Staff Reporter:
Law Adviser Professor Dr Asif Nazrul yesterday congratulated all the winners and participants of the Dhaka University Central Students’ Union (DUCSU) polls held on Tuesday.
“Congratulations to the leaders of Chhatra Shibir on their victory in DUCSU elections. I also congratu-late the independent candidates who won, and all participants who accepted the results with respect,” he wrote in a post on his verified Facebook account.
Noting that the landslide victory of Chhatra Shibir was being analyzed from various perspectives, the Adviser wrote, “I want to say only one thing. This election marks the landslide defeat of the politics of tagging. During Sheikh Hasina’s regime, countless Shibir activists and general students were brutally persecuted with Shibir tags.”
Incidents of beating up on suspicion of Shibir and then handing over to the police were just like a rou-tine work, he added.
“I consistently opposed such repression. I faced various threats and attacks, but never stopped. I wrote a novel “Ami Abu Bakar” based on this theme in February 2024. The book was reprinted 11 times during the same Ekushey Book Fair,” Asif Nazrul wrote.
He added, “At that time, I didn’t fully realize why it resonated so deeply. Now I understand.”
The Adviser called upon the Shibir leaders to work inclusively with every stakeholder of the July Upris-ing.
Drawing on his personal experiences at Dhaka University, he said, “On my way to Jumma prayers, I often passed through Salimullah Hall. The dormitory looked like a slum – cots and mosquito nets scat-tered in the corridors, broken furniture in the verandas. The canteen resembled a soup kitchen, and the inside of the rooms hardly invited a look.”
Stressed the need for urgent reforms in the university’s residential facilities, Asif Nazrul said, “So many things are missing at Dhaka University, and there are so many problems. I hope that in this fascist-free Bangladesh, you will at least address some of the pressing issues faced by residential students.”
“My prayers are with you,” he wrote.
