BCL central leaders resign en masse...................

Over 100 Bangladesh Chhatra League central committee leaders resigned en masse on Sunday, said a BCL leader, a day after Awami League chief Sheikh Hasina withdrew as organisational head of the ruling party's student front.

"The leaders submitted their resignation to the BCL president in one single letter, signed by all," assistant secretary Siddiqui Nazmul Hossain told us around 10pm:

He was speaking as the central leaders were holding an emergency meeting, following the AL's decision on Saturday for party chief Hasina to remove herself as nominal head of the student organisation.

The meeting, at the AL central office in Bangabandhu Avenue, heard complaints and allegations against BCL president Mahmud Hasan Ripon and general secretary Mahfuzul Haider Chowdhury Roton, Nazmul said.

An outcry took place as the resignation letter was submitted.

Nazmul said he and other leaders had earlier sat separately at Dhaka University Central Students Union office, and decided to press the BCL president and general secretary to request Hasina to return. Otherwise, they told the two that they would resign in a body.

Hasina turns back on BCL

AL's top policy-making body decided Saturday that Hasina would no longer be organisational head of BCL.

Party spokesperson Syed Ashraful Islam told reporters of the decision after a rushed meeting of the party's policymaking presidium, coming in the wake of a spate of on-campus violence by the BCL.

Asked about the fate of BCL after the decision, he said it would go continue to exist but added: "Chhatra League is beset with organisational problems for inefficiency of the central committee."

Ashraf also said AL was calling on all political parties, including opposition BNP, to resist terror and extortion in the name of student politics.

He said the government had ordered a crackdown on campus violence, extortion, tender rigging "by student leaders, members or activists, or anyone perpetrating such acts in the guise of students."

"The action starts now," said Ashraf.

He said none, not BCL activists or any others, would be spared if they were involved in such crimes.

'Fronts' no more

BCL, Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal and Islami Chhatra Shibir were formed as the student fronts of Awami League, BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami respectively.

New party registration rules, introduced ahead of last year's general elections, however, included amending party constitutions to get rid of all front organisations.

Parties have until July this year to bring those amendments to bear.

The student wings are still seen as inextricably linked with their political parties, giving the ruling party more than a few headaches after the BCL violence.

The AL's decision is likely to be seen as a move to sever those links.