Hours after lifting ultimatum, 7 colleges' students demand outline for new university within 15 days
The students of seven government colleges have issued a 15-day ultimatum seeking an outline for the establishment of a new independent university, just hours after withdrawing their protests after assurance from the home adviser on meeting their overall demands.
"We want a detailed outline for how the university for the seven colleges will be," Abdur Rahman, a spokesperson representing the students, said after a discussion with other student representatives of the seven colleges at the Dhaka College auditorium.
"The committee tasked with preparing the outline has informed us that their work is complete, and they have assured us it will be submitted soon. However, we have set a 15-day deadline for this," he said.
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Yesterday, the students welcomed the decision taken by authorities of Dhaka University (DU) and the colleges to end the affiliation between them.
Earlier today, they announced their decision to withdraw their 24-hour ultimatum to implement their demands, including the resignation of DU Pro Vice-Chancellor Prof Mamun Ahmed.
A day after announcing their ultimatum, they backtracked from their stance after a meeting with Home Affairs Adviser retired Lieutenant General Md Jahangir Alam Chowdhury at his office at the Secretariat. Adviser Nahid Islam was also present at the meeting.
Representing the students, Dhaka College student Moinul Islam told reporters after the meeting he was assured that Dhaka University authorities would take care of their demand regarding the Pro-VC stepping down.
"We are withdrawing our ultimatum as most of the six-point demands have been heard by the home adviser and others concerned," he said.
After the meeting, the home adviser told reporters, "I was taken back to my college days after meeting two of the alumni of the same college. We discussed some things and we agreed to a point."
Regarding the decision taken by authorities of Dhaka University (DU) and the colleges to end the affiliation between them, Moinul said, "The separation decision has already been made and is under process. It was our first and foremost demand which has already been met.
"We believe if DU Pro Vice-Chancellor Prof Mamun Ahmed apologised early on, things would not have unfolded this way and the clashes wouldn't have taken place. He is the person behind all this, we believe. As the university authorities told us they will take care of the issue regarding him, we have no objection for now," he added.
Moinul continued that another issue was raised in the meeting regarding an alleged incident of Dhaka University students virtually harassing Eden College students. "The university authorities also promised to take action in this regard."
He also said the home ministry sought three days to look into the allegations of policemen attacking the students during the clashes on Sunday night.
"The police who attacked us, we demanded their withdrawal from the posts," said Moinul.
"Lastly, we had another demand that the Dhaka University area would be open to all citizens, which the university authorities claimed has already been made open for all."
