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.
