The University of Asia Pacific (UAP) authorities have announced an indefinite closure of the university a day after two teachers were expelled for ‘protesting’ by students on charges of ‘insulting religion’.
This information was communicated in an emergency notification and mailed to students around 3 pm on Monday.
Yesterday, Sunday, January 18, an emergency notice signed by the university’s registrar announced the dismissal of the teachers later in the evening. One of those expelled is Layka Basheer, Assistant Professor of Basic Science and Humanities. Another associate professor of the same department. A. S. M. Mohsin
The two expelled teachers claimed that they were subjected to extreme oppressive behavior by the university authorities and were not even given the opportunity to defend themselves.
Meanwhile, the university authorities claimed that even though the teachers have now been expelled, there are many ‘pre-existing’ allegations against them.
What happened?
Due to the incident, the decision to close this private university of Dhaka for an indefinite period, the expulsion decision came yesterday, but the main incident started earlier.
what happened BBC Bangla spoke to accused Laika Bashir, university authorities, and even those who were present at the scene yesterday for and against.
It is clear from both the protester and the accused that the controversy started over a Facebook post on December 10.
There teacher Layka Bashir wrote that she is against veiling all faces.
In his words, “covering the whole body, wearing hand-socks, foot-socks, no problem. But the face must be shown. Even in religion, as far as I know, it is not said to mummify the whole face.”
“A lot of women students sit in university classes these days with their faces covered. It seems rude to me,” she added.
He believes, this face-mask culture will undoubtedly increase the level of crime in the society.
Even though the privacy settings of Miz Bashi’s post was set to ‘Friends’ only, somehow the screenshot of the post went viral and many UAP students started insulting, threatening and threatening her inbox-comments from real or fake Facebook IDs.
Later I forced myself to post only me,” he said.
Miz Bashir gave a screenshot of his post to the BBC. It was written at the end of the post, he wrote the article in the context of the recent double murder incident in Dhaka’s Mohammadpur.
But due to constant insults, attacks and threats from many unknown Facebook IDs, he made another post on the same subject on December 17 after seven days and apologized through that post if anyone was hurt by his words. He also said that what he has written is his personal opinion and has nothing to do with UAP.
“Still, Facebook groups and pages of UAP ex-students started writing in my name. Photocards were made in my name. I was misrepresented. It was said that I spread religious beliefs in the class, forced a girl to remove her veil… Then the VC called me one day and asked me to resign.”
He has been teaching in this university for 17 years and said that he did not resign after listening to the VC. Rather, seek time from the university in the presence of the VC, Pro-VC, Deans, Proctors, Chairperson of the Board of Trustees and other higher-ups.
“On that day, I made it clear that I am supposed to protect you in this situation, instead of doing that, you are asking for my resignation…Meanwhile, an inquiry committee was formed and the investigation of that committee is still ongoing. But I was expelled before the investigation was completed.”
The university authorities said that yesterday’s situation is largely responsible for this decision.
Because the new semester classes started yesterday and a group of common students or alumni had already announced that they would check if Miz Bashi took the class.
“They formed a huge mob. They brought sound speakers. They held a press conference. Later in the evening they decided to go on strike. Then around 8 pm the Pro Vice-Chancellor announced the termination… They had other issues too. But they brought me forward. They said, if I get rid of the university, the university will be free from Islamophobia,” said Miz Bashir.
It should be noted here that in many private universities students can evaluate their teachers usually after the end of the semester.
Miz Bashir was also evaluated in the same manner in that semester. But beyond that, “a separate Google form was recently mailed to students to inform them of the allegations against Layka Bashir,” said Layka Bashir herself, her students, and even the university authorities.
What students are saying
Jamshed Qutb Pasha, a former student of the university, was one of the spokespersons for the protest that took place at the University of Asia Pacific (UAP) yesterday.
He told the BBC he had no political affiliation. He was at the forefront of the protest on behalf of ordinary students and said, “There is an issue of Islamophobia behind the expulsion of Laika Bashir. As a result of that, the movement started on some internal issues of the campus. The main thing is our complaint against Laika Bashir, she posted a post saying that it will increase crime proneness.”
He claims that since that post, many female students say that “Layka Bashir’s ma’am is not talking like this now. They are already faking it. We have proof.”
Besides, “Seculars always talk differently about Qurbani. He also wants to talk like it’s killing animals for fun. He used to taunt the rules of Islam. So, after his post, victims are starting to talk.”
Meanwhile, where is the objection to the issue of Laika Bashir, another expelled teacher?
When asked, the former student said, “He also has Islamophobia. But his main issue is A-League involvement. He recently gave a love reaction to Sajeeb Wazed Jai’s shutdown type Facebook post. We are recording them.”
Besides, a book fair was organized in this university in November 2024 after the July coup. At there. S. M. Mohsin allowed a book called ‘History of Awami League’ to be kept and told the students, “This book will not move from here.”
After the Jatiya Nagrik Party – NCP went to Gopalganj last year and also about the attack and the casualties, “Sir expressed regret on Facebook that he could not accept the situation of casualties in Gopalganj. So, these are the main issues in his case.”
It should be noted that they have also asked for the resignation of the VC for being associated with the Awami League.
Meanwhile, BBC Bangla has spoken to several current students who are against the expulsion of the two teachers. But none of them want to be named.
One such student commented, “There was a reform protest on the campus after the 5th of August. Many people presented demands and wanted the resignation of the VC. Later, a group ran a campaign, Laika Bashir tagged him as an anti-Islam and Shahbagi, an atheist. He was being threatened in various ways. After that, a press conference was held on the campus tomorrow, and a mob was created.”
This student said that among those who were present at the protest, there were few ordinary students. Those who were, were mostly former and “politically motivated groups. Groups like Shibir or Hizb ut Taheri. They had programs like this in universities before.”
Another student expressed frustration, “We want a proper investigation. This unrest should be resolved. But these allegations have been coming since August 5.”
‘Condemnation’ of the university’s decision
When asked about this, the acting registrar of the university, who heads the department of English, Associate Professor Takad Ahmed Chowdhury, told the BBC, “You can understand, tomorrow (January 18) the demand of the students… this demand has been going on for a long time, yesterday it just got bigger and finally things went to that place.”
So what students ‘under pressure’ university forced to take this decision?
When asked, he replied, “It’s not about yielding to pressure… there were some previous incidents and the university was already in the process of arranging it.”
He also said that although earlier there were some oral allegations against Laika Bashir and evidence in her favour, this is the first written complaint and after the complaint “the university constituted an inquiry committee and that committee was functioning properly. But yesterday the situation was such that this decision had to be taken.”
Asked about the decision taken before the end of the investigation, he said, “I am in charge at the moment, I cannot say anything without seeing the file.”
Regarding this incident, the Vice-Chancellor of the University Professor Mohiuddin Ahmed Bhuiyan told BBC Bangla, “It is true that the committee was working. The report will be submitted tomorrow. Trouble was already going on over sensitive issues. And the four members of the committee are teachers here. The allegations were confirmed. So due to the situation I have already given it”.
“Our service manual has clauses. Action has been taken accordingly. This is part of my service manual. That clause was also mentioned in the appointment letter. Using that, we have taken the measures”, said Professor Mohiuddin Ahmed Bhuiyan.
Meanwhile, Professor Samina Lutfa of the Department of Sociology of Dhaka University commented that this decision of the university is “extremely disgusting, UAP could have solved it earlier if it wanted.”
He felt, “The way this whole case has been handled, it is a terrible thing for any university administration. They have violated all the rights of a teacher at every step, starting from the formation of the inquiry committee. The committee has been formed and called for open complaint. But there should be investigation, fact finding, charges.”
According to this teacher, the public university trying to practice the same thing could not be fully facilitated. But now private universities are also trying to do the same. “Those who use religion as a political weapon are using it.”
In this context Laika Bashir also said, “I have not done anything for which you can do this to me. The investigation is going on, the committee has been formed. This decision cannot be taken in the middle. They have broken the law. If this is an example, it will happen in private universities too.”
Meanwhile, today the University Teachers Network released a press release titled ‘Condemnation and protest against the rioters and the arbitrary role of the university administration’.
https://www.bbc.com/bengali/articles/czr411661k6o?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss
