Protests at SUST over attack on Zafar Iqbal
Teachers Association of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUSTTA) and Sammilito Sanskritik Jote are set to stage separate demonstrations on the campus on Sunday protesting the attack on the noted writer and SUST teacher Professor Dr Muhammed Zafar Iqbal.
Leaders of teacher association, at a press briefing at SUST Press Club in the morning, said they will form a human chain in front of central library of the university around 11:00am.
Later, general students under the banner of Sammilito Sanskritik Jote will form a human chain in front of central library around 12:00pm, protesting the attack on Dr Muhammed Zafar Iqbal, said organisers at the SUST press club on Saturday night.
Earlier on Saturday, leaders of SUST Press Club strongly condemned and protested the attack on the noted writer.
In a joint statement, press club president Abdullah Al Mansur and general secretary Foyzullah Wasif demanded capital punishment of the perpetrator.
Dr Zafar Iqbal, who was seriously injured in the knife attack on the campus on Saturday afternoon, is now undergoing treatment at the Combined Military Hospital in Dhaka.
SUST Assistant Proctor Abu Hena Pahil said a young man, aged around 24-25, swooped on Zafar Iqbal around 5:40pm while he was delivering his speech on the closing day of a two-day celebration programme, ‘Robofight,’ of the Electrical and Electronic Engineering (EEE) department at Mukta Mancha.
The celebrated writer was first taken to Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College and kept at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) where doctors said he was out of danger.
Later, Zafar Iqbal was airlifted to the Combined Military Hospital in Dhaka after 10pm following the directive of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.