Dipu Moni in Sylhet to Diffuse SUST Crisis

A three-member ministerial team, led by Education Minister Dipu Moni, arrived in Sylhet Friday morning to hold talks with the protesting students of the Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST), reports UNB.

The SUST students resumed their protests Wednesday, after their demand for the removal of Vice-Chancellor Farid Uddin Ahmed was not met.

Apart from Dipu Moni, Deputy Education Minister Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury Nowfel and Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Imran Ahmed are part of the team, that's slated to hold meetings with the students, teachers and different SUST organisations between 4:00pm and 7:00pm.

Their aim is to diffuse the ongoing crisis on the university campus, UNB has learnt. The three ministers will depart for capital Dhaka on a late-night domestic flight on Friday.

Meanwhile, the SUST authorities removed Dr Md Alamgir Kabir from the post of proctor, whose resignation was one of the demands of protesting students.

SUST English Department Associate Professor Md Ishrat Ibne Ismail has been made the new proctor, according to a notice signed by Registrar Isfaqul Hossain on Thursday.

The notice, however, mentioned personal and family issues as the reason for Alamgir Kabir’s withdrawal.

Earlier on February 6, the authorities appointed Prof Amina Parveen of the Department of Social Work as the new Student Counselling and Guidance director, removing Prof Zahir Uddin Ahmed from the position due to his “sickness”.

SUST students brought out a procession on the campus on Thursday morning and marked the place with a red handprint where police attacked them in front of IICT building on January 16, said Shahria Abedin, a protesting student.

They called for re-activating more than 250 mobile banking accounts of students and withdrawal of the two cases filed by police against the students.

The students resumed their protests on Wednesday, as their demand for the removal of the VC is yet to be met.

The students marched the campus with placards and photographs of police actions on the protesters on January 16.

Over two dozen SUST students went on fast unto death ended their week-long hunger strike on January 26. They broke the fast after former SUST Prof Muhammad Zafar Iqbal persuaded them.

The students embarked on fast-unto-death on the university campus on January 19, demanding resignation of the VC over the police crackdown on their fellows.

The strike was launched after police swooped on the protesting students, charging batons and firing sound grenades and shotgun bullets.

On the other hand, police filed a case against 300 unnamed protesting students.

The alleged attack was carried out to free the VC from confinement in the university’s IICT building, and it had left 40 people hurt, including teachers, students and cops.

Zafrin Ahmed, a former provost of Begum Sirajunnesa Chowdhury Hall, was at the centre of the initial unrest as she allegedly misbehaved with some students on January 13 when they met her with some complaints.

She later resigned from her post, citing health issues.