Character assassination: Who is next?

On June 16 and 17, nine 'eminent citizens' had collectively protested the acts against Professor Ahmed through the print media. Every one knows that the nine signatories have been serving the nation in distinguished capacities over the last half a century. Through this protest they tried to restore the reputation of one of their colleagues currently under threat on a flimsy ground. Through this media release they tried to let the nation know the truth about a highly respected professor.

The case of Professor Muzaffar Ahmed clearly suggests that this is a new ploy against the nation, against the civil society and above all against the integrity of a university academic. Unfortunately, nowadays, all the campuses are divided along political party lines. In this environment, attack from outside both in physical and intellectual terms have been common in the campuses. Although the majority of the academics are not politically motivated along party lines, only a handful of them with neutral stand have the courage and dedication to keep the interest of the civil society alive.

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The enemies of the civil society have been taking full advantage of this divide in all campuses and have now started character assassination of honest and dedicated members. In this regard, even the high profile academics with political colour do not escape from the wrath of the outsiders. For example, the recent case of the UGC chairman immediately comes to mind. The readers would recall that Professor Assaduzaman was a victim of some controversies few weeks earlier. The way Professor Zaman's case was reported in the media seemed simply unprofessional. It is now clear that all the details about this controversy were made available to the media by the courtesy of his professional rivals at his former place of work. Even a layman would understand why the UGC chairman had been a target of character assassination.

As I recall, the major aims of these two distinguished academics in the past was to combat corruption in all walks of life. Professor Ahmed, in particular, during the last ten years has been fighting corruption through the formation of TIB, while Professor Zaman has been trying recently to root out corruption from both public and private university campuses.

In view of the above, it is clear now that no one is safe from the activities of the vested interests whether one does or does not follow a particular party line. By all means, this is an alarm bell for the campuses. We know that, in recent years, there were some politically driven academic appointments in almost all universities. However, we know well that the majority of the academics have entered this profession on their own merits. The time has come for the majority to join the 'eminent nine' to protest the actions of the vested groups. If we don't, who knows who would be the next victim?

The physical extermination of academics at campuses began during the liberation movement and this has continued. The latest victim of this atrocity was Professor Taher of Rajshahi University. Since 1971, none of the perpetrators has been caught and punished for such gruesome crimes. With the courtesy of the selfish politics, some of the alleged assassins were elected to the Republic's parliament and have been ministers since 2001.

In this environment, the high profile academics must forget their political affiliation for the greater interest of the profession and unite to maintain the sanctity of the campuses at any cost. Without a strong bond and unity among the genuine academics, it will be impossible to prevent the politically appointed part-time educators from capturing the administration. We must recognise the fact that already the campuses are infested with bogus educators without adequate credentials to become university teachers. The future of higher education in the country is now at stake. It is time to think seriously about keeping the campuses free of national politics and thus avoid becoming hostage to so called academics.

Finally, may I remind our civil society leaders a quote from Jean Sibelius that "Pay no attention to what the critics say....... Remember, a statue has never been set up in honour of a critic!"

Dr Moazzem Hossain is a freelance contributor.