The University Teachers’ Network has proposed six immediate actions and thirteen long-term steps to the newly formed interim government led by Professor Mohammad Yunus.
The proposals were presented at a discussion meeting titled ‘What Do We Want from the Interim Government?’ held on Saturday at the Mozzafar Ahmed Chowdhury Auditorium of Dhaka University.
The six immediate actions proposed to the government include ensuring the safety and security of people’s lives and property through law enforcement agencies, preventing and prosecuting attacks on various places of worship and establishments, forming an investigation committee and special tribunal with the help of the United Nations to begin investigations and prosecutions for those responsible for the July killings and other acts of oppression against the public, providing medical treatment and rehabilitation for those injured in the quota reform movement, and making provisions for the self-sufficiency of the families of those who were killed.
The University Teachers’ Network also outlined 13 long-term actions for the government.
These include establishing community centres in various areas through government initiatives to commemorate different chapters of the War of Independence, the independence struggle, the list of martyrs from the July killings, freeing the media from government influence and releasing individuals arrested under digital or cyber security laws, making the administration accountable, and freeing it from partisan politics.
Anu Muhammad, former professor of the Economics Department at Jahangirnagar University; Tanzimuddin Khan, professor of International Relations at Dhaka University; and Giti Ara Nasreen, professor of Mass Communication and Journalism at Dhaka University, spoke among others at the event, moderated by Samina Luthfa, a faculty member of the Sociology Department of Dhaka University.
Professor Anu Muhammad said that their primary demand for the interim government was that it remain accountable to the people.
‘If that happens, all other demands will be fulfilled,’ he said.
‘There needs to be significant changes to the constitution because, under the current framework, anyone can become authoritarian,’ added Anu Muhammad.
