Wali Ullah witnessed Tarique Rahman's admission to DU, shares memories from four decades ago

Dhaka University was one of the most talked about centers of the country during the political unrest of the 1980s. A personal memoir of that period of movement, processions and political tension has been brought into the discussion again by Md. Shah Wali Ullah, a teacher at Hatia College in Noakhali.

In his memoirs, he claimed that he faced an unexpected incident during the admission process of Dhaka University in the 1985-86 academic year. While waiting for the interview, he saw some important documents lying in front of the university's art hall. Out of curiosity, he picked them up and saw that there were admission-related documents, educational certificates and mark sheets.

According to Wali Ullah, he did not understand the importance of the matter at first after seeing the name and identity on the document. After a while, he saw a young man anxiously looking for a file. Later, after sorting through the documents, he handed the file to the young man. He claimed that he later realized that the young man was the current Prime Minister and BNP Chairman Tarique Rahman.

In his memoir, he further said that his idea was further strengthened when he saw the resemblance of the person to former President Ziaur Rahman. Later, he learned that Tarique Rahman had participated in the admission process at Dhaka University at that time.

Wali Ullah also talked about the university environment at that time. According to him, there was often tension on the campus due to the anti-military rule movement. Academic life was quite eventful with regular political programs, clashes and unrest.

After a question was raised about Tarique Rahman's academic life in a recent discussion, he brought up this old memory. He said that he was not sure about the next stage of Tarique Rahman's academic life, but claimed that he witnessed the incident of his admission to the university.

Meanwhile, no official detailed response was received from the relevant quarters of the BNP on the matter. However, Wali Ullah's memoir has created new discussions in the local political and social arena.

The story of that lost file four decades ago has now come to the fore not just as a memory of an event, but also as a piece of human experience of turbulent times.