The ongoing student protests took a new dimension on Thursday as students took the responsibility of traffic management and examining driving licences and papers of vehicles in the capital apart from blocking roads.
Although the government shut down all the educational institutions across the country for Thursday, the students wearing uniforms and holding bags took to the streets in the capital and many districts to press for their nine-point demand, including ensuring safety in roads and justice for the two students who were killed in a road accident in the capital, and resignation of Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan.
In the capital, the student protests continued for the 5th consecutive day defying rains.
Students of different schools and colleges took to the streets in many city areas in the morning. Some of them blocked roads while others were seen regulating the traffic and examining the driving licences and papers of vehicles amid rains.
They were seen stopping vehicles of each and all, including senior government and police officers, seeking documents to drivers.
The students also regulated vehicles of different modes on certain lanes in a disciplined way.
Witnesses said a group of students of Rajdhahi Ideal School and College gathered in Mouchak area and staged demonstrations.
Students of Mohammadpur Govt College and Mohammadpur Central College blocked the road in Asad Gate area around 10 am, halting traffic on the busy road.
Besides, students blocked streets at Dhanmondi Road-27, near Kabi Nazrul Govt College and Uttara near House Building in the morning.
Commuters in the city faced trouble due to the shortage of public transports as various modes of vehicles went off the streets fearing vandalism.
In most places, people were seen moving on foot to reach their destinations while many using rickshaws.
In Rajarbagh Police Lines area, two school students were ‘injured’ after reportedly being hit by a ‘police vehicle’ in the afternoon as they obstructed it for checking its licence. The injured were then taken to a city hospital.
The student protests were also reported from districts, including Sylhet, Khulna, Gazipur, Chandpur, Thakurgaon, Habiganj, Bandarban, Tangail, Bogura, Panchagarh, Bhola, Jashore and Kishoreganj.
In Khulna, eight students and a traffic policeman were injured as a private car hit them while the protesters were checking driving licences in front of the Tiger Garden of the city around 3 pm.
Later, students chased the private car and caught it at Fulbarigate but its driver managed to flee, witnesses said.
The students of Jahangirnagar University (JU) blocked the Dhaka-Aricha highway for two hours expressing solidarity with the demands of the students, including ensuring safe roads and the resignation of the shipping minister.
Around 12 noon, over 1000 students brought a protest rally from the Central Shaheed Minar premises that paraded different streets on the campus and ended with the blockade on the Dhaka-Aricha highway.
At Rajshahi University, students formed a human in front of the university’s central library around 12:30pm expressing solidarity with the demands of the protesting students.
Meanwhile, Md Jahangir Fakir, father of Diya Khanam Mim who along with another student died in the city road crash, urged the protesting students to go back home as he hoped that the Prime Minister will take effective steps to check road accidents.
He made the call during a meeting with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at the Prime Minister’s Office.
“We want students to go back home as measures will be taken to prevent such accidents in the future,” Prime Minister’s Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim quoted Jahangir Fakir as saying.
Apart from Diya’s father, her mother, brother and sister, another victim Abdul Karim Rajib’s mother Mahima Begum and sister and Principal of Shaheed Ramiz Uddin College Nur Nahar Yasmin met the Prime Minister.
While briefing reporters after the meeting, Ihsanul Karim said Sheikh Hasina consoled the bereaved family members and donated a saving certificate of Tk 20 lakh to each of the families.
Besides, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan urged the agitating students to leave the streets and return to their educational institutions and homes as he fears there might be ‘acts of sabotage’ anytime.
Talking to reporters at his residence, he also alleged that the activists of BNP’s student body Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal and Jamaat’s student wing Chhatra Shibir also took to the streets and instigated the students. “The government has already accepted their all demands…we now request the students to return to their schools, colleges and homes,” the minister said.
Asaduzzaman also said they have already identified those instigating the demonstrating students with a political motive. “We fear if the students continue their agitation, any untoward incident or sabotage can take place anytime.”
In another development, a court here placed the owner of ‘Jabal-e-Noor Paribahan’ bus, ShahadatHossain, on a seven-day remand for interrogation over the killing of the two students.
Meanwhile, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader said the proposed Road Transport Act will bring discipline in the transport sector as the act kept a provision of harsher punishment according to the gravity of accident.
“Whatever provisions are required for the interest of the public, will be kept at the proposed act after discussing in a Cabinet meeting.” said Obaidul while talking to reporters after a meeting with the Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Harsh BardhanShringla at the Secretariat.
Claiming that the demands of the protesting students are being met, Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Additional Commissioner Monirul Islam on Thursday urged them to return their homes.
On Sunday, Diya Khanam Mim and Abdul Karim Rajib, students of the college section of Shaheed Ramiz Uddin School and College, were killed as a ‘Jabal-e-Noor Paribahan’ bus ploughed through some students in front of Kurmitola General Hospital on Airport Road.
source:UNB
