Demonstrating students in an open letter urged Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to keep Buet free from politics.

The students read out the letter at a press briefing on campus yesterday evening after Chhatra League announced more programmes to press home its demand for resumption of politics at Buet.

The pro-Awami League student body told reporters at Dhaka University in the afternoon that student politics at Buet would be systematic, modern, and it would be based on knowledge, logic, information, and theory.

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BCL announces programmes for resumption of student politics at Buet

On Monday, the High Court stayed a 2019 order through which Buet banned political organisations and their activities on its campus.

Buet authorities gave the order after a group of Chhatra League men murdered second-year student Abrar Fahad inside a dorm. 

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on October 9, 2019, said Buet could ban politics on campus if it wanted and that the government would not interfere.

This time, unrest at the country's top engineering university began on Friday, hours after a group of Chhatra League leaders gathered on Buet premises in the wee hours of Thursday.

Students have been demanding that Prof Mizanur Rahman be removed from the post of director of the Directorate of Students' Welfare for what they said was his failure to keep the campus free from politics, an allegation Prof Mizanur refutes. Demonstrating students have also been demanding expulsion of Buet student and Chhatra League leader Imtiaz Hossain Rahim Rabbi.

Buet revoked Imtiaz's residency at the dormitory amid the unrest. 

LETTER TO PM

The students requested Hasina to stand by them as their guardian.

"Honourable prime minister, we earnestly request you to implement the dream that the greatest Bangalee of all time, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, dreamed about Buet; the policy he adopted. Keep Buet out of student politics, even if that needs amending the law."

They requested the premier to visit the campus, saying, "We want to show you that Buet, which is free from student politics, has become an ideal campus for students over the last few years. We promise you that we will leave behind the world's other leading universities in technology very soon. We, your children, are waiting for your help."

They mentioned that the negative aspects of student politics include murders.

They vowed to resist fundamentalism together, saying the Buet campus without student politics is the safest and most education friendly in the country.

BCL BRIEFING

While reading out the written statement at the press conference, BCL President Saddam said, "Student politics at Buet has been banned for five years. During the period, religious extremism raised its head. Fundamentalism and militancy have found a safe haven ... 

"Students have been prevented from remembering the Father of the Nation. Students' constitutional right to move, express opinions, assemble, and organise has been severely curtailed. A discriminatory, violent, and divisive social structure has been introduced... It is not acceptable in any way."

He then termed the Buet administration autocratic for revoking Imtiaz's residency at the dorm.

"Buet students will spontaneously choose their leadership. This leadership will be patriotic. This leadership will create the world's best innovators and entrepreneurs…"

Saddam announced that the BCL would demonstrate on Buet campus for reinstatement of Imtiaz's residency at the dorm, hold discussions with Buet students, organise seminars and cultural festivals to liberate Buet from the "communal-radical-militant groups, and negotiate with the administration for arranging students' union elections.