Dacca University slowly returns to life
From Our Staff Reporter, DACCA, DEC, 21-The huge tall banyan tree in front of the Arts Faculty building of Dacca University is not there any more. The students have planted a seeding where it once stood. This will grow as the new nation grows.
The tree was felled by the Pakistani in Marer. Under this tree on March 1 the students had proclaimed independence for Bangladesh, burnt the Pakistani flag, and hoisted a new flag for the first time.
Dead for nine months, the university is slowly coming back to life again. Classes are yet to resume but this has not prevented students from collecting at the university halls to exchange their experiences of these months of nightmare and discuss plans for their future.
Four top student leaders, Abdur Rab, Shajahan Shiraj, Quddus Makhan and NureAlam Siddique are back again. So also are others who lost contact with each other after the crackdown. The majority of them joined the Mukti Bahini and fought the enemy.
The university was closed for about five months on March 25 when the Pakistani troops in their bid to liquidate the defiant students, launched an attack with tanks, mortars and automatic guns. On Pak authorities orders it was re-opened on August 2. But there were not many students. The new university authorities, handpicked men of the military administration, wrote letters to guardians of students to ensure attendance of their wards by September 30. Those who were receiving grants or scholarships were threatened with withdrawal of aid if they did not turn up.
But all this failed to bring the students back. Angered by the defiance, the authorities started to take it out on the guardians of the absentee students.
Prof. Obedur Rahman of the Department of History told me that the authorities had made several attempts to hold examinations during the last eight months but their efforts had never been very successful.
Only 20 per cent of the students appeared for the Higher Secondary examinations and only 15 per cent for M.Sc. (Intermediate) examinations. Overall attendance in the Arts Faculty was 10 per cent and in the Science Faculty almost nil.
Most of the students who had been attending their classes during the period of occupation belonged to the Right wing Jamat-e-Islam. As close collaborators of the military rulers, they were a terror even to the teachers.
Most of the eminent teachers of the University had earlier been killed. Those who could not flee lost their jobs. Dr. Habibulla of the History Department, Dr. Maniruzzaman of the Bengali Department, Mr. Enamul Haque, Director of the Bengali Academy, were among those who were cashtered.
The curriculum was also changed in the name of the “Islamisation”, Dr. Hasan Zaman of the Pakistan Academy took upon him the burden of ‘Islamisation’.
For over eight months six of the eight halls (students’ hostels) were empty. There were some students in Jinnah Hall (now renamed Surya Sen Hall) and Mohsin Hall, Grass has grown tall in the university compound
The canteen in the backyard is now a mass of twisted corrugated sheets and rubble. Madhusudan Day, the owner of the canteen where many movements had been planned and many political ideas originated, was killed for his love of the students. His wife, son and daughter-in-law were also brutally murdered by the troops.
Students have decided to build the canteen anew on the wreckage. Madhusudan will not be back but his contribution to political life without him being a politician will be remembered.
The Office of the Registrar has reopened. Professors are reporting for their duties. But the students are yet to join their classes. They are more busy rebuilding their wrecked homes and shattered lives.
Reference: Hindustan Standard, 22.12.1971