Bangladesh PM calls emergency meeting with varsity heads

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina called an emergency meeting with university vice chancellors and college principals on Saturday night amid heightened tensions as student movement leaders refused here invitation for talks and demanded her resignation days after over 200 people died in antiquota protestsBangladesh recently witnessed violent clashes between the police and mostly student protesters demanding an end to a controversial quota system that reserved 30 per cent of government jobs for relatives of veterans who fought in Bangladeshs War of Independence in 1971 The prime minister held a viewexchange meeting with the vicechancellors of public and private universities senior teachers and college principals at Ganobhaban PMs official residence a PMO spokesman saidWithout giving any detail he said the meeting discussed the overall situation created over the students campaign and the way out to overcome it while the teachers vowed to work in unison to save the students from the clutches of the evil forces The nearly three hourmeeting started at around 815 pm BST after tens of thousands of students their guardians and ordinary people joined a mammoth protest rally at Central Shaheed Minar in Dhaka against the killings and mass arrests over quota system for government jobsThe protestors chanted antigovernment slogans some calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina while identical protests were staged in several other major cities amid reports of scattered clashes The protest leaders called for an allout civil disobedience movement from Sunday and asked officials and law enforcement agencies to stand by them instead of the governmentThe government leaders earlier said the students peaceful campaign was hijacked by fundamentalist JamaateIslami and their student front Islami Chhatra Shibir being backed by expremier Khaleda Zias BNP In an executive order on Friday the government banned Jamaat and its front organizationsIn clear terms we want to say we dont care what is ruling Awami League main opposition outside parliament BNP or Jamaat Our students bonding is unbreakable one of the keyprotest coordinators Nahid Islam told the rally He called the incumbent government fascist for its repressive role to tame their justified campaign and announced the students would present a national framework of future Bangladesh after consultation with all stakeholdersWe announce the abolition of the government and the fascist regime Thats why we call for a student uprising We want to build a Bangladesh where autocracy will never return Our sole demand is the resignation of this government including Sheikh Hasina and the end of fascismThe government now says the gates of Ganabhaban are open for talks We believe she Sheikh Hasina has already understood that the doors of Ganabhaban must remain open We demand Sheikh Hasinas resignation including the entire cabinet Not only should she resign but she should also be brought to justice for all the murders and disappearances in the country he saidWitnesses said the protesting students blocked major thoroughfares of the capital causing traffic halts while police and paramilitary troops kept a vigil Coordinators of the AntiDiscrimination Student Movement announced their onepoint demand and gave a 24hour ultimatum to reopen all university dormitories as authorities ordered closure of all schools colleges and universities for indefinite period to tame the street campaignAuthorities earlier enforced nationwide curfew calling out army troops as paramilitary BGB appeared inadequate to support the police in handling the situation Army chief General WakeruzZaman held a meeting with all military officers in Dhaka inperson and cantonments outside through conference calls and urged them to perform duties with patience and restraintsOn Friday Prime Minister Hasina urged the agitating students to meet at her Ganabhaban official residence for talks to end the violence over the quota system in government jobs Her call came a day after new protests erupted on Friday leaving two people dead and more than 100 injured as over 2000 protesters gathered in parts of the capital some shouting down with the autocrat and demanding justice for victimsI am saying again they student leaders can come to me for talks if they want they can bring with them their guardians as well anytime she said during a meeting with leaders of different professional groups The door of Ganabhaban is open for them she said I want to listen to them I do not want conflict she said while ruling Awami League sources said three party leaders were tasked to communicate and convince the antiquota movement coordinatorsMeanwhile two police officials were suspended by higher authorities for their unprofessional conduct The officials fired gunshots that killed a secondyear student of Northwestern Rangpur University Abu Sayeed the first casualty during the protest on the university campus intensifying the students rage Video footage and photos showed Sayeed standing arms spread wide alone challenging the police crackdown against protesters when a police officer suddenly shot him several timesHowever coordinators of the AntiDiscrimination Student Movement said on Friday that they had no plan to hold talks with the government and overnight they called a nationwide street protest and allout noncooperation or civil disobedience campaign One of the six coordinators who were earlier detained for their own safety in detective police custody and freed after they announced the withdrawal of their movement on Friday said they were forced to give the statementWhen we were detained in the office we were asked to meet with the Prime Minister and suspend the movement There was even a plan to take us to Ganobhaban forcibly one of the coordinators Asif Mahmud said in a Facebook post We are ready to pay the price of an uncompromising stance even if it means death We call for the participation of every citizen of Bangladesh in the studentcitizen uprising Asif wroteThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever