Prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday called upon the agitating students to sit with her at her official Ganabhaban residence to put an end to violence in the ongoing protests seeking justice for the killings in the quota reform movement in July.
鈥楾he door of Ganabhaban is open. I want to sit with the agitating students of the movement and listen to them. I want no conflict,鈥� she said while addressing a meeting with the central leaders of the Peshajibi Somonnoy Parishad, a group of professionals, at Ganabhaban.
鈥業 am telling you again that I鈥檓 still agreed to hold talks if the agitators want. They can come any time [to Ganabhaban]. If required, they can come with their聽 guardians,鈥� she said, adding that she also asked the authorities concerned to release the detained general students.
The prime minister also assured students of a trial for each killing during the quota reform movement.
鈥楾rials for each of the killings must be held,鈥� she said.
She mentioned that the police members involved in the Begum Rokeya University student Abu Sayed killing had been suspended and that they would be brought to book.
Hours after Sheikh Hasina鈥檚 offer to sit with agitators, Nahid Islam, one of the coordinators of the Student Movement Against Discrimination, said that they had no plans to negotiate with the government.
鈥榃hile we were in DB [detective branch of Dhaka Metropolitan Police] custody, we were offered a meeting with the Prime Minister. But we went on a hunger strike in protest of this proposal,鈥� he said.
Hasina, also the president of the ruling Awami League, earlier on the day assigned AL presidium member Jahangir Kabir Nanak and joint secretaries Mahbubul Alam Hanif
and AFM Bahauddin Nasim to sit with the coordinators of the student movement.
Asif Mahmud, another coordinator of the platform, in a Facebook post, also refused to sit with the government and Awami League leaders.
鈥榃e are not willing to hold any kind of dialogue with the killer government, and there was no question of holding a discussion with the political party Awami League,鈥� he said.
鈥榃e have no plans to negotiate with them. Our demand is very clear, if they have any statements, they can put them in front of the country鈥檚 people through the media. The decision of the protesting students is our decision. There is no dialogue with bullets and terror,鈥� he said.
