Leaders and activists of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal and Islami Chhatra Shibir held counter-protests on the Chittagong University campus. At one stage, leaders and activists of both organizations stood facing each other and shouted counter-protest slogans. At that time, tension spread among the students due to the fear of clashes. These incidents took place on Sunday night.
It was learned from talking to the students that Chhatra Dal started a protest procession on the campus around 9:30 pm on Sunday as part of the central program. The program was held by accusing Islami Chhatra Shibir of staging a ‘drama of disappearance and kidnapping’. The procession, which started from the university’s roundabout area, went around Suhrawardy intersection and ended at the same place. More than fifty leaders and activists, including branch Chhatra Dal president Alauddin Mohsin, general secretary Abdullah Al Noman, senior joint general secretary Md. Yasin, joint general secretary Jalal Siddiqui, participated in the program.
Meanwhile, the Islami Chhatra Shibir took out a protest procession on the campus at around 10 pm, claiming that BNP MP Monirul Haque had made a slur about the hijab. At the beginning of the procession, the leaders and activists of the Chhatra Shibir gathered at the roundabout area and chanted slogans. The leaders and activists of the Chhatra Dal were already stationed there. They also started chanting counter-slogans. Panic spread among the students at this time due to the confrontational stance of both the organizations and the counter-slogans. At one stage, the leaders and activists of the Chhatra Shibir started the procession from the roundabout. The procession went around the campus and ended with a rally at the same place. Chaksur VP and President of the Islamic Chhatra Shibir branch Md. Ibrahim, Chaksur GS Saeed Bin Habib, and the Organizing Secretary of the Chhatra Shibir branch Habibullah Khaled spoke at the procession. The event was moderated by Monayem Sharif, the Liberation War and Democratic Movement Affairs Editor of Chaksur and the Student Rights Affairs Editor of the Islamic Chhatra Shibir.
When asked, Assistant Proctor of Chittagong University Professor Md. Kamrul Hossain told Prothom Alo that Chhatra Dal and Chhatra Shibir had separate programs. At one stage, they took a face-to-face stance. However, nothing untoward happened at that time. Both organizations ended the program peacefully. Members of the university’s proctoral body and security personnel were on alert at the time.
