Editorial
Police action on students
Excesses will only complicate the situation
The police action on Dhaka University students, who were demanding resignation of the home minister and the state minister in the sequel to the attack on Dr Humayun Azad, left at least 100 injured on Wednesday. The students' response to the emotive issue of the physical assault on the teacher and writer, which has drawn an avalanche of condemnation from all quarters, has met with bludgeoning on the part of the law enforcers. And the role played by the JCD activities in quashing the protests suggests that the pro-government students outfit has decided to handle the matter politically. Journalists performing their professional duties were manhandled, too. The incidents took an ugly turn as the girls among the demonstrators were also beaten up. The stone-pelting students finally took refuge at the Curzon Hall, but they still could not escape police action, which amounted to palpable excesses. The police version of the incidents does not tally with that of the students. That is not really surprising, but photographs and reports carried by the newspapers do indicate that the riot police unleashed its full might against the students, though one expected that the law enforcers would deal with the situation in a judicious manner. Wednesday's incidents were a sequel to what had happened the day before, and it's likely that the students will organise more protests and rallies to bring into focus the repression that they have been subjected to. It has all the makings of a prolonged agitation and that's why the apprehension that if the JCD meddled in and the police acted with more brawn than brain things could get infinitely more complicated. The high-ups in the ruling alliance should have asked them why the students are demanding resignation of the home minister and state minister for home, instead of going in for a counteroffensive on a scale that could only put violence on a spiral. It is an alarming situation that the government should handle judiciously without being oblivious of the fact that there was ample reason for the students to be greatly perturbed by the attack on a teacher.
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