Cops again foil MPO seekers' demo
'Injured' Patuakhali teacher dies; rights bodies condemn police action
Police use water canon against non-government teachers demonstrating for the inclusion of their institutions in the list of monthly pay order (MPO) in the capital's Dhanmondi yesterday.Photo: STAR
Law enforcers once again barred agitating teachers and employees of non-MPO educational institutions from holding their demonstration in the capital yesterday. Police fired tear shells, liquid gas and water cannons to disperse them in two places. More than 200 agitators went to Manik Mia Avenue to hold a scheduled fast-unto-death programme in front of the residences of lawmakers around 10:30am but police obstructed them at western corner of the avenue. After being dispersed, a group of teachers went to Sobhanbagh to stage a sit-in before the Prince Plaza. But police again obstructed them and used water cannon to disperse them. The teachers claimed that the law enforcers also lobbed tear shells, injuring some of them. Lastly, the agitators rushed to TSC area of Dhaka University and held a demonstration on the footpath of TSC till 3:30pm. The teachers and employees under the banner "Non-MPO Shikkha Pratishthan Shikkhak Karmachari Oikya Jote" have been agitating since January 7 to press home their demand to include their educational institutions in the monthly payment order (MPO) list. However, police barred the previous demonstrations they tried to hold in the last five consecutive days and they mostly used liquid spray to disperse the agitators. According to their platform, there are more than 100,000 teachers and employees of around 7,000 non-government secondary schools, colleges, madrasas and technical educational institutions who have been deprived of MPO facilities for long. Esharat Ali, president of the jote, yesterday said they will announce their next course of action through a press conference at Dhaka Reporters Unity today. Esharat also claimed that a teacher who sustained injuries during the demonstrations on January 10, died in Patuakhali early on Tuesday. The deceased is Maulana Sekander Ali, 45, super of Chargorabdee Islamia Dakhil Madrasa under Dumki upazila. However, Sekander's family said he had just gotten ill after coming back from the capital and passed away. Condemning the cop action, Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), a regional human rights organisation representing 47 rights bodies, yesterday, in a statement, urged the government to refrain from using force on the teachers, rather initiate dialogue with them.
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