Around 45 teachers under the banner of “White Panel Teachers of Dhaka University” took part in the programme that began at the foot of Aparajeya Bangla around 11:45am and ended around 1pm.
Describing Khaleda Zia as the ‘symbol of democracy in Bangladesh’, Prof ABM Obaidul Islam, convener of the panel, alleged that the government has imprisoned her only for ‘political reason’. “All the cases filed against Khaleda are false and politically motivated.”
Urging the government to release the BNP chief, he said, “No election without Khaleda Zia will be free, fair and acceptable. We hope the government will take steps to release her before the upcoming parliamentary elections and withdraw all the false cases against her.”
Demanding Khaleda’s immediate release, former convener of DU White Panel Teachers Prof Akhter Hossain Khan said, “The government fears Khaleda and that’s why they imprisoned her in a false case. But they don’t know that no dictator can stay for long. Today or tomorrow, people will surely give a befitting reply to the undemocratic authoritarian regime.”
Joint convener of the platform Prof Lutfur Rahman and Prof Morshed Hasan Khan, Prof Siddiqur Rahman Khan and Prof Md Abdur Rashid were present.