Death most unacceptable

The skirmish between the students of the two institutes began following a trivial incident but because of inept handling of the situation by the authorities concerned it blew out of proportion. The police inexplicably at one stage opened fire on students, allegedly without seeking permission from a magistrate, while they were demonstrating on the Sylhet-Sunamganj Road on Friday. As many as seven SUST students received bullet wounds and among them Shamim later died. We are further perturbed to learn as well that the condition of two of the bullet-hit students is critical.

Two things are clearly evident from the tragic incident. One, complete failure of the university authorities to pre-empt a minor incident from developing in to a catastrophe; and secondly, disrespect for human life on the part of the police. The propensity on the part of the men in uniform to pull the trigger at little or no provocation has numerous ominous manifestations for social order and democracy. It beats all rationale as to why the police cannot apply other acceptable methods to deal with commotion being used all over the world? Why and how they get away without having to face severe punishment after causing grievous injury or death to a citizen of the country needs to be answered by the relevant authorities?

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We notice with grave concern that pent-up student grievances or mishandling of a minor situation by the administration results in eruption of student angst. We feel that serious thoughts ought to be given to this phenomenon and a suitable consultative mechanism should be put in place at the educational institutions.