DHAKA: More than 32 students from Khulna University of Engineering and Technology (KUET) in Bangladesh entered the second day of a hunger strike on Tuesday, demanding the resignation of Vice-Chancellor Mohammad Masud, according to local media reports.
The protest had its roots in February when violent clashes at KUET left more than 100 students injured. The student outfits backing different political ideologies and affiliations had clashed over the issue of banning student politics on the university campus.
Leaders of Jatiyotabadi Chatro Dal (JCD), the student wing of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), addressed the media and accused the Students Against Discrimination (SAD) and Bangladesh Chhatra Shibir, the student wing of Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami, of initiating the attack at the KUET campus.
Later, the students accused the VC of failing to ensure their safety during the violent clash on the campus. Instead of protecting them, the students claimed, the administration allowed legal action to be taken against 22 students and then suspended 37 students -- most of whom, they argue, were victims of the attack.
In February end, KUET authorities announced the suspension of all academic activities along with the closure of all residential halls at the university until further notice.
"We have one point, one demand -- the resignation of the VC. This hunger strike will only end when that demand is fulfilled, " said a protesting student.
"We even submitted a memorandum to the Chief Advisor's residence in Dhaka. Two months have passed, and we've been ignored. This government came to power over the blood of students. Yet it refuses to acknowledge students' voices, " the leading Bangladeshi newspaper, The Dhaka Tribune, reported, quoting another protesting student.
On Monday afternoon, the students of KUET initiated the hunger strike to press home the single demand for VC's resignation. The move followed the expiration of a 24-hour ultimatum issued by the students for the VC's resignation, which ended on Monday.
The protest intensified on April 13 as students demanded the immediate reopening of the halls and the resumption of academic activities.
However, the following day, during an emergency Syndicate meeting, KUET authorities announced that 37 students involved in the clash would be suspended. They decided that halls would reopen on May 2 and classes would resume on May 4.
However, students rejected this decision, calling it unreasonably delayed, and protesting students broke into six male residential halls after the announcement, Bangladeshi media outlet bdnews24 reported.
"Since the VC has failed to ensure students' safety, denied responsibility, cut off essential services like water and internet, encouraged legal action against protesters, and suspended students unfairly -- we now declare the removal of the VC as our only demand, " a student representative stated during a press briefing last week.