Martyred Teachers: RU authorities ignore death anniversary

The 37th death anniversary of martyred Rajshahi University teacher Mir Abdul Quayyum passed off yesterday without any programme by the university authorities.
Several senior teachers said the authorities did not do anything in the recent past in memory of university teachers Prof Habibir Rahman, Prof Sukharanjan Samaddar and Mir Abdul Quayyum who borrowed martyrdom during the 1971 Liberation War.
Even the Department of Psychology, where Quayyum worked, took no initiatives to observe the day and let students know of his supreme sacrifice.
Despite the tradition of remembering martyred Quayyum at all events, the department observed its two-day Golden Jubilee in October without remembering him.
When Quayyum's daughter Dr Mahbuba Kaniz Keya, a teacher of the department, complained about it to the departmental academic committee (DAC), it was revealed that department Chairman Prof Nurullah had ordered scraping the event of remembering Quayyum from programme schedule.
Nurullah, also general secretary of Rajshahi city unit Bangabandhu Parishad and former convenor of pro-liberation Progressive Teachers Association at RU, apologised to DAC claiming it a 'lapse'.
But he did not mention martyred Quayyum's name in the apology resolution.
Several teachers said Nurullah is ambitious for the post of vice chancellor and is trying to get support of anti-liberation teachers who are dominant in RU administration.
“It [The deletion] was a mistake,” Prof Nurullah told The Daily Star.But the event was observed at the end of programme, he said referring to the one-minute silence that was observed in memory of the martyred intellectual.
RU Registrar Prof Muhammad Shafi said RU administration could not observe the Quayyum's martyrdom day due to its business in the ongoing admission procedure.
On November 25 in 1971, Pakistan occupation forces with the help of their local collaborators abducted 17 persons including Quayyum from their homes and later buried them alive on the bank of Padma River.
Rajshahi Mukhtijuddho Itihas Sangrakkhan Parishad observed the day in a small scale at a city community centre.

http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=64967