Last day of exam, last day of life

It was January 8, 2012. Like other days, Zubair Ahmed wanted to leave the campus safely after taking his last exam of honours final. But his rivals had other plans.

Having taken the test, the Patuakhali boy was about to leave after taking a cup of tea with his friends. 

As he finished the tea around 4:30pm, several Chhatra League activists asked him to go with them to the nearly library gate. From there, they dragged him behind the Wajed Ali Science building, a relatively isolated area.

A few others joined the group and together they beat him with iron roads and left him there to bleed profusely.

He succumbed to his wounds next morning in the capital's United Hospital.  

Zubair, who got involved in student politics only after his admission to the university in 2008, is a victim of factional feud on the JU campus, where at least five students have lost lives over internal conflicts since 1973, reports our university correspondent. 

Zubair himself belonged to a BCL faction, and along with some activists of the group took control over the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman hall in June 2010, ousting the rival group. Only a year later, his rivals took control of the hall, ousting him and his fellow BCL men.

After that he rented a room at nearby Radio Colony and used to attend classes from there.

"He was not in politics in his school and college life. It was the university that dragged him into politics," said Zubair's elder brother Abdullah Al Mamun.

"Zubair was my only brother. My parents wanted him to be a police officer or a civil servant," added Mamun, teacher at a private university.