Shibir wants to spread wings over DU
Having established dominance in some major public universities and educational institutions across the country, Jamaat-e-Islami's student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS) is now contemplating to expand their activities on the Dhaka University (DU) campus with more vigour.
Its immediate past president Nurul Islam Bulbul said they would start holding processions and rallies on the campus in favour of party programmes to strengthen the organisation's position.
The ICS insiders said its high-ups are considering holding a rally on January 17 to wish luck to the admission seekers to the university. DU admission tests begin on January 17. It is customary of student bodies to bring out processions and hold rallies marking the occasion to woo students.
The former president claimed the ICS has officially requested the DU authorities to let them participate in meetings of the Paribesh Parishad, a forum of all student organisations active on Dhaka University campus. The DU authorities denied having received any such request from the ICS.
In the past, members of the Paribesh Parishad did not allow the ICS to join the forum for what they said its pursuing communal politics and its role (then Islami Chhatra Sangha) in the killing of intellectuals during the War of Liberation. A large number of the intellectuals killed at that time were of Dhaka University. The ICS was floated in 1977.
It has also established dominance in Rajshahi University, Chittagong University, the Islamic University, Kushtia, and the Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST) in Sylhet. ICS did not pursue its activities in public until recently at Dhaka University fearing backlash from general students.
ICS has boasts 2,500 members at the DU and of them, about 1,000 are residing in different residential halls, according to its leaders.
Besides, the ICS has some dozens of residential houses around the campus from where they pursue 'covert politics' at Dhaka University. They also conducted political activities from the Kataban Mosque which was built illegally on the DU campus.
Replying to a query about ICS-sponsored violence in some educational institutions, Nurul Islam Bulbul said, "If anyone loses their eyes with the scratch of our hands we have nothing to do". "We do this only when our back is against the wall."
He said there could be no meeting of the Paribesh Parishad leaving the ICS out as the four-party alliance government is in power.
However, various student organisations have protested the ICS demand to sit in the Paribesh Parishad meeting.
Talking to The Daily Star, leader of the ruling BNP's student wing Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal Shafiul Bari Babu said the ICS demand was 'irrational' as it is not active on the DU campus.
President of the Bangladesh Chhatra Union (BCU) Sharifuz-zaman Sharif said there is no room at Dhaka University for any communal organisation.
General Secretary of the DU unit of the Awami League's student front Bangladesh Chhatra League Hemayet Uddin Himu also vowed to resist any ICS move on the campus.
Meanwhile, a group of about 60 ICS leaders including central and DU unit office bearers recently met the vice-chancellor (VC).
DU observers believe the meeting was part of the ICS' current policy to expand its activities on the campus. Sources said the ICS leaders sought cooperation of the DU VC so that they could start their activities with full vigour.
Professor SMA Fayez told The Daily Star that the ICS leaders came to greet him on his becoming the vice-chancellor of the university like other student organisations. He also denied having discussed the politics of the ICS on the campus.
The ICS contested in the last Dhaka University Central Students Union (DUCSU) elections in 1990. It was their last and only open activity on the campus, said a teacher of the university on condition of anonymity. "The All-Party Students' Unity ousted the ICS leaders and activists from the campus at the time when they tried to take out a procession in favour of the ICS candidates in the DUCSU."
Campus observers said after the October 1, 2001 elections, which the AL lost, the JCD took over the residential halls as the BCL left those. At the time, large numbers of ICS activists entered the residential halls in the guise of the JCD men. Afterwards, they pursued their politics more vigorously than ever before.
A top JCD leader said, "The ICS is emerging stronger in the educational institutions including Dhaka University, mainly capitalising on the BNP's alliance with Jamaat,"
The ICS had banners hung on the campus in December 2001 and January last year welcoming admission seekers. However, left-leaning student wings torched the banners with the passive support of most JCD men.
It was not long ago when the JCD was engaged in intense rivalry with the ICS, which unleashed a series of attacks on the activists of the former in different educational institutions, particularly at Rajshahi University and Chittagong University in the 1990s.
But the JCD leaders now say they are left with no choice but to maintain 'friendly ties' with their former foes due to the alliance of the BNP with Jamaat.
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