Dhaka University administration’s meeting with the leaders of several student organisations on Saturday exposed that Shadik Kayem, whom general students identified as an organiser of the anti-discrimination student movement, was the president of the DU unit of Islami Chhatra Shibir, the student wing of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami.
The issue went viral on social media after DU vice-chancellor Professor Niaz Ahmed Khan along with two pro-VCs, the treasurer, and the proctor had held meetings with 10 student organisations to discuss political activities by teachers, students and employees on the campus.
Student movement organiser Shadik Kayem attended the meeting as the president of the DU unit of Chhatra Shibir though the organisation had no visible activities on the campus for over a decade.
Some student organisations, after beginning the meeting, raised objections about the presence of Chhatra Shibir’s representative in the meeting with the university administration. Many participants proposed reforms and suggested holding the Dhaka University Central Students’ Union election instead of banning politics on the campus.
DU unit of Revolutionary Student Unity president Nuzia Hasin Rasha said that none of the student organisations knew whether there was anyone from the Dhaka University unit of Chhatra Shibir active on the campus.
‘After beginning the meeting, the president of the Dhaka University unit of Shibir revealed himself. So, we wanted to know how the vice-chancellor knew the identity of the Shibir president beforehand. However, the VC avoided this question in the meeting,’ she said.
A leader of one of the student organisations present in the meeting said that, according to the convention of Dhaka University’s Environment Council after the 1990 mass uprising, Chhatra Shibir and Chhatra Samaj were banned on DU campus.
‘Today, that agreement is ignored,’ the student leader told , seeking anonymity.
Mozammel Haque, organizing secretary of the Socialist Students’ Front, said they had demanded an immediate convening of the Environmental Council meeting and taking steps for holding DUCSU elections.
General students at DU claimed that Shadik Kayem, the president of the DU unit of Chhatra Shibir, was an organiser in the anti-discrimination student movement.
Despite repeated attempts, central student coordinators Hasnat Abdullah, Sarjis Alam and Abdul Kader could not be reached over the telephone for comments.
In a Facebook post at about 8:00pm on Sunday, Abdul Kader, a coordinator of the anti-discrimination student movement, revealed that Chhatra Shibir’s Dhaka University secretary Farhad was involved in drafting the nine-point demand of the protesting students during the movement.
