Staff Correspondent
Students of Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU) have issued a six-point ultimatum demanding that Vice-Chancellor A.K.M. Fazlul Haque Bhuiyan publicly apologize. The protesting students warned that if their demands are not met, the university could face a lockdown or even a blackout.
The six demands include: withdrawal of the hall-vacation order, ensuring proper facilities in the halls, resignation of the Proctorial Board within 24 hours, a public apology from the Vice-Chancellor for the attack, punishment of the teachers and outsiders involved in the attack, and provision of combined degrees.
Earlier, on Sunday, around 200 teachers and officials were held hostage by students, during which outsiders attacked, leaving ten people—including journalists and students—injured. In response, an emergency Syndicate meeting declared the university closed indefinitely and ordered students to vacate the halls.
Students ignored the hall-vacation order and staged rallies from the halls in the morning, issuing the six-point ultimatum on campus. Proctor Professor Abdul Alim said efforts are underway to control the situation through dialogue with the students.
Bangladesh Agricultural University has nine halls for male students and five for female students, accommodating around 6,500 students in total.