Strike at CU Shibir abducts train driver, frees later

The shuttle train taking students from the port city to Chittagong University on the outskirts. The train remains overcrowded and students risk their lives to travel on it every day.inset, Gopal Chandra. Photo: Anurup Kanti Das

The cadres of Islami Chhatra Shibir yesterday allegedly abducted a driver of a Chittagong University shuttle train and released him later, amid an indefinite student strike enforced by the students' body on the campus since March 18.

In the morning, the activists of Shibir, a pro-Jamaat-e-Islami student organisation, also beat up three police personnel at Jhautala Railway Station in the port city.

The driver Gopal Chandra Das was freed around 1:45pm.

In the afternoon, police arrested at least 15 Shibir men from the adjoining areas of the university on charges of their alleged involvement in subversive activities on the campus, said Inspector Rafiqul Islam of CU Police Outpost.

Of the arrestees, ten were identified as Ahmed Jajeeb of physics department, Anwar Hossain of finance and banking, Mozammel Hoque of management, Julfiqur Ali of accounting, Rajibul Islam, Jiadul Islam and Atiqur Rahman of public administration, Md Yusuf of economics, Hossain Suhrawardy of botany, and Hafiz Ullah of sociology.

Sources said some 20 Shibir men swooped on Gopal around 7:45am and abducted him when the train, coming from Battali Railway Station, was waiting for students to board.

They also beat three on-duty police personnel of Government Railway Police (GRP) and injured them seriously as they came forward to save Gopal, police said.

The injured policemen Sub-Inspector (SI) Lokman Hossain, nayek Kamal Hossain and constable Md Yunus were admitted to Police Lines Hospital in Chittagong, said Osman Gani, an SI of the GRP.

Injured Lokman said the Shibir men carrying iron rods and firearms waited at the railway station and abducted Gopal as soon as the train stopped. “They beat us as we resisted their move,” he added.

CU Vice Chancellor Prof Md Anwarul Azim Arif told The Daily Star that the authorities could not restore congenial atmosphere on the campus due to the arrogant attitude of the Shibir activists.

Shibir is carrying out various misdeeds “to prove their strength” and desperately trying to create instability on the campus, he added.

Quoting locals, SM Fazlul Hoque, assistant police superintendent of Chittagong Railway Police, said the Shibir activists are liable for the abduction. “We are conducting drives to nab the culprits,” he said.

Meanwhile, unidentified people punctured the tyres of seven teachers' buses at the garage of the university's transport office between 3:00am and 4:00am yesterday, Rabiul Alam, deputy director of the office, said.

The VC also blamed the Shibir activists for the incident.

Asked, Hafez Ashiqullah, acting president of CU Shibir unit, said their activists were not involved in the incidents. “Shibir believes in peaceful programme to press home demands,” he said.

“The enraged resident students of Shah Amanat Hall, who are now staying outside the dormitory as the hall has been shutdown since March 16, might have been behind these incidents,” he added.

The authorities closed Shah Amanat Hall on March 16 fearing clash between activists of Shibir and pro-government student's organisation Bangladesh Chhatra League.

Gopal, after being released, said the “miscreants” took him on an auto rickshaw. After riding towards GEC intersection for some time, they lifted him on a microbus. The “miscreants” then blindfolded him.

“They did not beat me but ordered me not to make any noise. After about six hours, they took off the blindfold and pushed me out of the microbus in Dampara area,” the driver said, adding that he could not identify the “miscreants”.

Movement of CU shuttle trains to and from the port city remained suspended until yesterday night.

SHIBIR'S STRIKE FOILS ACADEMIC ACTIVITIES
Classes and examinations in most of the departments have been disrupted since reopening of the university on March 18 due to low presence of the students due to a tense situation on the campus.

Even for the last three days, the pre-scheduled examinations at the Institute of Forestry and Environmental Sciences, and the departments of sociology and public administration could not held, university sources said.

The Shibir activists are also locking classrooms to hamper academic activities.

Despite the deployment of additional law enforcers on the campus, the Shibir activists have been bringing out frequent sudden processions in support of their strike.

The university reopened resumed on March 18 after 38 days of closure following a clash between Shibir and Chhatra League on February 8 that led to the death of two students.

But from the very day of the reopening, Shibir enforced the indefinite student's strike to materialise their four-point demands -- the arrest of the killers, formation of a judicial probe committee, withdrawal of all cases filed against Shibir leaders and activists and ensuring accommodation for all resident students.

The VC earlier said the administration is holding talks with the leaders of the student organisations to resolve the crisis and urged students to return to the campus without any fear.