The New Nation - Internet Edition

Habibullah Mizan

The Dhaka University Teachers` Association (DUTA) yesterday, in a statement, expressed satisfaction over the judgement of the court that acquitted four detained teachers and eleven students from the case of violation of state of emergency.

" The acquittal (teachers and students) has removed uncertainty and anxiety

among the teachers and students of Dhaka University," Prof Tazmery SA Islam, acting president, and Dr Mamun Ahmed, acting general secretary, said in a joint statement.

They, however, expressed concern over punishment of four students by the judgement.

They urged the government to withdraw all other cases immediately in order to maintain peace and congenial atmosphere for education in Dhaka University.

Meanwhile, general students and teachers of the university yesterday expressed their satisfactions over the government steps taken to release the detained students and teachers by withdrawing the cases and granting of Presidential mercy.

They said the decision was too late and other cases should also be withdrawn immediately in order to cool down the ongoing agitations in the different institutions across the country.

An observer termed the government steps a very 'dramatic move'.

Farhana Rahman Popy, a fourth-year student of the International Relations Department, told The New Nation that all parties should now work to bring normalcy on the campus forgetting the past.

Biplob , claiming himself a coordinator of the 'Anti Repression Students', which is leading the students agitation vowed to continue the movement until all the students were released unconditionally.

The teachers and students are fully innocent, he claimed.

However a teacher of Dhaka University on condition of anonymity said if the Emergency Power Rule was implemented properly, both teachers and students would not have been released so early.

He opined that the government had no other option than to release the detained academics and students.