Guest post by SHAHED SUVO

This is the second part of the two-part article by Shahed Suvo, published earlier in Bangla in Ekak Matra on 10 August 2024. The first part appeared yesterday and can be accessed here. This part deals with the last days of the Sheikh Hasina regime and the transition that immediately followed. It has been translated for Kafila by ARUN SINHA.

Responding to the call of the anti-discrimination student movement, student-citizens gathered at Shaheed Minar on August 3. Young people continued to gather at Shaheed Minar with separate protest processions.  At this time, elderly citizens were also seen participating in the protest march with them. At around 5:30 PM in the afternoon, the coordinator of the organization leading the quota reform movement Md. Nahid Islam announced a one-point demand in a speech to the students-people gathered at Shaheed Minar – Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her cabinet must resign.

Asif Mahmud, another coordinator of the movement, announced the outline program of the non-cooperation movement.

1) No one shall pay any tax or duty;

2) Do not pay any kind of bill including electricity bill, gas bill, water bill;

3) All types of public and private institutions, offices-courts and factories will be closed. None of you will go to the office, collect the salary from your office at the end of the month;

4) The activities of the educational institutions will be closed;

5) Expatriates shall not send any kind of remittance to the country through banking channels;

6) boycott all government meetings, seminars, events;

7) Port workers will not attend work. Do not unload any kind of product at the port;

8) No factory in the country will run brothers and sisters working in garment factories will not join work;

9) Public transport will be closed, workers will not go to work;

10) Banks will be open every Sunday for urgent personal transactions;

11) Policemen shall not go on any kind of protocol duty, riot duty and protest duty other than routine duty.  Regular policemen will do only routine work at police stations;

12) All offshore transactions shall be closed so that not a single rupee is laundered from the country;

13) Forces other than BGB and Navy will not perform duty outside the Cantonment. BGB and Navy will be in barracks and coastal areas;

14) Bureaucrats will not go to the secretariat, DC or upazila officials will not go to their respective offices;

15) Luxury goods shops, showrooms, shops, hotels, motels, restaurants will be closed. However, hospitals, pharmacies, emergency transport services, such as medicines and medical equipment transport, ambulance services, fire services, mass media, transportation of daily necessities, emergency internet services, emergency relief assistance, and transport services for officials and employees working in this sector shall continue.

Apart from this, shops for daily necessities will be open from 11 am to 1 pm.

Although the 1-point demand was announced in the month of August, the students announced the continuance of the month of July.  July is to continue until Sheikh Hasina’s resignation is achieved, so instead of August 4, July 34 is written in this text.

On this day, incidents of counter chases, clashes and shootings took place in many districts around the non-cooperation movement.  Ninety-eight civilians and police were killed. In Lakshmipur, the leaders and workers of Awami League and its affiliates chased and clashed with the protestors.  A college student was shot and killed at this time. More than fifty people were injured. The clash took place in the area from North Temuhani to Jhumur of the district town around 11 am. Mobile operators stopped 4G network services across the country from 12 noon on government orders. On August 5, broadband internet was shut down till 2 am.

In clashes across the country, 22 people including 13 policemen were killed in Sirajganj, 11 in Capital, 8 in Feni, 8 in Laxmipur, 6 in Narsingdi, 5 in Sylhet, 5 in Kishoreganj, 5 in Bogra, 4 in Magura, 4 in Rangpur, 3 in Pabna, 3 in Munshiganj, 3 in Comilla. , 3 in Sherpur, 2 in Joypurhat, 1 in Bhola, 1 in Habibganj, 1 in Keraniganj of Dhaka, 1 in Savar, 1 in Barisal, 1 in Cox’s Bazar, 1 in Sreepur of Gazipur. A message from the police headquarters informed that 27 police stations, police superintendent’s offices, range offices were attacked and vandalized on August 4 due to the all-out non-cooperation movement called by the student  body. More than three hundred policemen were injured in these incidents.

On the first day of the three-corner conflict Nilphamari became a battlefield. The house of MP Asaduzzaman Noor of Nilphamari-2 Constituency was vandalized. At least 12 people were injured. The Ministry of Public Administration declared a three-day (August 5, 6 and 7) general holiday to avoid violence during the non-cooperation movement. It is said that all government, semi-government, autonomous, semi-autonomous and private offices will remain closed during the general holidays. However, essential services such as electricity, water, gas, other fuels, fire service and operations of ports, cleaning, telephone, internet, postal services and vehicles and workers engaged in these related activities will be outside the ambit of this holiday. Apart from this, an indefinite curfew had been issued from 6 pm for all divisional headquarters, city corporations, municipality, industrial area, district and upazila headquarters including Dhaka.

In three separate circulars of the Supreme Court, it was informed that during the curfew, the judicial proceedings and all offices and branches of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court will remain closed until further orders. However, the Chief Justice will take necessary measures in urgent matters. At the same time, judicial and office activities of the High Court Division and all subordinate courts or tribunals of the country will be closed from August 5 until further instructions.

The ‘University Teachers Network’ laid out the proposal the ‘Outline of Transition’ for immediate formation of an interim government with people from different walks of life.  According to the proposal, the Sheikh Hasina government will resign to this interim government. Asif Mahmud, the coordinator of the anti-discrimination student movement, announced that the date of the ‘March to Dhaka’ program would be observed on Monday, August 5 instead of August 6. It called upon the agitators from all over the country to come to Dhaka.

Panic gripped across the country from the night before July 35, however as dawn broke, the history of Bangladesh began to change. Lakhs and lakhs of students came down the streets and marched towards Shaheed Minar, the student agitators took positions at about 11 locations in Dhaka city. Police, BGB forces started to be inactive since the previous night. They were getting tired, and could no longer resist the crowd. Awami League announced resistance across the country but only in Dhaka, Awami League workers took a confrontational stand at Mirpur 10 location. The army stood by the demonstration of the people, they refused to fire against the people. Awami League terrorists started to be resisted everywhere. The Army chief announced the State of the Nation address, asked the students for time. After that it is known that Sheikh Hasina and her sister Sheikh Rehana fled. Hasina had resigned.

At Senakunj, the army chief decided to form an interim government in the country after a meeting with various political parties on this emerging situation. The students, on the other hand, wanted an interim government of their choice, since they led the movement. They suggested the name of Dr. Mohammad Yunus. The President held a meeting with student representatives at Bangabhaban. Before this, he held meetings with various political parties. Dr. Mohammad Yunus was unanimously appointed as the chief advisor to the interim government. At the time of writing this article, 17 people including two important coordinators associated with the student movement along with nationally and internationally recognized personalities have been nominated as advisors to this interim government. Thus began the state reconstruction program that was launched to reform the future Bangladesh state and root out fascism.

The united victory of Bangladesh’s July Revolution is due to the leadership of Gen-Z students. A famous media has termed this movement in Bangladesh as ‘Gen-Z Movement’. This revolution took the form of a political movement from a social problem. We have seen how a popular political party like Awami League turned into a hybrid fascist regime with a strong desire to stay in power at any cost and become isolated from the people. This student movement has broken the old narrative of Bangladeshi politics, this movement has challenged all political ideologies, including that of the theists and atheists, regardless of caste and religion. This student movement was never controlled by any particular political party, and for a long time, all the political traditional parties of Bangladesh like Awami League failed to understand the minds of these young people, Therefore, the possibility of birth of new political thinking in Bangladesh has been created in grassroots politics, that is in tune with the long-standing cultural formation of Bangladesh. Although this movement was called student-people revolution, it was not formed like revolutionary governments in other countries. The interim government is constituted under provisions of the current constitution. Due to the absence of political parties and antipathy among common students towards political parties, it has already resulted in the banning of party politics in universities. Again, the vital question remains whether this interim government can survive long enough, how much democracy and voting rights will be strengthened, or whether the opportunistic class of the society will be stronger under the cover of a slogan of de-politicization! On the afternoon of August 9, a mass meeting under the banner ‘the session of student-common people participants in the mass uprising’ was held at the call of anti-discrimination student movement at Basabo Balu ground.

People of Basabo, Khilgaon, Manda, Mugda, Kadamtala, Mothertek, Rajarbagh, Sabujbagh, Nandipara, Mayakanan, Ahmedabad areas who participated in the mass uprising participated in the meeting. Along with the students, rickshaw puller Faridul Islam, father of martyr Ashiqul Islam (16) spoke in the meeting. From this session, 10 action points were charted out on behalf of the general student-people assembly as points of action for the population of the country. The action points are:

1) Extortion by any group including the police will not be allowed in the area. Such extortion will be prevented collectively;

2) No attack on different religions or races will be allowed in the area;

3) There will be no sexual abuse, harassment of women;

4) There shall be no terrorism, looting or weapons drill in the area;

5) No one can be attacked or harassed or arrested for speaking. Everyone shall have full freedom of speech;

6) No one shall be taken to any procession by use of force or intimidation;

7) Arrest without warrant, harassment, torture in police custody will not be allowed;

8) The streets and houses around the area should be kept clean;

9)  No one’s sense of self-respect is to be attacked;

10) No design structure or sculpture shall be destroyed.

Still, the new polity of Bangladesh needs reform of the state right now so that no government ever can change the constitution and turn out to be fascist. The reform is needed so that every person of this country does not suffer discrimination due to any identity or economic reason, so that a fair society is established. Let the history of this anti-discrimination student movement be recorded not only as the history of the victims and martyrs, but also as the history of the liberation struggle of the people.