Propagating radicalism, circulating anti-liberation narratives, and slaying rivals are the cornerstone of Islami Chhatra Shibir's politics, leading to bans on many campuses, alleged former student leaders who became victims of Shibir's gruesome attacks. Shibir, the student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami, continued the crimes due to the absence of proper documentation of those incidents of severing, the tendons of many university students with sharp weapons, revealed the survivors participating in a webinar held recently. Regarding the reason behind their attacks, the victims said Shibir activists were infuriated by initiatives they had undertaken to expose the 'radical, hardline, and extremist' views of the group, that was rejected by general students. As most such attacks were carried out during the last BNP-Jamaat tenure (2001-2006), lack of cheap Internet and absence of CCTV footage conspired with that dreaded outfit, they added. Rajshahi University (RU) campus witnessed horrific attacks by Shibir cadres who cut tendons of Bangladesh Chhatra League students. Dr Shah Alam, who enrolled in Rajshahi Medical College in 2004,  said Shibir leaders and activists became so violent following the BNP-Jamaat takeover in 2001 that they didn't even allow Chhatra League students to stay in their dormitories or take exams. Recalling the killing of another RU student Farque whose body was recovered from a manhole after Shibir cadres cut his tendons, Dr Alam said, “This happened even after Awami League returned to power back in 2009.” Read: Webinar: Former BCL leaders recount Shibir's 'violent politics' Dipak Pal, another former BCL leader of the Mymensingh Agricultural University unit, said, "In 2001, when I was a second-year student, a gang kept stabbing me until they thought that I went beyond all the pain.” “However, later, I was taken to Rajshahi Medical and underwent intensive treatment. Though I recovered, my body bears such marks.” They swooped on him after he rushed to a polling center where they snatched ballot boxes and kept stuffing ballots sealing with BNP-Jamaat's electoral symbol during the 2001 election, he added. Tonmoy Ahmed, former general secretary of Awami League's Buet unit, referring to a report by a newspaper, said, “A fake story was cooked up to criminalize me and my junior Arif Raihan Dwip that we beat an imam at a mosque on the campus. The reason they targeted us was that both of us were active in the youths' movement against the war criminals.” Days into the news getting published, Dwip was hacked to death by another BUET student. The attacker, now on bail, confessed that provocative sermons by one Imam influenced him to carry out the killing, Tonmoy added. Shibir, known as Islami Chhatra Sangha before Bangladesh's independence, actively helped Pakistani occupation forces in 1971 to commit genocide and other war crimes, the speakers added.

Former Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) leaders have recounted the "violent politics" of Islami Chhatra Shibir, the student wing of Jamaat e Islami, on university campuses. Three former BCL leaders, who "survived the brutal attacks of Islami Chhatra Shibir," shared their experiences at a webinar Tuesday. Abul Kalam Azad, a former Chittagong University BCL leader, said: "On May 15, 1999, as I left the exam hall, an armed gang of Shibir activists waylaid me and whisked me away by brandishing weapons. They dragged me to a brick kiln and beat me up mercilessly." "A senior student rushed to save me and begged the attackers to spare me. As I tried to flee, the Shibir activists dragged me back and almost smashed my head with bricks." Diagnosed with haemorrhage, Azad had to spend two years in treatment in Dhaka and India's Chennai. "I still suffer from mental trauma 23 years after the attack and have to consult doctors," Azad said. Tonmoy Ahmed, a former Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) student, has 130 stitches all over his body after he and his friend were mercilessly hacked with machetes near his village home during Eid. "Amar Desh published a cooked-up story implicating me and Arif Raihan Dweep, my fellow junior at BUET, for beating up an imam at a mosque on the campus who supplied food to a group of Islamists. In reality, we had just complained to the university about how an imam can be allowed to serve meals to radicals when the meals were meant for the students." A few days after the Amar Desh report, Dweep was hacked by a fellow student in broad daylight in his dormitory, said Tonmoy. "The attacker Meshbahuddin confessed before the magistrate that provocative sermons from a preacher invoked him to kill Dweep." Following 84 days of a battle between life and death Dweep succumbed to his injuries, Tonmoy added. "Months later when I was at my village home at Palashbari on Eid vacation, venturing out with friends at night, a microbus bearing Dhaka Metro number plate flanked by some bike riders emerged near a deserted market and attacked me," recalled Tonmoy. Tonmoy was rushed to a hospital where he underwent surgery. Even after he survived the surgery, attempts were on to eliminate him. A Shibir activist of the Rangpur Medical University unit was picked up when trying to gather information about his ward, he added.

Detective Branch of Police on Saturday arrested 18 suspected leaders and activists of Islami Chhatra Shibir, student wing of Jamaat e Islami, including Sheuli Aktar, a councillor of Meherpur Municipality, from a house in the district town.

Police arrested seven suspected leaders and activists of Islami Chhatra Shibir from a dormitory at Malotinagar in Bogura district town on charge of suspected sabotage activities.   The arrestees were identified as Shahin Alam, 24, Al Galif, 23, Zia Alam, 24, Abdul Kuddus, 25, Mehedi Hasan, 28, Golam Martuza, 27 and Yusuf Ali, 27. They hail from different districts.   Police conducted the drive at the dormitory and arrested seven people along with five sacks of jihadi books, laptop, computer and some sharp weapons, said Sanatan Chakraborty, additional superintendent of Bogura Police.   Sanatan said they had information that the arrestees gathered at the dormitory, owned by one Hamidul Haque Tota Mia, to carry out subversive activities, he said.   A case was filed in this connection.   Read Also: 11 Shibir men held in Jhenaidah

Police here on Friday arrested 16 leaders and activists of  Jamaat –e–Islami and Islami Chhatra Shibir from Charmohanpur area in Sadar upazila with cocktails and gunpowder.

Students of Dhaka University’s tourism and hospitality management department brought out a procession on the campus on Thursday protesting against the torture of four students by Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) leaders at Zahurul Haque hall.