[🇧🇩] July uprising

Date of Event: Jun 18, 2025

Source: https://thefinancialexpress.com.bd/national/govt-issues-ordinance-to-preserve-history-of-july-uprising

Govt issues ordinance to preserve history of July uprising

Published :
Jun 18, 2025 00:05
Updated :
Jun 18, 2025 00:05

The government has issued an ordinance aimed at preserving the history and ideals of the July 2024 mass uprising and ensuring the welfare and rehabilitation of the families of those killed and injured during the movement.

The ordinance, signed by Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Secretary Hafiz Ahmed Chowdhury, was issued on Tuesday under the authority granted by Article 93(1) of the Constitution, as the Parliament currently stands dissolved, UNB reports.

The ordinance notes that Bangladesh’s Liberation War in 1971 was triggered by the systematic oppression and racial policies of the then-Pakistani regime.

Despite the country’s independence and decades of public struggle, the goals of justice, democracy, and equality remain unfulfilled, it says.

It states that since January 2009, under the “fascist Awami League government,” widespread corruption, nepotism, political repression, forced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, and the erosion of democratic rights and institutions have created deep concern among the people.

In this context, the July 2024 student-led anti-discrimination movement transformed into a full-scale public uprising. On August 5, 2024, the then ruling regime was overthrown and forced to flee the country following massive nationwide protests.

The ordinance highlights the sacrifices made during the uprising, including the deaths of thousands of unarmed student protesters and civilians, with many more injured.

It declares that their contribution must be honored and remembered as a proud chapter in the nation’s democratic struggle.

The interim government has pledged to recognise and support the wounded and families of those martyred in the uprising, ensuring their welfare and rehabilitation.

The ordinance was enacted as an urgent measure due to the absence of Parliament and the need for immediate action.​

 

[Saif]

July uprising, abiding hopes and harsh truths

When people from all walks of life rose up against the Awami League regime in July last year, their focus remained firmly on toppling an authoritarian government. With the state forces unleashing violence on unarmed protesters on the streets, there wasn't enough time to consider what political syst

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

July uprising, abiding hopes and harsh truths

SYED MUHAMMED SHOWAIB
Published :
Aug 08, 2025 22:31
Updated :
Aug 08, 2025 22:31

When people from all walks of life rose up against the Awami League regime in July last year, their focus remained firmly on toppling an authoritarian government. With the state forces unleashing violence on unarmed protesters on the streets, there wasn't enough time to consider what political system might follow the crisis. It was only after Sheikh Hasina fled to India on August 5 that the people truly sensed her grip on power had broken and felt free to turn their attention to reshaping the country's political future. In the immediate aftermath of the regime's fall, coordinators of the student-led uprising turned to Nobel Peace Prize-winning economist Muhammad Yunus and urged him to lead the government during this critical period. Given his global stature, clean image and track record, they could think of no one more qualified than him to restore stability, rebuild public trust and initiate reforms in the post-uprising atmosphere. True to their hopes, Dr. Yunus's interim government entered office as one of the most popular and widely supported administrations in the country's history.

It is difficult to say for certain how much of that initial popularity still holds as the government completed one year in office and set early February 2026 as the tentative date for national elections. But if public opinion on social media is any indication, dissatisfaction is growing, fuelled by unmet expectations and the slow pace of meaningful reform in a system plagued by inefficiency and corruption. Admittedly, the government's journey over the past year has not been easy. There were multiple attempts to unsettle it and create chaos on the streets, some of which were perhaps inevitable after a mass uprising. However, managing these crises, especially the law and order related ones, was particularly difficult, as the government had to rely on a police force weakened by years of politicisation under the previous regime which left it demoralised and ineffective.

Obviously, the government failed to deliver the fundamental reforms needed in the police, intelligence agencies, security forces and civil service that made up the power structure sustaining the previous autocratic system. While many hoped for a decisive shift from colonial, authoritarian and exploitative governance models of the past, they saw no real commitment or meaningful steps toward such reforms. In fact, the government itself appeared unsure of its ability to drive such transformation. This failure to reform, whether from inability or neglect, has allowed all forms of malpractice to flourish which is the source of public outrage. Today, public conversations revolve around talks of extortion, bribery, corruption, fraud and mob violence because these are the harsh realities people face daily. Many attribute this to the uprising's failure to transform civil service and law enforcement into accountable, citizen-centric institutions. After all, as they understand, rampant extortion and irregularities could not persist in Bangladesh's political reality without the civil administration and law enforcement letting them happen.

It is a sad reality that in some places, members of the student-led National Citizen Party (NCP) have been involved in extortion and lobbying. Students hold a privileged position under this administration because they played a key role in overthrowing the previous regime, and now the same cycle seems to be repeating where privileges lead to excesses, and excesses lead to oppression and violence.

Ever since this new government took office, the BNP has been calling for elections because they believe, in the current climate, they are the main contender with virtually no competition. Their leaders have made the demand for early elections their central talking point, insisting that elections alone can restore representative democracy. However, as the 15 years of misrule under Awami League have shown, without real reforms that make those in power fully accountable to the electorate, even competitive elections may become little more than political theatre. As American writer Walter Mosley once said about his own country, "We have the formal structure of democracy, but not the substance." The same can be said of Bangladesh today. The necessary institutions exist and resources are available, but progress remains obstructed by the entrenched interests of those who come to power and benefit from the status quo. This explains why in the post-uprising era, people continue to dread that a change in leadership might simply replace one ruling elite with another.

So what happens if the BNP wins power in the February elections? Will they be able to truly champion the people's interests or will they pursue their own agenda just like their predecessors and dominate and control? It is true that the BNP's 31-point charter contains some ambitious ideas for the country's future, however it lacks a clear roadmap for implementation. On top of that, many of these points rely heavily on legislative changes. But as history is our witness, expecting political legislation alone to solve the country's problems is fundamentally misguided.

More alarmingly, reports suggest the party is struggling with internal corruption. Media accounts reveal that the BNP has expelled approximately 5,000 leaders and activists since the fall of the autocratic government for disciplinary violations, which often means involvement in extortion or violence. That a party aspiring for power must expel so many of its members suggests that criminal elements are viewing it as their new safe haven. This points to the need for a fundamental shift in both attitude and behaviour. Such changes obviously will not come on its own, because if it were to happen naturally, it would have happened by now. The BNP must take deliberate steps to cleanse itself of corrupt actors and sever the link between money and politics. Otherwise, there is a risk that any electoral victory will just be another chapter in the cycle of hegemony and corruption.

This is why the current mass uprising holds extraordinary potential to reshape the nation's direction and fulfil the people's long-standing aspirations. It has generated a momentum for establishing equality and transforming our political culture. But if this historic opportunity is squandered and the forces rising to power repeat the mistakes of the past, the same injustices will return and the uprising will have all been for nothing.​

 

[Saif]

707 cases filed in capital over July uprising, 5,079 held

A total of 707 cases have been filed with 50 police stations across the capital till 5 August 2025, in connection with the killing and attempted killing incidents during the July-August Mass Uprising that toppled the Awami League (AL) government. The uprising forced the then Prime Minister...

en.prothomalo.com

707 cases filed in capital over July uprising, 5,079 held

BSS Dhaka
Published: 08 Aug 2025, 21: 24

July Graffiti BSS

A total of 707 cases have been filed with 50 police stations across the capital till 5 August 2025, in connection with the killing and attempted killing incidents during the July-August Mass Uprising that toppled the Awami League (AL) government.

The uprising forced the then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to resign from office and flee the country.

During the movement, around 1,400 were killed and several thousand others injured after being shot by members of law enforcement agencies, cadres of the Awami League, and its affiliated organisations.

According to police, the cases name thousands of top leaders and activists of the Awami League, including its president and ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina.

Following the cases, police arrested former law minister Anisul Huq, former adviser to the Prime Minister Salman F Rahman, former ministers Amir Hossain Amu and Dr Dipu Moni, Rashed Khan Menon, Hasanul Haq Inu, former state minister for ICT Zunaid Ahmed Palak, former MPs Momtaz Begum, A M Naimur Rahman Durjoy, Kazi Monirul Islam Monu, Abdus Sobhan Golap and AKM Sarwar Jahan Badsha, among others.

In total, 5,079 AL leaders and activists and members of its affiliated bodies have been arrested during the period.

Two former Inspectors General of Police (IGPs) -- Mohammad Shahidul Haque and Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun -- along with 21 other former and serving police officials are among the detainees.

The arrested police officials are former DMP Commissioner Mohammad Asaduzzaman Miah, former DIG Molla Nazrul Islam, former DC Tanvir Salehin Emon, former Sylhet SP Abdul Mannan, former SP Mohammad Asaduzzaman, former DC of DB Lalbagh Division Mashiur Rahman, Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) (Dhanmandi Division) Abdullah Hil Kafi, Assistant Commissioner Md Tanzil Ahmed, former ADC Md Shahen Shah, ADC Md Jewel Rana, former Gulshan OC Md Rafiqul Islam, former Additional SP Md Apel Uddin, AC (DB Gulshan Division) Md Iftekhar Mahmud, former OC of Jatrabari Police Station Md Abul Hasan, Inspector Majharul Islam, SI Md Sajjad-uz-Zaman, Nayek Sojib Sarkar, constables Sujon Hossain, Shoaibur Rahman and Md Bayejid Bostami.

Confirming the information, ADC (administration) of DMP’s Prosecution Division Mayeen Uddin Chowdhury told BSS that 707 cases have been lodged, so far, over killings and attempted killings during the uprising.

“A total of 5,079 people -- including ministers, MPs, and senior officials -- have been arrested. Among them, two former IGPs and 23 police officials are included. All cases are currently under investigation,” he added.​

 

[Saif]

5,079 arrested in Dhaka till Aug 5 over killings, attacks during July Uprising

707 cases filed with 50 police stations across the capital

www.thedailystar.net

5,079 arrested in Dhaka till Aug 5 over killings, attacks during July Uprising
707 cases filed with 50 police stations across the capital

A total of 707 cases have been filed with 50 police stations across Dhaka till August 5, 2025, in connection with the killings and attempted killings during the July uprising.

Additional Deputy Commissioner (Administration) of the DMP Prosecution Division Main Uddin Chowdhury told BSS that 707 cases have been lodged, so far, over killings and attempted killings during the uprising.

"A total of 5,079 people -- including ministers, MPs, and senior officials -- have been arrested. Among them, two former IGPs and 23 police officials are included. All cases are currently under investigation," he added.

The uprising forced Sheikh Hasina to resign from office and flee the country and toppled the then Awami League government. During the movement, around 1,400 were killed and several thousand were injured after being shot by members of law enforcement agencies, activists of the Awami League, and its affiliated organisations.

According to police, the cases name thousands of top leaders and activists of the Awami League, including Hasina.

Following the filing of cases, police arrested former law minister Anisul Huq, former private industry and investment adviser Salman F Rahman, former ministers and AL MPs Amir Hossain Amu and Dipu Moni, Rashed Khan Menon, Hasanul Haq Inu, former state minister Zunaid Ahmed Palak, former MPs Momtaz Begum, AM Naimur Rahman Durjoy, Kazi Monirul Islam Monu, Abdus Sobhan Golap, and AKM Sarwar Jahan Badsha, among others.

Two former inspectors general of police (IGPs), Mohammad Shahidul Haque and Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun, along with 21 other former and serving police officials are among the detainees.​

 

[Saif]

The anatomy of post-uprising disillusionment

The more things seem to change, the more they seem to remain the same.

www.thedailystar.net

The anatomy of post-uprising disillusionment

'It is time to confront a painful possibility that the July movement was not about systemic transformation, but about renegotiating power.' FILE PHOTO: PALASH KHAN

When Sheikh Hasina's Awami League government finally fell on August 5, 2024, after over 15 years in power, many saw this as the end of not just a regime but also its legacy of nepotism, elite capture, and weaponisation of bureaucracy. In its place, an interim government, strengthened by student leaders and civil society figures, promised a new beginning. But now, on the first anniversary of that momentous transition, we are left to confront a dispiriting paradox: the more things seem to change, the more they seem to remain the same.

To observe this trajectory is not merely to diagnose political stagnation; it is to confront a deeper malaise that grips the postcolonial state. The Bangladeshi polity, like many postcolonial entities, remains haunted by what Partha Chatterjee termed the "derivative nature" of its politics, importing forms of democracy and revolution without addressing their foundational preconditions: ethics, justice, and institutional integrity.

Instead of dismantling the Hasina-era architecture of inequality, the uprising appears to have inherited its scaffolding. The bureaucracy, once subservient to a party machine, remains largely unchanged, save for new masters who often replicate the performative gestures of the old. The passport office is still a Kafkaesque labyrinth; BRTA still delays issuing licences; roads are still cleared for convoys of newly minted VIPs—the list goes on. The "sir" culture persists not because of policy failure, but because it is rooted in a psychology of entitlement and feudal deference cultivated over generations.

What is equally disturbing is the appropriation of the movement's moral capital by those who once fought under its banner. Many students who braved tear gas and rubber bullets in the name of justice now find themselves accused of replicating the very practices they once condemned. Extortion, influence-peddling, and administrative favouritism are no longer exclusive to career politicians; they have found new agents among the revolution's own. This is what Hegel would describe as the "tragedy of history," wherein noble ideas are often corrupted by the dialectic of power.

History offers many such warnings. The Bolshevik Revolution, once heralded as the dawn of proletarian emancipation, ossified into Stalinist terror. The post-Mubarak transition in Egypt collapsed into military authoritarianism. Even the French Revolution, perhaps the most emblematic of all, devoured its own architects in the Reign of Terror. In each case, the moral legitimacy of mass uprising was squandered by the inability—or unwillingness—of its leaders to reimagine governance beyond the idioms of control and domination.

The failure of Bangladesh's post-July regime lies not in its slow pace of reform—radical change is rarely instant—but in its abandonment of ethical seriousness. What was meant to be a foundational rupture has congealed into a cynical continuity. The deeper structures of clientelism, bureaucratic aloofness, or institutional dysfunction remain unmoved. July, a symbol of defiance, is now turning into a brand rather than a beacon. The very mechanisms that animated resistance—solidarity, courage, and truth-telling—have been commodified.

Perhaps nowhere is this more visible than in the movement's treatment of women. It was women who reignited the movement on the night of July 14, 2024, when they marched from Rokeya Hall in defiance of curfews and repression. Their audacity shifted the moral centre of the uprising. And yet, a year later, discriminatory rules still bind women within university halls, harassment on the streets remains rampant, and the societal reflex to rehabilitate predators with garlands of social forgiveness is unchanged. Simone de Beauvoir once warned that no revolution is truly revolutionary unless it transforms the condition of women. In this sense, the July uprising has not merely fallen short; it has betrayed its most courageous constituency.

It would, however, be too easy, and too comforting, to lay blame solely at the feet of the new leadership. The deeper problem is cultural and civilisational: our collective fascination with the theatre of change and our reluctance to pursue the rigours of transformation. The Bangladeshi elite, intellectual and political alike, have mastered the aesthetics of protest but remain averse to the ethics of reform. We chant slogans with lyrical passion but balk at the demands of justice when they challenge our privileges. Nor can we ignore the complicity of the populace. When civic memory is short and historical amnesia is encouraged, authoritarian residues thrive. When corruption is normalised as a tool of survival, and influence is celebrated as success, revolutions cannot endure.

It is time, then, to confront a painful possibility: that the July movement was never about systemic transformation, but about renegotiating power; that the anti-discrimination rhetoric was instrumental, not intrinsic; and that the struggle was less about eliminating privilege and more about redistributing it.

Still, all is not lost. The disappointment of the past year may yet serve as a crucible for a more serious reckoning. We must resist the temptation to romanticise revolutions or demonise reform. What is needed is a deep reimagining of the moral foundations of public life in Bangladesh. We must ask: What does it mean to govern ethically? What does it mean to dissent responsibly? What does it mean to rebuild institutions that serve, rather than dominate, the people?

Education, too, must rise to this challenge. Universities must become sites not only of resistance but also of reflection. Students must be taught not only to demand rights but also to practise justice. We must return to the basics of civic education as a collective pursuit of wisdom, integrity, and service.

To the young who marched last July, and dreamed of a Bangladesh without discrimination, let this be a reminder: that revolutions are not events—they are obligations. Their legitimacy lies not in what they destroy, but in what they dare to create. The golden Bengal we dreamed of was never going to be inherited; it must be built, word by word, act by act, truth by truth. And that work is not yet done.

H.M. Nazmul Alam is an academic, journalist, and political analyst.​

 

[Bilal9]