| Shibir men run amok in Carmichael College Ransack house of principal, set fire to house of a teacher; college closed indefinitely Our Correspondent, Rangpur 
Rangpur Carmichael College was closed indefinitely yesterday as Islami Chhatra Shibir activists rampaged through the campus, torched the house of a teacher and a power substation, ransacked the college principal's house and vandalised several motor vehicles.
The Shibir workers roamed around the campus for nearly five hours since 10:00 in the morning and set fire to the house of Dr Hafizur Rahman, a professor of Mathematics and secretary of academic council of the college. They also ransacked the house of Dip Chandra Roy, the principal of the college, and vandalised his car.
The mob vandalised at least ten automobiles and set a power substation on fire. They also ransacked the academic building, damaged the furniture in it and destroyed official records of the college.
At around 3:00 pm in an emergency meeting presided over by Principal Dip Chandra Roy, the academic council of the college decided to suspend all classes of the college sine die and vacate all dormitories.
At the meeting, a number of teachers complained that a few teachers of the college have been aiding and abetting Shibir violence on the campus, said sources.
Principal Roy told The Daily Star, "Such violence on the campus is unprecedented and incidents of this sort did not take place here even during the Liberation War."
Male residents of the dormitories have been asked to leave the campus by 6:00pm yesterday while females by 8:00pm the same day, he added.
According to eyewitnesses, several hundred rioting Shibir activists led by Emdad, Abdullah Al Mamun, Rezaul Karim Rana and Mohammad Tareque brought out a procession on the campus, demanding that Rangpur Carmichael College be upgraded to university.
Police intercepted the procession at Lalbagh as it came out of the campus and headed towards the office of the deputy commissioner. The activists at this point locked in a clash with the police, injuring six police personnel including Additional Superintendent of Police Asaduzzaman and SI Saidul Islam, and four pedestrians.
Police lobbed ten rounds of tear shells near Modern point to disperse the agitators.
The police later raided the dormitories of the college and arrested at least 60 students -- most of whom were activists of Islami Chhatra Shibir.
Five cases were filed against the agitators under Emergency Power Rules.
Expressing his resentment over the violence on the campus, Dr Rezaul Hoque, former principal of Rangpur Carmichael College, said, "The people of Rangpur want an autonomous and full-fledged university. They don't want Carmichael College to be upgraded to university." Bangladesh Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS) is the student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami, the largest Islamic political party in Bangladesh. Although ICS is legal, and a member of legitimate organizations such as the International Islamic Federation of Student Organisations (IIFSO), Islami Chhatra Shibir is extremely militant and has been linked to numerous acts of violence over the years. In addition, the group has also been linked to a number of larger terrorist organizations both in Bangladesh, and internationally. Islami Chhatra Shibir was founded in 1941, along with the establishment of its parent group, the Jamaat-e-Islami. Today, the group has grown to be one of the largest Islamic student organizations in the world. Like the Jamaat-e-Islami, the ICS is an Islamic fundamentalist organization that seeks to establish an Islamic state in Bangladesh. The ICS has its main base of power in the universities of Bangladesh, most notably at Chittagong and Rajshahi. Furthermore, the group has a great deal of influence in the large madrassa (religious school) system throughout Bangladesh. Despite claims of legitimacy from the group, the ICS is undoubtedly a militant organization. The violence perpetrated by the ICS can generally be put into two categories. The first category involves inter-fighting between ICS and other student organizations on university campuses. The ICS's main rival on campuses is the Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL), student wing of the Awami League, a political opponent of Jamaat-e-Islami. Clashes between the BCL and ICS have caused numerous deaths over the year, most notably in July 2000 when suspected ICS members killed 6 BCL activists in a shooting attack in Chittagong. The second category of violence includes general terrorism beyond the borders of educational institutions. The ICS has been blamed for numerous terrorist attacks throughout Bangladesh, including the bombing of an Awami League rally in July 2001 that killed over 20 people. Although an ICS activist was arrested in connection with the incident, the man was later released, and ICS was never directly implicated. ICS has also been linked to several larger terrorist organizations. Many officials and news sources allege that the group is nothing more than a recruiting ground for Bangladeshi terrorist groups such as Harakat ul-Jihad-i-Islami and Jamatul Mujahedin, while others simply view ICS as a front for Jamaat-e-Islami terrorist operations. The ICS has also been linked to international groups such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda, but concrete linkages have never been proven, and these accusations usually come from Awami League politicians. In any case, Islamic militancy in Bangladesh has exploded over the past few years, and it does not seem far-fetched that ICS might have, or soon have, affiliations with these groups. ICS is an active student-militant organization with a large, but unknown amount of members. The group is currently dedicated to the establishment of an Islamic system of education in Bangladesh, and the foundation of an Islamic state in greater Bangladesh. Although the group enjoys legitimacy and support from many Bangladeshis, the ICS has shown no hesitation to use violence to further its aims. | |
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Comment by Allan J. Lichtman
