‘Deprived’ BCL leaders halt protest on assurance

The faction of Bangladesh Chhatra League “deprived” of posts in the central committee have halted their protests on assurance that steps will be taken.

Representatives of both factions had a long meeting last night and the decision to halt came after the meeting.

Together, they went to the political office of Awami League President Sheikh Hasina in Dhanmondi around 9:30am and had meeting with senior party leaders.

From what could be known, talks were held with Joint General Secretaries Jahangir Kabir Nanak and Abdur Rahman, and Organising Secretaries Bahauddin Nasim and Mozammel Haque. Their talks went on for a couple of hours last night, sources said.

After all the meetings, the “deprived” factions called off their sit-in programme.

Saif Babu, spokesperson of the “deprived” faction and former publicity affairs secretary of BCL, said the assurance of the senior leaders prompted them to call of the protest around 1:30am.

Awami League’s student body Chhatra League on May 13 announced its 301-member full central committee that sparked an instant outrage among a faction of its activists.

They alleged, married, non-student, businessmen, drug abusers and dealers have been included in the committee ignoring dedicated leaders and activists.

At least 200 deprived leaders and activists staged demonstration on the Dhaka University campus that day, protesting the inclusion of controversial persons in the central committee.

At that time, at least 20 BCL activists were hurt in an attack carried out by followers of many securing posts. An attempt to hold a press conference at Madhur Canteen in the evening was foiled in the attack.

Source: thedailystar