Editorial
Clashes in Bogra university college
Campus violence bodes ill for all students
Campus violence, a festering wound that shows no sign of healing, once again brought academic life at Bogra Azizul Haque University College to a standstill on Sunday, when BCL and Shibir activists got embroiled in a bloody clash. Apparently, the whole thing was triggered by the two student groups taking out processions and counter processions following a news item in a Bangla daily, a copy of which was burnt by BCL elements.
It is the use of firearms and other lethal weapons that is cause for great concern when it comes to strident student politics. While the two sides have claimed that many of their supporters were injured in the clashes, it has been reported that at least two of them sustained bullet wounds. As many as 22 students landed in hospital, several with serious injuries.
The university-college authorities have done what is usually resorted to under such circumstances. Classes have been suspended and dormitories vacated to defuse tension. Well, such actions might indeed be necessary when gunfights take place on the campus. But a deeper look into the matter will surely reveal that such defensive postures actually amount to a capitulation to the forces out to spoil the academic atmosphere on the campus. If a section of unruly elements can force the closure of the university, then general students can only bemoan their fate.
And it is these general students who stand to lose when academic activities are suspended. When classes are not held, session jams become unavoidable. And the poor guardians of the innocent students have to pay heavily for academic sessions being unduly prolonged. Besides, such clashes may have spillage effects over other educational institutions.
The hazards associated with turning the academic arena into a testing ground of political strength are too obvious. The leaders of political parties, who have committed themselves time and again to ending campus violence, would have to step in to restore academic atmosphere on the campus.
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