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Published:
2018-03-04 15:51:18 BdST

Zafar Iqbal out of danger: ISPR


FT ONLINE

Prof Muhammed Zafar Iqbal, who is now undergoing treatment at Combined Military Hospital in Dhaka after being attacked in Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST) yesterday, is out of danger, Inter Service Public Relations (ISPR) said early today.

“He is now out of danger,” ISPR Director Lt Col Rashidul Hasan said in a message at 1:49am.

Further detail would be informed after medical checkup of the noted writer around 11:00am, he said.

Earlier, eminent academic Prof Muhammed Zafar Iqbal has been brought to Dhaka by air ambulance after being stabbed on the campus of Shahjalal University of Science & Technology in Sylhet.

Zafar was taken to Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College after the attack on Saturday afternoon.

From there he was taken by an air force ambulance to the air force’s Tejgaon air field in Dhaka, and then taken to the Combined Military Hospital.

Osmani Medical Director Brig Gen Mahbubul Haque Chowdhury said at a short press briefing late Saturday night that the doctors there had put 26 stitches on Zafar’s head, left arm and back.

He told reporters that the professor was now out of danger.

“The attacker hit him on the head. The doctors found several stab wounds on his head, and his left arm and back,” he said.

“The doctors believe he was hit with a rod on the head, left arm and back. The wounds are quite serious,” he added.

At 6:30pm Saturday, sources at the Osmani Medical College Hospital in Sylhet said he was taken into the operation theatre to stem the flow of blood. A CT scan was carried out on the professor, the source said.

Hospital sources said his blood pressure was falling.

Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid, who was in Sylhet for a visit, arrived at the hospital after 7pm.

Prof Zafar was speaking at a two-day long fair organized by the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering when he was stabbed in the back of his head by an assailant armed with a knife.

The attack occurred around 5:40pm.

The attacker was immediately taken down and detained by authorities after a severe thrashing.

An accomplice of the suspect was waiting on a motorcycle outside the venue of the programme. He fled immediately after the attack, according to witnesses.

“A boy came from behind the stage and stabbed Iqbal sir’s neck, chest and mouth. He was immediately detained by police and others,” Proctor Zahir Uddin Ahmed said.

He has been admitted to the Department of Neurology at Osmani. According to hospital authorities, Prof Zafar is in need of A+ blood.

Students from the EEE department are protesting the heinous incident in the campus.

University Proctor Zahir Uddin Ahmed confirmed the incident.

Earlier on Friday, Prof Zafar Iqbal condemning the recent incidents of ragging at SUST for which 23 students were punished.

Police and campus authorities said they have yet to determine whether the attack was in retaliation for his stance against ragging or militancy.

Responses to the attack

In the aftermath of the attack, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina issued orders for the immediate arrest of the attacker.

The BNP also condemned the attack, Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said: “We strongly condemn the attack on him; we never support such terror attacks.”

In Shahbagh, protesters formed a human chain and marched with flaming torches, denouncing the act of violence.

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