Thaindian News

Dhaka, April 5 (IANS) Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has ordered a crackdown on her party Awami League’s student wing that is accused of increasingly indulging in criminal activities since she took office in January.
The party’s presidium, the highest policy making body, decided Saturday that she would quit the post as the ‘guardian’ of the Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL).

The BCL cadres clashed with those from the rival parties, particularly the Islami Chhatra Shibir of the Jamaat-e-Islami, and also engaged in internal factional feuds in several institutions across the country.

Warnings by Hasina have not worked and she has been criticised by the opposition parties for allowing her student cadres to run berserk.

Hasina has directed law enforcement agencies to take stern action against those involved in criminal activities and extortion, no matter which organisation they belong to, AL spokesperson Syed Ashraful Islam told the media.

“She (Hasina) will no more be the organisational chief of Chhatra League as the (party) presidium has decided so,” he said.

Hasina and other leaders of her party are annoyed and worried about the recent violence and criminal activities at different educational institutions, The Daily Star said quoting sources.

The official, also a minister, said a countrywide crackdown on violence by students or in the name of students had begun.

BCL factions recently engaged in clashes at Jahangirnagar University, Dhaka Medical College, Dhaka University and Jagannath University mainly over establishing supremacy on the campus. These incidents have led to the closure of several institutions, causing embarrassment to the government.