Bangladesh’s interim govt unveils plans for ‘proclamation of July uprising’ amid student pressure

Bangladesh’s interim government announced plans to draft the “Proclamation of the July Uprising,” a day after distancing itself from a similar declaration proposed by a student movement that played a key role in ousting Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Shafiqul Alam, Press Secretary to Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus, said ”We hope within a few days the proclamation will be prepared with the participation and consensus of all and presented before the nation,”

Addressing the media Alam said the declaration would be based on the views of all participating students, political parties, and stakeholders, including the Anti-Discrimination Students Movement that led to the ouster of Hasina’s Awami League regime on August 5.

Alam said the government took the initiative to prepare the proposed charter to “consolidate the people’s unity, anti-fascist spirit and a desire for state reform developed through the July uprising”.

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The Anti-Discrimination Students Movement, along with the National Citizens Committee, another group led by the students, earlier said it would announce the proclamation of the July uprising on Tuesday.

However, after the government’s announcement, the students’ platform hurriedly called an emergency meeting and told the media that they would stage a “march for unity” at the same venue and time.

On Tuesday, they staged a massive ”march for unity” rally in Dhaka, which was attended by thousands, mostly students, who travelled to Dhaka from different parts of the country to join the rally. They carried banners and chanted slogans like “bury the Mujibist ideology”, and “Delhi or Dhaka, Dhaka, Dhaka” alongside some Islamic slogans.

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The rally demanded a declaration of the Proclamation of July uprising by the interim government by January 15, 2025, and the rewriting of the 1972 Constitution by the next elected government.

The students’ platform simultaneously asked the interim government to ensure trial and exemplary punishment of Hasina, now in India, and her accomplices.

“We want to say, by January 15 (2025) the proclamation of our July uprising must be issued,” Anti-Discrimination Students Movement convenor Hasnat Abdullah said.

Sarjis Alam, chief organizer of the National Citizens Committee and a prominent leader of the movement, condemned the presence of “murderers and terrorists” roaming freely, calling on the interim government to ensure justice for the genocide. He also demanded the dismantling of “syndicates” controlling businesses and state machinery, the return of smuggled money, affordable prices for goods, and proper treatment for those injured during the uprising.

Mahin Sarkar, coordinator of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement, criticized home affairs adviser Lt Gen (retired) Mohammad Jahangir for failing to bring justice to those responsible for the deaths of protesters and children during the uprising. Another leader from the movement emphasized that the fugitive “murderer Hasina” in India must be brought back to face justice, vowing that students would continue their protests until a new Bangladesh was built.

The rally followed a convention of Islami Chhatra Shibir, a student affiliate of the right-wing Jamaat-e-Islami, at Suhrawardy Udyan, where Sarjis Alam spoke. He acknowledged Shibir’s role in supporting the student movement during the July-August uprising, describing them as comrades who provided advice and support in key moments.

The constitution of 1972, which established independent Bangladesh, was framed by the elected representatives of the 1970 general elections under the Awami League, led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Despite this, Pakistan’s military junta under General Yahya Khan launched a brutal crackdown, leading to the Liberation War.

Since the ousting of the regime on August 5, the Awami League has largely disappeared from the public sphere, with many of its leaders arrested or in hiding. Meanwhile, leaders of the opposition, notably from Khaleda Zia’s BNP, have sharply criticized any efforts to amend the constitution, with Mirza Abbas, a senior BNP member, emphasizing that it was crafted in 1972 at the cost of three million lives.

“As your seniors, we feel disappointed when you (student movement leaders) say the constitution should be buried. If there is anything bad in the constitution, it can be amended,” he told reporters.

Abbas said, “When you (student leaders) say things like this, it sounds fascist” as fascists used to say, ”We will bury them, kill them, and cut them off”.

The students’ platform and different political groups, including BNP, often dub the ousted regime as “fascist”.

In an exclusive interview with Bangla Daily, The Jugantor, BNP’s secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said, “We observe some people are speaking in a different tone taunting 1971 (Liberation War).” “We cannot think of the existence of our country discarding 1971,” Alamgir said, explaining a recent remark at a public rally.

With inputs from agencies.