Buet students call off protest
Protesters thanked the teachers, officials, students, and media for their contribution to make the protest a success
Students of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet) have called off their protest that started 58 days ago following the murder of Abrar Fahad, a second-year student of electrical and electronic engineering department of the university.
The protesters made the announcement on Wednesday after the authorities accepted their demands.
"We thank the university administration as they have conceded to all our demands. We currently have no more demands and are withdrawing all protest programmes from now," said Md Sayem, one of the spokespersons of the protest at a press conference held at the Shaheed Minar on the university campus.
He also thanked the teachers, officials, students, and media for their contribution to make the protest a success.
"We met with the administration today. They have reassured us by saying they would always be with the students. We want to believe their words. We will participate in the examinations scheduled to be held on December 28. We want Abrar's killers to be punished soon," Sayem told The Business Standard.
Tithi, another spokesperson of the protesters, also said that the students are ready to attend the upcoming examinations.
Prof Dr AKM Masud, president of Buet Teachers' Association thanked the students for their unrelenting efforts to make the campus safe. "The students' protest was right. I thank them for their continuous and relentless endeavour," he said.
Prof Masud also thanked the university authorities understanding the students' sentiment.
Professor Mizanur Rahman, director of the students' welfare at Buet, said, "We welcome the students' decision to call off the protest. We have fulfilled all their demands. We don't want any untoward incident to take place on the campus.
"We will do everything for the best interest of the students."
Around two months ago, Buet students started a protest demanding justice for the murder of Abrar. They also demanded measures to make the campus safe for the students.
Abrar Fahad was beaten to death allegedly by some leaders of the Buet chapter of the Bangladesh Chhatra League at the Sher-E-Bangla Hall of the university in the early hours of October 7.
In the face of the protest, the Buet authorities banned both student and teacher politics on its campus and removed the provost of Sher-e-Bangla Hall on October 10. All floors in each dormitory were brought under round-the-clock CCTV surveillance.
The university also helped law enforcing agencies to arrest Abrar's killers and prepare the charge-sheet in the murder case in the shortest time possible.
A total of 26 students were expelled over Abrar's murder after police submitted the charge-sheet on November 13. Among them, 25 were named in the charge-sheet. The university administration also punished six more students for breaching university discipline.