01/07/2025
The July-August uprising marks one of the most tumultuous and tragic chapters in Bangladesh’s modern history; a period defined by resistance, repression, and the high cost of defiance against authoritarian rule.
For over fifteen years, the country bore the weight of an increasingly repressive regime. During this time, countless citizens, political activists, students, farmers, garment workers, women, and children, became victims of enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, abductions, and systematic persecution. The list of atrocities stretches long and painful.
The uprising, which intensified during July and August, saw the deaths of more than 1,500 people, including at least 422 affiliated with the opposition at the time, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party-BNP. Over 30,000 were injured, many with life-altering consequences because of brutal state violence.
Among the victims were children. In just 36 days, no fewer than 136 children, including four year old Abdul Ahad and six year old Rita Gop, were killed, a level of cruelty many have described as unthinkable in a civilised society.
This struggle echoes earlier chapters of Bangladesh’s fight for justice and self-determination, the liberation war of 1971, the anti-hegemony movement of November 7, 1975, the pro-democracy revolution of 1990, and now, the 2024 movement against authoritarianism. In each of these defining moments, people like Shaheed Abu Saeed, Mugdha and Wasim, and countless unnamed others, have laid down their lives in pursuit of a freer and more just nation.
Now, a historic opportunity lies before the people of Bangladesh to establish a modern, democratic state that is accountable, inclusive, and governed by the will of the people. In an increasingly competitive and interconnected world, the country must seize this moment with urgency, with dynamism, and without repeating the mistakes of the past.
It is time, at long last, to repay the debt owed to the martyrs by building a just, humane, and democratic Bangladesh. A nation where governments are chosen by the people, through direct and fair elections, and held accountable to those they serve.
