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Bangladesh's Epicenter of Political Tumult
A riot policeman in Dhaka chases a protester during an August demonstration against Bangladesh's military-backed interim government, which came to power in January.
(Photos By Pavel Rahman -- Associated Press)
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The day after the Umbrella Incident, M. Anwar Hossain, a respected biochemistry professor, helped organize a demonstration to address a growing list of grievances with the government, not the least of which was the banning of protests -- part of a martial law imposed seven months ago to squelch public outcry against the military-backed interim government's delay in holding elections.
Soon after, Hossain was arrested at his home for inciting an uprising. He is still in jail, awaiting trial.
Amnesty International, along with foreign diplomats, has asked for Hossain's release. Hossain's son, Sanjeeb, a 22-year-old law student, has said his father is not politically involved with the jailed protest leaders and was only trying be a guardian for the students, helping them demonstrate against a repressive regime.
"It's scary when professors and students are in jail, since it's like the soul of the country is behind bars," Sanjeeb Hossain said in an interview. "This is terrible for our family and terrible for Bangladesh. It's not as simple as just to blame all of this on politics. He was trying to protect student rights, that was it."
Some of the country's most famous sons graduated from this school, including dozens of elected officials and internationally recognized leaders, such as Muhammad Yunus, the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner, and Fazlur Rahman Khan, considered the greatest architectural engineer of the second half of the 20th century for his design of the Sears Tower and John Hancock Center in Chicago.
Today, most students at the University of Dhaka are from working-class and middle-class backgrounds. They see themselves as the voice of a largely poor and illiterate nation.
Their position as protectors is perhaps best illustrated by a photo that surfaced here recently. The image, which has been widely circulated on the Internet, shows an unarmed student kicking an army soldier. It has become such a stirring emblem of the students' power that the photojournalist who took the picture has gone into hiding, fearing for his life.
"That photograph said it all," said Shahidul Alam, a renowned photo gallery director in Dhaka. "That image is such a powerful symbol of our times. It shows the power of unarmed students against the ego of the military."
