12 teachers at DB office in search of coordinators, Harun declines to meet

A delegation of 12 teachers belonging to the University Teachers’ Network went to the Detective Branch (DB) office at Minto Road in the capital on Saturday (July 27) afternoon to inquire about three coordinators of Anti-Discriminatory Students Movement.

However, DB police chief Mohammad Harun-ar-Rashid declined to meet the teachers on the ground of his “busy schedule.”

The teachers went to the DB office at Minto Road at around 4:00pm on Saturday (July 27). They stayed there up to 20 minutes. Subsequently, the teachers left the place failing to meet Harun.

Dhaka University’s Mass Communication and Journalism Department’s Professor Giti Ara Nasrin told reporters that they went to the DB office being worried about the students on behalf of the University Teachers’ Network. “We have learnt from media that three ailing students of our university have been brought here from Ganashasthya Hospital for ‘their additional safety.’ We have come here to know why they have been brought here from the hospital.”
Expressing regret, she also said: “When we arrived here, the office head (DB’s Harun-ar-Rashid) was inside. He was also informed. But he declined to meet us though we were told from inside the office to talk to him stopping his car.”

Professor Giti Ara Nasrin said: “We’re university teachers. We’re also the guardians of our students. So, why should we try to know about our students from someone by intercepting his car? It’s desirable that the entire incident should be very transparent. We would be told about our students what happened to them. But, he didn’t show minimum courtesy to talk to us.”

Dhaka University’s Social Science Department’s associate professor Samina Lutfa said, “The three arrested coordinators are our students. We are concerned about everything of them — right from their treatment to other things. It is our responsibility. Because of it, we have come here to inquire about them. They could hand over the students to our custody if they faced lack of safety.”

She further said he (Harun-ar-Rashid) didn’t meet them deliberately. “I think it was a very discourteous behaviour from his part. We, 12 teachers have come here, but he doesn’t have enough time to meet us. Even, he could inform us showing courtesy, but he didn’t do that. It was not right.”

The 12-member University Teachers’ Network delegation comprised of Dhaka University’s Mass Communication and Journalism Department’s Professor Giti Ara Nasrin, International Relations Department’s professor Tanjim Uddin Khan, Social Science Department’s associate professor Samina Lutfa, Economics Department’s associate professor Rushad Faridi, Mass Communication and Journalism Department’s assistant professor Kajli Shehrin Islam, Jahangirnagar University’s Professor Mirza Taslima Sultana and Professor Sayeed Ferdous, Khulna University’s Professor Abdullah Harun Chowdhury, Jagannath University;s teacher Arani Shemanti Khan, BRAC University’s lecturer Saimum Reza, University of Liberal Arts teacher Oliur San and University of British Columbia’s teacher Tamara Maksud.