Progressive Students Alliance and Anti-Imperialist Students Union called a half-day general strike across the country for today for immediate arrest and trial of the perpetrators of rape and murder of Comilla college student Sohagi Jahan Tonu and an end to the culture of impunity.
The two student platforms brought out a torchlight procession on the Dhaka University campus and adjacent area on Sunday evening in favour of the strike.
In separate statements issued on Sunday, Communist Party of Bangladesh,
Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal and Bangladesh Students Union extended support to the strike.
Tonu, 19, also a second-year history student at Comilla Victoria Government College and a theatre activist, was raped and murdered inside Mainamati Cantonment in Comilla on March 20. The Police are yet to make any headway in the investigation into the case.
The torchlight procession was brought out from Teachers Student Centre of the Dhaka University that paraded Shahbagh intersection, Kataban, Nilkhet and ended at the base of Raju Sculpture in the evening.
Bangladesh Chhatra Federation general secretary Ashraful Alam Sohel said that the platforms would picket on the roads during the strike and take to the key streets.
He also urged the students of public universities to boycott classes today extending their supports to the strike.
Thirteen political parties including Communist Party of Bangladesh, Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal, and Ganashanghati Andolan expressed solidarity with the strike and said that they would also remain on the streets, he added.
Six women organisations – Bangladesh Nari Mukti Kendra, Nari Sanghati, Biplabi Nari Forum, Sromojibi Nari Maitri, Hill Women’s Federation and Biplabi Nari Mukti – also expressed solidarity with the strike, Sohel said.
New Age correspondent in Comilla reported that a human chain was formed in the town in support of today’s strike.
Source: New Age
