NorthSouthUniversity on 10th May 2009: An eye witness’s account
Addressed to the NSU students & electronic and print media people but not NSU officials
Approximately 9.10 am: I arrived at the North South University Banami campus, talked with a junior student who was standing 20 yards away from North South University STR building. I don’t know his name but I asked him whether he is from NSU. He replied yes and we were gathered with 7 or 8 students and moved towards a restaurant named ‘Malatilata’. We were staying there just only five minutes, then our university proctor came and ordered us to get out from that place and he closed the gate of that restaurant, saying that no student is allowed to stay there for today. So, we obeyed his order and left that place, just standing in between the road of STR & SPZ, the two buildings of NSU. There were couple of hundreds of students in that time on that road & we were preparing for our protest by calling on cell phone & personally chatting with some other known people. The authority didn’t announced 144, so we were building up a students’ gathering and moved forward towards the STR building of NSU. YET THE PROTEST WAS NON-VIOLENT.
Approximately 9.55 am: we were peacefully protesting in the front of STR building, a written form of our just demands was handed over to the proctor and to some print media people & photographers. After some time some facilities & our proctor came & blamed us that we were aggressive, we again explained to him that we were not doing anything wrong, demanding our just cause peacefully in non-aggressive way. Not a single student shouted any offensive slogan and we didn’t even think about damaging any property. All we demand is a written notice by the VC office ensuring that the unethically increased of tuition fees will not charged for the existing students and NSU authority will not violate the admission contract. YET THE PROTEST WAS NON-VIOLENT.
Approximately 10am to 12.45 pm: we were protesting in front of STR building & want our VC to come & talk with us. But still he didn’t show up. So we organized a rally and left that by-pass road in between the two NSU building, started to walk on the Kemal Ataturk Avenue. After 40 minutes later we came back at the front of STR building and the Kemal Ataturk Avenue was jammed with NSU students. We want to go inside of our own university building where we studied so many years but NSU authority closed the gate and in that time I learned that the NSU officials and faculties were doing there scheduled advising with very few students with that unethical increased amount of tuition fees. We were protesting & during that time our VC came and talked to us for the first time. He already knew our specific written demand which was handed to him 3 hours earlier but he mention nothing about the main cause but order us to leave the road, otherwise he warned us this activity will create a negative reputation for our university as a student but not for him. We demand our main issue and call for opening the gate of STR building so that we can sit at our own university where we live our days and nights, but he refused to do that, left us in this summer weather at the middle of Kemal Ataturk Avenue and went into his office to talk with BOG members through telephone. We were waiting on the road and approximately 1pm two high official police officers came and ordered us to leave that place. We explained them that after organizing a peaceful rally, we don’t need to stay at the road in this summer weather but the NSU authority refused us to enter our own university and quietly doing unethical advising although we the protesting students didn’t even tried to stop a single student who is interested to do his or her advising for the next upcoming semester. After some negotiation, NSU authority obliged to open the gate of our university and we were able to enter inside the STR building for the first time in that day. YET THE PROTEST WAS NON-VIOLENT.
Approximately 1pm to 3.30 pm: we were protesting peacefully at the ground floor of STR, sometime arguing with our proctor, but no violent works had been done by us. We call for our VC to come out from his office which is located on the 14th floor of STR building but he didn’t showed up and we were sitting on the floor of STR’s ground floor, there were at least 500 student inside of that building, sitting on the floor for 3 hours and some two thousand students standing outside of that building, in this summer weather. But still we didn’t have our VC. After half past three, we forcefully start to cross the staircases and moved towards the office of our VC, but we were able to reach the 11th floor of that building and we were again stopped by our proctor. Our proctor said there was a meeting going on regarding this issue and we can’t talk with our VC. We had been hearing about this so called faculty & BOG meeting for 5 hours, but we didn’t hear any outcome of that meeting. YET THE PROTEST WAS NON-VIOLENT.
Approximately 4pm to 5.15 pm: me and couple other guys talked with the proctor and urged him again and again that we need to talk to our VC. But he refused us again and again, so we have no option but to forcefully move to the VC office, so me and some students tried to do that and we all were able to move at the 14th floor just in front of the VC office. All we want is the result of that 5 hour long meeting. After half an hour later our VC came to us for the second time in that day and told that he need two days to decide. We told him why not he decides right away, just he did on the 10 February in this year. He said, two of the BOG members were sick and another two were out of the country, he is not the right authority to decide. We told him, he can call them by phone as all the lines were ok. But he showed his resentful attitude towards us and left us. We were sitting just beside the office of our VC, demanding, protesting. Some time later N-tv crews were came and went into VC office and left us without hearing our say. Again Ekyesa-tv and Digonto-tv came and did the same practice. We were sitting on the floor of VC office; we didn’t want our VC to left us, so we call for our demand to be fulfilled by then. As they already ask for two days, so we demanded a written assurance from VC office that all unethically accomplished advising would be canceled, VC office would issued a written notice where they must mention that they will certainly go back to their previous tuition structure without any campus development fee as we already have an own campus at Bashundhara. We were demanding, shouting slogans peacefully, and sitting on the floor outside the VC office. Some high officials’ police were inside at the VC office and they explained us that they don’t need to stay any longer and waste their time as we were very peaceful and they want to leave that VC office. So we showed them the way to get out and we did this with some other non-NSU officials. May be, and this is my personal opinion, that these security officials left that place with an order issued by the VC office to charged on this non-violent student protest and may be an unwritten oral order issued by the VC office to beat their own students, as they thought themselves to be hostage by their own students. YET THE PROTEST WAS NON-VIOLENT.
Approximately 5.45pm: me and some other guys were sitting just outside the main office of our VC, as they opened the Thai glass gate and for the first time to let some air available for us, we were sitting on the floor of the VC office, chatting & laughing among us, hoping for our upcoming victory. Then we came to know by one of my fellow protestor’s cell phone that armed police were deliberately beating the students without any provocation who where sitting on the ground floor of that building. Then me and two guys tried to build a human chain by blocking the Thai glass gate, as the other students were aggressive and tried to cross the gate and move towards the VC office where all the Deans, Chairmen, faculty members were sitting in an air-conditioned room, feel a comfortable life, when we were protesting for at least 8 hours in an empty stomach, only drink water and walked in this summer weather. Me and other two students tried our best to controlled the mob, we chained ourselves by joining our hands, but the mob was so aggressive to hear the unjust beating by the police to their fellow students that after couple of minutes I asked my department Chairman, that I couldn’t control this any more. He said nothing, and then we all realized it is the time when nothing can be controlled as police were deliberately beating the students at the ground floor and marching forward to the VC office. So I untied my hand and all the students just beside me moved towards the main door of the VC office like a stream. Students went inside the meeting room, took a look through the window, tried to find their fellow students on the ground but we all realized the beating is now going on at the ground floor, so some students were aggressive and took the law in their hands and through some chairs in that meeting room. Me and some other guys tried our best to stop them as we had been doing our non-violent protest and I could tolerate to watch this no longer, the destruction of all our achievements. But I failed. Lights were out and in that terrifying darkness armed police arrived and tried to beat us in front of our highest guardian’s, the VC office, where he locked himself safely in. I rushed to my department Chairman, who was standing right next to the door of VC office, asked him what should we do now. He said, “Fool boy, leave now”. I saw armed police in action in front of VC office, beating the students, when the rest of the faculties locked themselves in that VC office room, when their own students were fighting with police. Aggressive student started to break the glasses and furniture in that place. I saw the destruction of my, our dream of achieving a victory through non-violent protest. I took my last picture of my university, and cowardly left that building. When I was leaving the place I saw glasses were broken at the STR ground floor and signs of students had been beaten by the armed police, here and there. I cried for my failure, our failure to stick to a peaceful protest. And still cowardly get myself out from that place, leaving my fellow protestors, as I can’t control their rage.
Wonder why on earth the creator made the rich people so poor in mentality?
I testy in healthy mental condition that all I narrate above are true to the best of my knowledge.
