Evil political forces infiltrating student protest

Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader yesterday alleged that evil political forces are infiltrating the students' peaceful movement.

“Vested quarters have extended political support to the student movement, and attempts have been made to transform the student protest into an anti-government movement,” he said.

The AL leader was talking to reporters after a meeting with the party's secretary-level leaders at the AL president's Dhanmondi office yesterday afternoon.

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Intelligence agencies are keeping an eye on some people and closely watching their movements, suspecting their links to the ongoing demonstrations, he mentioned.

Quader, also road, transport and bridges minister, called upon the agitating students to stay alert so that no vested quarter can take advantage of them capitalising on their non-political movement.

“The students should remain alert about the vested quarters that have extended political support to the movement. They [vested quarters] are trying to fish in troubled waters to create an unstable situation in the country as they have failed to wage a movement on their own.”

Urging the students to return to classes, he said the government has taken initiatives to implement their nine-point demand.

The students raised the demands after two students of Shaheed Ramiz Uddin Cantonment College were killed in a road crash in the capital on Sunday.

Quader again briefed reporters in the evening at the party president's Dhanmondi office after it came under attack.

Pointing the finger at the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami, he said miscreants in the guise of students attacked the AL chief's Dhanmondi office.

He said it was a planned attack. Some attackers were seen carrying firearms, and they are now out to shift the blame onto the students, reports BSS.

The AL leaders alleged that the BNP-Jamaat men carried out the attack to make the students' non-political movement violent.

He claimed that 17 AL leaders and workers were injured in the attack.

The AL general secretary also voiced concern over the safety of the agitating students.

DUTA'S STATEMENT

Dhaka University Teachers' Association (Duta) yesterday urged the agitating students to end the ongoing agitation and return to classrooms, saying the government has accepted their demands and announced a specific roadmap to fulfil those.

“People were expecting that the students would end protests after the assurance. But we are observing that the students have been continuing protests though seven days have gone by since the agitation began,” read a Duta press release issued last night.

People are suffering immensely due to the student protest and an undeclared strike by transport owners and workers.

The association urged the government to implement the roadmap immediately to end anarchy in the transport sector.

It also called upon transport operators not to aggravate public sufferings by enforcing undeclared strikes.