Student protests against Sheikh Hasina are still going on in Bangladesh. The protest which started as anti-quota agitation, is now becoming a pro-democracy movement because of dictator Hasina's brutality.
The Supreme Court removed the 30% quota of freedom fighters. But now the issue is, how can Hasina's police and army of the government shoot students and protesters?
How can they
kill students from helicopters?
How can
student organizers be kidnapped? How can they be tortured?
More than 9000 protesters are in jail. More than 20,000 are injured. Officially 200 are dead. But according to unofficial reports, more than 1000 people have died. And thousands are critically injured. Sheikh Hasina is not taking the responsibility of this massacre, but blaming others. Even now, in many cities of Bangladesh, police is present on every corner, You can hear the helicopter's sound at night. And in the same dark of the night, police raids are carried out on the students' homes. If a political message is on the phone, a video or even a VPN, then arrest is assured. But even after arrest and police torture, students say that the movement will continue until their 9-point demand is met.
What are these 9-point demands of the
students of Bangladesh?
Even after
removing 30% Freedom Fighter quota of Supreme Court, why are students so angry?
Forget about step-down, will Sheikh Hasina apologize even once? What evidence
is gathered against the Hasina police and Hasina army? Does this
protest also show the deteriorating economic and job situation in Bangladesh? And
why do students believe that no matter how much police, army, and media are
used.. this month, July, August 2024, is the beginning of the end for Hasina. According to
home minister of Bangladesh, nearly 150 were killed in the protest, Prothom Alo a reliable media house, says 210 people died. But student
organizers and local journalists believe the number could be as high as 1000. Govt
is not keeping transparency so people believe this number.
Senior journalist Saer Khan tweeted that there are
many unidentified bodies buried in the Dhaka Rayer Bazar intellectual cemetery. The total count is 67. This journalist
claims that these are the bodies of all student protesters. We cannot verify
this claim independently. And there is no reliability that Bangladesh govt will
verify it, But this is not the only claim. The media and the internet bans of
Sheikh Hasina are making people think that this is done to hide the death toll,
You will see many such reports on the internet. Let's take the example of
hospitals. They are refusing to give official death reports.
Some people are still missing. And many bodies have been buried with out families going to the hospital. There is a big difference between official records and actual death count. There is no debate on this. Sheikh Hasina wants that whatever happened, happened. Sheikh Hasina wants to end this matter as soon as possible So, you may not get to know the real numbers. But, since the internet has come back to Bangladesh, the evidence of police brutality has been coming out. And, people are getting more angry.
How students
of Bangladesh started protesting against an undemocratic freedom fighter quota?
Instead of talking to the student, Hasina
government tried to be cruel and brutal. And sent police and army to create
terror. Abu Sayeed became an example, who was brutally killed by the police in
front of the camera. The video evidence is clear that Abu Sayeed did not have
any weapon. He was not throwing stones.
An unarmed student was shot at point blank range
and killed by police During a protest near Rampura police station, due to
police and Border Guard Bangladesh firing, some youths climbed a nearby
building for safety After some time, police and BGB entered the building. Youngsters
ran away, but one of them got trapped hanging from 4th floor roof he was trying
to escape and the police could have detained him but they shot him at point
blank range.
These shoot at sight orders were being executed by the government against its own citizens, against the youth of Bangladesh. An activist told Al Jazeera that inside the university, a sniper was firing bullets from helicopter. Just think, in a university, the helicopter of their own country's government, the forces of their own country, are firing bullets.
And the video evidence of helicopter shooting is surfacing. It is being said that during the curfew, there were shoot at sight orders. It also happened that, even the children were not spared. The police also shot them. A report is coming out of 16 such children's death. Not protesters, children. Unfortunately, not only the police, but also the border guard, and army of Bangladesh, etc. took part in this News is also that United Nations marked armored vehicles were used to suppress the protest, But UN-marked vehicles are strictly prohibited from being used outside the UN mission.
Pellet guns were also being used heavily. Remember, pellet guns are a cluster ammunition. Basically, once fired, no one can control how much damage a person will be inflicted. No one has control over this. And it is very easy to lose eyesight with these pellets.
Video evidence of helicopter shooting is surfacing
In the National Institute of Ophthalmology Hospital, NIH in Dhaka, in the last few weeks more than 500 patients have come with pellet gun injuries. By the way, I am talking about only one hospital. The question of students here is very simple. How can a democratic government of a free country torture its own citizens? And after the internet is back, people are watching clips and are very angry. We are witnessing another round of protests. People are watching Hasina's actions, European Union has criticized the police brutality and has demanded that the culprits should be punished trying to take Sheikh Hasina to International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity. But this is nothing new for dictator Hasina.
These methods are old for her. In the last article , we talked about how elections were not free and fair and made one sided, But this was just one example. You can find many examples to show the dictatorial attitude of Sheikh Hasina. She used her dictator tool kit to make a completely opposition-free Bangladesh. Since 2014, the opposition party BNP's Supremo Khaleda Zia has been kept under house arrest. The main opposition BNP's Secretary General says that July 2023 and January 2024, that is, just before the elections, 27,000 BNP leaders and activists were put in jail. Approximately 10,000 workers were assaulted and 30 opposition workers were killed. Author and activist Mushtaq Ahmed, who criticized Hasina on Covid mismanagement and raised the issue of corruption in the country, was put in jail under the Cyber Security Act. He was denied bail six times and then one day, Mushtaq died in jail. In this way, Hasina has silenced her critics and warned others that if they raise their voice, what will happen to them?
Video evidence Abu Sayed killed
In 2018, many school students organized a peaceful rally on the issue of road safety. They adopted a method of non-violent protests and road blocks. Even then, Sheikh Hasina's police used tear gas to beat the students. Sheikh Hasina's party, Awami League's Student Front, their members attacked the protesters and journalists. You can imagine, even on a simple and non-controversial issue like road safety, Shekh Hasina is unable to tolerate debate and criticism. The students who were protesting in 2018, are now university students, Hasina tried to crack down on their protest against quota in a more horrific way but this crackdown has now backfired, But don't think that Sheikh Hasina is backing down. No Her government is playing the blame game. She is not taking responsibility, And is calling the protesters as opposition agents and terrorists.
The government says that the student movement was infiltrated by the opposition BNP and the terrorist group, The students were used by the parties as a shield and got police and military attacked. On this basis, on 1st August, Hasina government has banned Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing, Islami Chhatrashibir, Hasina believes that Jamaat-e-Islami, Shibir and BNP were attacking Hasina government by using students and trying to bring them down.
Students say that this is wrong. Their movement is independent. They are trying to discredit the organization as anti-national, terrorist and opposition party driven. Opposition party is not present in university campuses. Only one student union is active in the campuses.... Sheikh Hasina's Chhatra League. So, how can there be infiltration when opposition is finished? There is no clarity on who attacked the government offices in Dhaka. It is not right to blame the entire movement without clarity. But there is video evidence that police shot unarmed students. But Hasina is only concerned about the metro rail. She is concerned about the government offices being attacked. She is not particularly worried about the students' life loss. Government also says that protesters threw students from the building and killed them And attacked policemen and hanged him with a lamp post. This is a serious accusation. If this is true and there is any evidence, then a strict investigation should be carried out.
Video evidence Police killed a Student in Bangladesh in the roof of a building
But student protesters deny this. They say that this is a government propaganda to misguide people and discredit them. So we are also waiting for evidence. But the way Abu Sayeed was killed, he was killed on point-blank range, The police was very brutal. If the government had allowed the protest to be democratic, there would have been no violence and Sheikh Hasina would not have been harmed. But the government did not think like that. They used helicopters, pellet guns, shoot at sight, internet black out, gave the students union the license to be gunda. After international criticism, the government is saying that it was helpless to take this step. The government has started giving more statements. This is also an important part of dictatorship. Bangladesh's Minister for State for Information and Broadcasting, Mohammad Arafat has said that the government has not shut down the internet. In fact, protesters burned underwater fiber cables at the spot where cables are. This statement is being taken as a joke in Bangladesh......because lack of internet was the biggest loss for the protesters. Remember, the internet was shut down during the 2018 road safety protests. Arafat also said that the unruly elements were given drugs. That's why the protesters were standing in front of the police because they were high. hahahaha But firing from helicopter at the university students, that high was not visible to Mr. Arafat.
But the students standing in front of the police without fear, their death, that was visible to them as being high. Now, Hasina has announced a National Day of Mourning for the victims of violence, vandalism, arson and terrorist activities. Basically, the violence that Hasina's dictatorial mismanagement did for that, make student protesters terrorists, blame the opposition, make yourself a victim and then do a memorial service. Wow! what a joke. To show her innocence, Hasina has also said that UN or any other country can send their experts to Bangladesh and can investigate, because of so much violence now in Bangladesh, FDI investments will be even less.
On 19th July, Nahid Islam, protest coordinator was picked by plain clothed police Nahid was blindfolded, handcuffed, tortured and interrogated On 21 July, an unconscious Nahid is left on the side of a road. After regaining consciousness, Nahid reaches home. He is taken to the hospital. After this whole story, on 23rd July, Nahid gave a statement that the movement is not going to stop. Nahid was admitted to the hospital. But on 26th July, the detective branch of the Bangladesh Police took him back in custody. There was a lot of outrage on this that if the government wants to negotiate,
they will have to talk to the protest coordinators, not that the police will take him back in custody and torture him, On 28th July, Nahid and 5 other coordinators who were in the city said they are stopping the protest because the Supreme Court has fulfilled their quota reform demand, 30% reservation removed On the same night, other coordinators issued a statement. And see how much students are not afraid of this. After bloodshed and mass arrest the government tried to stop movement at gunpoint We want to say this clearly that the student body will continue the movement until our 9 point demand is met. We will not compromise and betray the martyr students.
By the way, the judgment on the quota is not that amazing, there is some controversy as the quota of affirmative action has also been almost abolished. But now this movement has gone far beyond this quota. This movement has now become about democracy, accountability and the credit for increasing this protest goes to Sheikh Hasina.
Students' 9 point demand is very simple now.
Hasina should accept her responsibility for this mass killing and atrocities, Home minister, road transport, education minister, law minister should resign Police officers and vice chancellors must resign Compensation for students killed and students injured Arrest police persons who attacked unarmed students one-party politics should be banned and educational institutions should be reopened and it should be guaranteed the student protesters should not face any academic or administrative harassment, So, the protests are on but not at the level that we saw a few weeks ago Remember, more than 9000 people are still arrested The news is that many have been charged with non-bailable charges. On top of that, bail bond price has been kept high So, basically, the idea is to keep everyone in jail. In most places, curfew is not in force in the morning. But, the police is heavily armed and people are still being arrested randomly But despite all this, on 31st July, there was a protest in Chittagong and protests are planned in the coming days. The peak of these protests has been reached but according to many protestors, this is the beginning of the end for Sheikh Hasina Earlier, people used to think that there is no alternative. Now they are thinking that why is there no alternative in a democratic system? Why is it that independent voices are being suppressed and opposition-free Bangladesh is being created? On top of that, the economy is in a bad state. Inflation and unemployment are causing people to suffer. Earlier, there was a fear that if not for Hasina, Islamist parties like BNP and Jamaat will come to power. And Bangladesh will be under the grip of fundamentalists, like Pakistan.
But this student movement has shown leadership and unity. And it has raised hope among people that students will not be influenced by other parties. And it is possible that some of these students will become progressive alternative force in Bangladesh. So, will students give Bangladesh an alternative political future? Possible. We have this hope. If not Hasina, then who? What is the option? This was the slogan in Bangladesh for years. Now students are saying, Bikolpo Ami, I am the alternate. Despite this, it won't be easy to find a progressive alternative. Hasina has international support of India, China, Russia But, somewhere, July 2024 is going to be a very important chapter for Bangladesh politics Hasina didn't have to do much. She just had to do a couple of things to win back people's trust.
1. Dialogue between government and protesters. what is the problem? Sit and talk.
2. Re-evaluation. How are your law enforcement tactics working? Guarantee students that if they protest peacefully, they will not be shot.
3. The economy of Bangladesh is in a tight spot. If Hasina has not created jobs, demographic dividend will be useless.
So, focus should have been on economy, not on protest. But, taking these steps, talking, focusing on economy is a very difficult task for a dictator And, it is possible that after a few days, you will see that everything is normal in Bangladesh from the surface But it will be difficult for Hasina to win the trust of the people. Especially the young people. And these young people will decide the political future of Bangladesh. Their political aspirations are just beginning. And for Hasina, beginning of the end.
Ingning
