Chittagong Government Commerce College tense

The ruling party backed Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) and the Opposition backed Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) are at loggerheads over establishing supremacy on the college campus.

Both the student wings may lock in bloody clashes anytime causing loss of lives, students of the college feared.

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JCD attempted four times to occupy the college during the current month. BNP's student wing, in collaboration with police attacked general students as well as leaders of BCL at the college compound twice injuring about 20 students, it was alleged.

On Sunday, police and JCD jointly beat up the activists of BCL entering at the campus forcibly when seven activists of BCL were injured.

Police, without any cause, went to the campus and resorted to baton charge on the BCL activists. At that time the JCD cadres led by its city unit president Moshaffar Hossain Dipti also beat them up.

JCD cadres along with outsiders went to the campus for three times in the current month.

According to a reliable source, JCD and BCL cadres have allegedly been accumulating a huge number of illegal firearms around the college campus.

Both the student organisations collected a number of sophisticated firearms allegedly including AK-47 and M-16 rifle. The leaders handed over the arms to new cadres in a bid to capture the college.

A huge amount of toll money is being collected at the campus which is the main reason to establish supremacy on the campus.

During the last regime of AL its front organisation BCL collected near about a crore of taka as toll from the business establishments in the area.

After takeover of the BNP government, JCD became desperate to occupy the college in order to get ilegal toll money from the area.

Two students belonging to Islami Chhatra Sena were killed allegedly by the cadres of Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS) at Commerce College in 1987. After the killing the ICS established their supremacy at the college. But they were ousted after 1992 from the campus and BCL captured it.

In the recent time JCD targeted two colleges and conducted showdowns during the last couple of weeks.

Plice have been working as an associate force of the JCD activists, BCL sources alleged.

The college unit of BCL president Helaluddin alleged that JCD is trying to capture the campus forcibly and spoil the peaceful atmosphere.

When contacted, the BCL city unit steering committee member Hasan Murad Biplob told The Daily Star that JCD is trying to upset the normalcy at the educational institutions in the port city with their outsider cadres under police protection.

"BCL will foil any attempt to occupy the Commerce College. We also call upon the genuine students to enter at the campus so that peaceful co-existence can be ensured".

Newly formed JCD city committee general secretary Rasel said to this correspondent we want peaceful co-existence of all student organisations and help create a congenial academic atmosphere in educational institutions.

However, police denied their association with JCD leaders and activists and said they went to the college 'only to avert any untoward situation'.