Dhaka Varsity scraps AZM Enayetullah Khan trust fund for his role

AZM Enayetullah Khan

Dhaka, May 14 - Dhaka University authority has scrapped a recently formed trust fund in the name of AZM Enayetullah Khan, the late editor of the weekly 'Holiday' magazine after facing extreme criticism.

The university authorities has declared that there will be no effectiveness and acceptance of the trust fund anymore as Enayetullah Khan was alleged of leaking confidential information of war during liberation war and humiliated Bangabandhu in his writings.

DU vice chancellor Md Akhtaruzzaman said, "Establishing a fund in the name of such a person is contradictory to the ideology and values of the university." 

Rashed Khan Menon, brother of Enayetullah Khan and also the president of Bangladesh Workers Party, launched this fund to be established at Dhaka University's Mass Communication and Journalism Department. 

“But after being informed about some of Enayetullah's previous activities, we decided to scrap the trust fund," the VC added.

On 10 May, Nasreen Zaman, daugter AZM Enayetullah Khan, formally handed over a cheque of Tk 2.5 million to DU treasurer Prof. Mamtaz Uddin Ahmed to set up the 'Enayetullah Khan Memorial Trust Fund' in the presence of Rashed Khan Menon, DU Registrar Prabir Kumar Sarker, Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences Prof. Dr. Zia Rahman, and Chairman of the Department of Mass Communication and Journalism Dr. Abul Mansur Ahmed at vice chancellor's lounge. 

After the establishment of the fund, some news media reported about the unethical activities of Enayetullah Khan, and then VC ordered to scrap the fund. 

DU pro VC (administration) Mohammad Samad said, “After the brutal assassination of Bangabandhu and his family members, an article written by Niaz Zaman, titled 'The Majors killed the serpent and most of its eggs except the daughters who were abroad' was published at Enayetullah Khan's edited newsweekly 'Holiday'”

"I was shocked that a trust fund was set up at Dhaka University, the birthplace of independence in the name of that journalist whose newsweekly addressed Bangabandhu as a serpent," he added. - UNB