Aftermath of the Dhaka Attack: Private university students paying high price

It was, indeed, a night of terror not just for a bunch of them but also for all Bangladeshis. Yet, the uproar the night triggered would prove to be extraordinarily relevant for the students of private universities across the county .

On the night of 1st July, a group of terrorists slaughtered twenty four people, mostly foreigners, after having had taken them hostages two hours before at Holey Artisan Bakery in Gulshan, a posh area of the capital, Dhaka.

The aftermath of the attack paints a brutal landscape for the country as a whole. Its horrifying nature severely tainted Bangladesh’s image as a tolerant Muslim-majority country.

Future of the precious $28 billion garment industry, for example, is now at stake, with foreign buyers refusing to visit Dhaka and expats having fled in drove.

But for the students of private universities, the attack brought in a further extent of strain.

“Things are not the same they were before,” says Sakib Mridha, a student of Daffodil International University (DIU), which has 13,679 active students, according to its submission to the University Grants Commission (UGC).

Sakib went to Dongseo University, South Korea in March this year under a student exchange program. When the hostage situation was unfolding in Dhaka, he couldn’t sleep a wink at his room in Busan.

After returning home in late July, he noticed tightened measures taken everywhere — from airport to university campus. For example, he says, virtually anyone could enter his campus before he left the country, but after the attack nobody is allowed to go inside without wearing an ID card.

With heightened security measurers came further undue harassments. A student, who did not wish to be named, says his name was put in a “list”, as per government instructions, because he had a 10-day absence.

“I have a job, without which I cannot continue my studies,” he added.

“I cannot attend all the classes. Being absent for 10 days is not very unlikely for me.” He had to go through a “troublesome” process to come out fresh.

But there are almost no such steps taken in public universities.

Ahasan Habib, a law student in Dhaka University, the country’s largest and most prestigious public university, says he did not notice significant changes in security arrangements inside his campus. None of the public university halls were subjected to extra security measures in recent days.

So, why only the private universities?

One of the reasons is that two of the attackers who participated in Dhaka Attack had studied awhile in a private university. In addition, a few others missing, arrested or killed in police raids and suspected of having terror links were also private university students.

On 20th July, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) publicly released a list of “missing youths” thought to have been radicalized, which features a number of private university students.

And, all of a sudden, students of this particular background became villain of worst sort.

But Prof. Abdul Mannan, Chairman of the UGC, points out, citing reports, the number of allegations of militant involvement is higher against public universities than those against private universities.

His comments, however, had little contribution in stopping the rude characterizations and stereotypes being spewed on the social networking sites. Police raids also focus particularly on private university students, nonetheless.