Pressure from Shibir: RU authorities allow Salehi to take exams

RU Correspondent

Rajshahi University (RU) authorities allowed RU Islamic Chhatra Shibir (ICS) President Mahbub Alam Salehi to take the master's exams of Geology and Mining Department yesterday following pressure from the student body.

Salehi, an accused in the murder case filed after the killing of Prof S Taher Ahmed on February 1, had gone into hiding earlier. The police are still looking for him after preliminary investigations indicated his involvement in the murder.

Many people, mostly outsiders, staged a demonstration on the campus and laid siege to the university main gate for an hour demanding Salehi be allowed to sit for the exams. They also chanted slogans against university authorities and the department chairman concerned who were trying to prevent him from taking the exams.

The department authorities had earlier said Salehi would not be allowed to sit for the exams as he had attended classes only one day and he was a criminal in police records.

A group of ICS men led by former RU ICS president Rezaul Karim laid siege to the office of RU Vice-chancellor (VC) Prof Altaf Hossain in the morning as the VC and the department authorities had a closed door meeting inside the office.

Sources said the VC at first gave verbal permission for Salehi's taking the exams but gave a written permission later after the teachers of the department concerned mounted pressure on him for the written permission.

Rajshahi police earlier sought cooperation from the university administration to arrest Salehi in connection with the Taher murder case.

A teacher of Geology and Mining Department told The Daily Star that he was disappointed at the 'surrender of university administration to the Shibir threat'. He said it was painful for him to see a killer of his senior colleague allowed to sit for exams rather than being punished.