Death of Diaz: CU classes hampered in face of strike
Classes at Chittagong University are being hampered today following a strike enforced by the supporters of Bangladesh Chhatra League central leader Diaz Irfan Chowdhury, who was found dead in his house on campus on November 20.
The protesters issued a press note last night to enforce the strike and obstructed rail and road communication with the campus this morning.
To make the strike a success, a group of supporters under the banner of Shocheton Chhatro Chhatri Brindo gathered at the Gate no. 2 of the university campus in the morning to press home of their five-point demand that includes immediate and proper investigation into the death of Diaz.
“We called the strike to press home our demands. The authorities should materialise it sooner to bring normalcy in the campus,” Nazim Uddin, vice-president of CU unit BCL, told our university correspondent there.
The protesters snapped the hose between several compartments of a university shuttle train at Bottoli railway station in the port city last night, our Chittagong university correspondent reports quoting Md Shahabuddin, station master of Sholoshahar Railway Station.
Later, the authorities suspended the train service on security grounds. The railway official however could not give any time for resuming the service.
Meanwhile, teachers’ busses left the campus late as the BCL leader’s supporters allegedly intercepted those in this morning.
Contacted, CU Assistant Proctor Helal Uddin told the correspondent that they would hold a meeting with the protesters to resolve issue.
Three rickshaw-pullers were beaten up allegedly by the protesters at different parts on the campus, sources said.
Diaz was the central assistant secretary of the pro-Awami League student body and also a former joint secretary of its CU unit.
His body was found hanging from a ceiling fan in his bedroom at his family's rented house in the university's Gate-2 area in the night of November 20.
Claiming that it is a planned murder, Diaz's followers had been protesting with a demand for a fair probe into the incident.
The BCL activists loyal to Diaz vandalised a CU-bound Demu train, disrupting shuttle train services between the university and the port city on November 22.
On the same day, around 100 supporters blocked the city's Probartak intersection and Chittagong-Hathazari road for one and a half hours, creating a tailback there. Then they withdrew the blockade following intervention of police and the CU authorities.
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