DC, SP visits campus to free VC Shariful
- Students warned VC not to come to the campus
The DC and SP are escorting the newly appointed Vice-Chancellor away after arriving on the campus. Photo: Roni Dey
New Vice-Chancellor Sheikh Shariful Alam, who entered CUET by breaking padlock of his office and got besieged, was rescued by the District Commissioner and Superintendent of Police of Chittagong after 34 hours.
He left the campus Tuesday evening in an ambulance under police escort. At that time, protesting students were telling people present there that they let go the VC only on the condition that he would not return to CUET.
After Professor Dr. Abu Sadeq Muhammad Sayem was removed from the post of Vice-Chancellor of Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology and Sheikh Shariful Alam was posted as VC which angered the students. They announced that they would not accept the new CUET VC.
Meanwhile, around 8:45 am on Monday, Shariful Alam went to CUET in a microbus with the president of the CUET Chhatra Dal and a group of leaders of the organization. Along with him were CUET Chhatra Dal president Wasif and a dozen of various leaders and senior students.
When they broke the padlock hung by the protesting students and got inside the Vice-Chancellor's office, the students besieged them. They disconnected the electricity and water connections of the office.
In the midst of this situation, this evening the District Commissioner and Superintendent of Police arrived on the CUET campus with a large number of police personnel.
At 6:20 pm, VC Shariful Alam was taken out of the campus in an ambulance. The 11 others who were besieged along with the VC also came out. At that time, there was police motorcade escorting VC's ambulance. The cars of DC and SP were also in the same convoy.
At that time, District Commissioner Mohammad Zahidul Islam Miah told journalists, "The VC is an elderly person. He has been besieged here for two days."
"VC sir is unwell, so we came to take him away. He has asked for medical assistance. As a respected person, we want to take him and those who are with him for medical treatment without leaving them at risk of illness."
When the besieged Vice-Chancellor was being taken out, student Arnab said in front of the DC and SP, "We have released our new VC on one condition—he will not come to this campus again."
Expressing anger toward the new VC, Asadullah Galib, a student of the university's 21st batch, said, "When our brothers were attacked in the city, where was the administration? How does a VC enter the campus by breaking the padlock? We want justice for the attack on buses and the attack on students."
Regarding keeping the VC besieged, he said, "We had given VC sir an ultimatum until 12 midnight, but he did not come out. We did not cut off water and gas supply lines. They asked for medicine, we gave it. They asked for water and food, we gave it."
New Vice-Chancellor After 56 Days
On September 21, the Vice-Chancellor of Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology was changed after only 56 days. Professor Sheikh Shariful Alam of Khulna University of Engineering and Technology (KUET) was appointed as the new Vice-Chancellor in place of Professor Abu Sadeq Muhammad Sayem, who had been appointed as Vice-Chancellor on July 27.
The Secondary and Higher Education Division and the Engineering University Branch of the Ministry of Education issued a notification in this regard. Sheikh Shariful Alam had been a professor in the Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering at KUET.
The reason for the sudden change of Vice-Chancellor was not mentioned in the notification. The teachers and students of CUET did not take such a change after 56 days lightly. They have been protesting demanding the removal of the new VC.
