The government has taken initiative to resolve the situation created by the protesting engineering students of all government and non-government engineering universities who observed the first day of a ‘complete shutdown’ across Bangladesh on Thursday.
On the day, a 14-member working group was formed by the government to review the demands of the students for reforms in the recruitment and promotion system of engineers in the public service.
The students, however, vowed to continue their ‘complete shutdown’ by boycotting all classes and examinations until further notice and announced new programmes, including holding rallies.
In Dhaka, the students blocked roads for a few hours in the evening, demanding formation of a committee promised by the Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner and the removal of Ramna division deputy commissioner for attacking the students on Wednesday.
In Rajshahi, the students blocked the Dhaka–Rajshahi highway in solidarity of the protests.
Earlier on Wednesday night, till about 10:30pm, the engineering students blocked the Shahbagh crossing in the capital Dhaka after at least 18 people were injured in a clash while police charged batons and fired teargas shells on the students in the afternoon on the day when they were marching towards the state guesthouse Jamuna.
The government, on the day formed a committee to review the rationality of the students’ demands and asked to submit its report with recommendations in one month.
The students, under the banner of Engineer’s Rights Movement, rejected the committee and announced the ‘complete shutdown of engineers’ with some fresh demands, including the formation of a new committee, an apology from the home affairs adviser for the attack, and government action against the police personnel involved in attacking the students.
In a press conference, held by the students at the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh on Thursday, the students again raised their main demands — all the candidates must pass a recruitment examination and hold at least a BSc (honours) degree to enter into the ninth grade public jobs in engineering, promotions through quotas are not allowed, no promotion can be granted even by creating equivalent positions under different titles, and restriction on the use of the title ‘engineer’.
The government committee, which included four advisers and headed by the adviser Muhammad Fouzul Kabir Khan, held its first meeting on Thursday at the Bangladesh secretariat in the capital Dhaka.
After the meeting, adviser Syeda Rizwana Hasan told reporters that the working group would be headed by housing and public works ministry secretary Md Nazrul Islam.
She added that as the problem between the BSc degree holder and diploma holder engineers was not new, it required discussion among the stakeholders for which the committee had been formed.
Adviser Fouzul Kabir said that the main committee would meet the protesters, their guardians and different government agencies which recruited engineers.
Replying to a question, he added that the working group would hold its first meeting on August 31.
Meanwhile, as per the announcement, the engineering students observed the ‘complete shutdown’ across the country on Thursday since morning.
In Dhaka, most of the academic and administrative buildings were found locked or empty as the day was a weekly holiday at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology.
After 5:00pm, a section of BUET students brought out a procession from the campus to march to the DMP headquarters protesting at Wednesday’s attack on students.
Due to police barricade, they staged a sit-in by blocking the busy Matsya Bhaban crossing at about 6:30pm.
They also burnt an effigy of DMP deputy commissioner for Ramna zone Masud Alam.
Later, they blocked the road in front of the IEB building and ended the protest demonstration with a press conference there at about 8:00pm.
During the blockade since 6:30pm to till 8:00pm, at the Matsya Bhaban area vehicular movement towards Shahbagh, Kakrail and Paltan areas was disrupted.
The city commuters suffered heavily due to the disruption.
At the IEB press conference, Engineer’s Rights Movement president Md Wali Ullah said that they would continue their shutdown until further notice.
‘We will hold divisional engineer rallies across the country next week,’ he said, adding, ‘we will hold a national rally at the end of next week.’
Meanwhile, Syeda Wasifa Mahdiat, sister of BUET student Syed Sadid Nasif who got injured in Wednesday attack, told ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· that a surgery was done to her brother at Dhaka Medical College Hospital to remove a sound grenade splinter from Nasif’s abdomen.
‘Doctors said that Nasif was out of danger,’ said Mahdiat in the afternoon. Nasif is a fourth year chemical engineering department student.
A statement, signed by Ahsanullah University of Science and Technology registrar professor Mohammad Mahmudur Rahman and issued on Thursday, condemned the attack on students and expressed solidarity with them.
¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· correspondent in Rajshahi reported that the students of the engineering faculty at Rajshahi University on Thursday at about 12:00pm brought out a procession from in front of the Zabi Ibn Hayyan Academic Building, paraded through key roads of the campus before ending their rally at the university’s main gate.
They later staged a half-hour blockade on the Dhaka–Rajshahi highway in front of the main gate, halting traffic.
¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· correspondent in Chattogram reported that the Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology students boycotted classes and examinations on Thursday.
Academic buildings, classrooms, and labs at CUET remained deserted, with only residential students staying in the dormitories.
Md Mukhtar Hossain, CUET’s directorate of student welfare deputy director, said that they condemned the Wednesday attack and always supported the students’ logical demands.
In Khulna, at the Khulna University of Engineering and Technology classes and exams of different batches were held on Thursday.
Teachers said that the academic activities were held as earlier this year KUET was closed for over five months and the students were lagging behind.Â
