Liberation War."
Male residents of the dormitories have been asked to leave the campus by 6:00pm yesterday while females by 8:00pm the same day, he added.
According to eyewitnesses, several hundred rioting Shibir activists led by Emdad, Abdullah Al Mamun, Rezaul Karim Rana and Mohammad Tareque brought out a procession on the campus, demanding that Rangpur Carmichael College be upgraded to university.
Police intercepted the procession at Lalbagh as it came out of the campus and headed towards the office of the deputy commissioner. The activists at this point locked in a clash with the police, injuring six police personnel including Additional Superintendent of Police Asaduzzaman and SI Saidul Islam, and four pedestrians.
Police lobbed ten rounds of tear shells near Modern point to disperse the agitators.
The police later raided the dormitories of the college and arrested at least 60 students -- most of whom were activists of Islami Chhatra Shibir.
Five cases were filed against the agitators under Emergency Power Rules.
Expressing his resentment over the violence on the campus, Dr Rezaul Hoque, former principal of Rangpur Carmichael College, said, "The people of Rangpur want an autonomous and full-fledged university. They don't want Carmichael College to be upgraded to university.”