Bus in race kills student in city

A reckless bus ran over a student of Bangladesh University of Professionals (BUP), leaving him dead on the spot in the capital's Norda area that triggered day-long agitation by students blocking Pragati Sarani.

The deceased, Abrar Ahmed Chowdhury, 20, a first-semester student of International Relations (IR) department at BUP, was crossing the road near the entrance of Bashundhara residential area at around 7:30 am when he was hit by a bus of Suprovat Paribahan.

Talking to the FE, Papri Tanjim, a fourth-year student of BUP's IR department, said: "Abrar was crossing the street to get on a bus of BUP at around 7:30 am to attend his class, scheduled to begin at 8:30am."

"But one of the two competing buses of Suprovat Paribahan ran over him although he was using the zebra crossing," she added.

Following the incident, some students of BUP and other private universities in the area along with local people blocked both sides of Pragati Sarani at the Norda point, demanding trial for the 'murder'.

After around 10 hours of blocking the road, the students called off the day's demonstration at around 5:50 pm with the announcement of resuming the blockade programme this morning (Wednesday morning). The traffic returned to normal after 6.00 pm.

Maisha Noor, a BUP student, announced the suspension of the blockade for the day on behalf of the protesters.

The protests would resume on Wednesday morning, she said and urged the students to gather at the gate of the Bashundhara Residential Area at 8am.

Maisha urged all the students across Bangladesh to boycott classes and exams until their demands were met.

"It's not a political movement. We don't want reflection of any political presence here," she added.

Dhaka University Central Students' Union or DUCSU Vice-President Nurul Haque Nur joined the protests around 4:45pm.

Any move to "stifle peaceful protests" will be dealt with firmly, he warned.

Besides, they also threatened to continue their agitation until their demands were met.

After the accident, the angry mob torched a bus of Suprovat Paribahan on the spot and vandalised a few other vehicles in the morning, said Gulshan police station sub-inspector Sinthia Akter.

She also said police seized the bus and arrested its diver Sirajul Islam while trying to flee from the spot.

The students' demo demanding road safety and trial of the killer created a long tailback in the area, leading to immense sufferings of the city commuters, especially office-goers.

The protesters blocked the entrance to the Bashundhara residential area while vehicular movement on both sides of Pragati Sarani - Badda to Kuril via Natun Bazar - remained halted throughout the day.

The students put forth their eight-point demand during the agitation, including awarding death penalty to the bus driver in the shortest possible time, and cancelling the route permit of Suprovat Paribahan.

They also demanded setting up a bus-stand and an overbridge near the Bashundhara residential area gate, freeing transport sector from political influence, and scrutinising necessary papers of all buses every month.

Their other demands included banning all vehicles without fitness and all drivers without licence from the streets, issuing a government order requiring drivers to display their photographs and licence copies inside the bus, and monitoring traffic operations via installing CCTV cameras.

Following the students' blockade, Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) Mayor Atiqul Islam went to the area to speak to the protesters.

He requested them to leave the road, assuring them that the demands would be met as soon as possible.

But defying the mayor's request, the agitators continued their demo, as they said, the Jabal-e- Noor Paribahan's route permit was not cancelled despite assurance on that occasion after such an accident.

Mohammad Alif, a student of nearby Titumir College, said: "Jabal-e-Noor Paribahan is still operating in the city despite its involvement in killing two students of Shaheed Ramiz Uddin Cantonment College on Airport Road in last July."

"We don't believe in assurance anymore, we want justice first, then we will leave the road," another student shouted from Alif's side.

After Abrar's namaj-e-janaza on BUP campus in the noon, he was buried at the Banani Army Graveyard, according to the students of the university.

The accident happened during the Traffic Week being observed by the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) to bring discipline on the streets.

Apart from the killing in the capital, ten more were killed across the country. Three were killed in Rangpur, two in Sylhet and one each in Manikganj, Chuadanga, Magura, Natore and Pabna.

ahb_mcj2009@yahoo.com