PCJ postpones movement at RU

Pragotishil Chhatra Jote (PCJ) on Tuesday announced to postpone their ongoing movement at Rajshahi University (RU) against fee hike and continuation of evening Master’s programmes. Leaders of the PCJ which had been leading the movement at the university made the announcement at a press conference at the Central Cafeteria at about 12:30pm. Speaking at the press conference, RU Chhatra Union president Ayatullah Khomeni said they decided to call off the movement as the university authorities assured them of resolving all the problems through discussions. Stating that the authorities assured of arranging an open debate on the evening Master’s programme, Khomeni said, “Under such circumstances, we’ve postponed the movement responding to the call of the university authorities and considering overall security of the students and the university.” He, however, said they would resume their agitation after discussions with the general students if the negations with the university authorities fail to bring any fruitful results. Academic activities at RU resumed on Monday, after an unscheduled closure of over a month due to campus violence. On February 2, authorities closed the Rajshahi University for an indefinite period after over 100 students were injured, including 30 with bullets, in attacks by police and Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) men on the campus. On the day, police and the BCL men swung into action while the general students were agitating on the campus in protest against fee hike and continuation of evening master’s programmes. Police fired rubber bullets and lobbed teargas canisters on the demonstrators as they refused to disperse. Besides, the RU BCL men allegedly joined the cops during the attacks on the students. Later, the decision to reopen the university was taken at a meeting of the RU Syndicate held on March 3, according to a news agency.