15 Student Politicians Murdered in 15 years (1985 – 2000) at Tejgaon Polytechnic Institute in Dhaka, Bangladesh

            The foot-soldiers in this democratic war are the students. It was a group of students that – with assistance from western donors – overthrew the last dictator, General Ershad. Tellingly, General Ershad had no student body in his political machinery. A violent student army is essential for political parties to survive the agitation of the opposition.

15 Students Murdered at Tejgaon Polytechnic Institute (Dhaka) in 15 years (1985 – 2000)
YEAR	STUDENT KILLED	POLITICAL AFFILIATION	MURDERED AT	AGE
2000	Zahid	Leader, Bangladesh Chatra League (BCL)	Hostel	below 18
1999	Sohel	Elected general secretary of students’ union in 1997	Near hostel	below 18
1998	Sajal	President, BCL unit	Campus	below 18
1996	Riyad	Convener, BCL unit of institute	In front of hostel	below 18
1995	Mizanur Rahman	Convener, Jatiyabadi Chatra Dal (JCD)	Within 200 yards of hostel	below 18
1992	Shakil Ahmed	General Secretary, JCD unit	Dormitory	below 18
1992	Rab	JCD leader	Campus	below 18
1992	Shahabuddin	JCD leader	Campus	below 18
1987	Sharif Hossain	General secretary, student union	In front of hostel	below 18
1985	Miniruzzaman Munir and 5 other activists	Leader and members of Jatiya Chatra Samaj	Campus	below 18

            In microcosm, the Tejgaon Polytechnic Institute’s  recent history of killings and revenge-killings among students illustrates the national problem. The students are used by political leaders to collect huge amounts of money through extortion: these are known as ‘tolls’. They are collected under duress from shops, businesses and local residents. Part of the money finds its way to the political parties and part is used to finance the reckless, high-spending, drug-filled lifestyle of stressed-out students who know they won’t live long. And we’re talking about students who are too young to vote – the age at which students pass from the institute is 18 - and yet carry guns and use them regularly. A further point to notice is that none of the students after the mid-80s belonged to General Ershad’s political party, the Jatiya Party. Whatever the demerits of the General, he preferred to deploy men with guns rather than boys with guns.

            Imagine, then, a network of lawless young men, protected by the two parties for their services during hartals and agitation – in short, two private armies – and you can piece together the jigsaw of seemingly inexplicable criminal acts as the throwing of acid on women.