'Revoke honorary degrees given to Pak rulers'        

Teachers and students of Dhaka University’s Linguistics department on Thursday demanded that the honorary Doctor of Letters (DLitt) degree given to former Pakistani autocrat Ayub Khan, then President Iskandar Mirza and then premier Khawaja Nazimuddin be revoked.

They came up with the demand at a sit-in programme held in front of Raju Memorial Sculpture on the university campus.

The sit-in programme began around 11:30am and continued till 1:30pm.

The Dhaka University authorities had conferred the honorary degrees on them before Bangladesh’s independence.

Sakhawat Ansari, a professor of Linguistic department and convener of the programme, said the university authorities should have withdrawn the honorary degrees long time ago for the heinous role they played during the Liberation War and their oppressive rule when they were in power before Bangladesh’s independence.

Prof Ansari went on to say: “It’s a matter of great regret that the DU authorities didn’t perform their responsibility properly in this regard. We hope they’ll withdraw the honorary degrees before the special convocation of the university.”

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman will be conferred upon honorary Doctor of Law (posthumous) Degree at the special convocation to be held on September 5, 2020 marking the celebrations of the birth centenary of the Father of the Nation, reports UNB.