Student-mass movement: Death toll keeps rising, 757 till date

A student, who received bullet injuries during the quota reform movement, died while undergoing treatment at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University on Friday.

The deceased is Md Shumon Mia. He would study at a madrasa at Madhobdi in Narsingdi. Shumon would regularly join programmes of the Student Against Discrimination movement which demanded reforms in quota in government jobs. He received bullets during the agitation on 20 July. A bullet hit his abdomen. He was brought to Dhaka with a critical injury. He was under the treatment at the hospital for over a month. However, he couldn't be saved.

Some 757 people have died in violence, clashes and firing centering the Student Against Discrimination movement between July 16 and 23 August. The deceased include students, children, women, political leaders-activists and people from different professions. Some of them died on the spot while some died at the hospitals while undergoing treatment.

These deaths from violence and clashes have been confirmed by the people who brought dead bodies to hospitals and relatives of the deceased, 14 hospitals outside Dhaka and 13 hospitals in Dhaka.

Of the deceased, identities of 69 couldn't be ascertained. There were 8 unidentified bodies at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital morgue till yesterday. Detailed information of 157 deceased couldn't be collected as bodies were taken from hospitals immediately.

According to a report of the UN Human Rights Commission, at least 650 people have died in violence between 16 July and 11 August.

The report titled 'Preliminary Analysis of Recent Protests and Unrest in Bangladesh' was published from Geneva on 16 August.

One of the reasons for increasing the number of deaths is that many dead bodies from the spots were not taken to hospitals. In many cases, the relatives took bodies from the spots without postmortem and they are buried in their respective localities. As a result, many incidents in the beginning which caused deaths were not counted. Moreover, many injured are dying in the hospitals.

Analysing the deaths centering the agitation, the trend, nature and chronology of the incidents, the movement of the students and masses can be divided into two. One unit is from 16 July to 3 August and another unit is from 4 August to 20 August. First phase can be considered as the movement for quota reform and the second phase can be considered as the movement for the ouster of the government.

Analysing the picture of deaths in the first phase, it is found that the law enforcing agencies at one stage used additional force to tackle the movement launched for reform of quota in government jobs. On 16 July, six people including four students died. 305 more people died across the country for using lethal weapons in addition to using excessive force from 18 July to 21 July. Later, 30 people died while undergoing treatment till 3 August.

Analysing deaths in the second stage, 116 people died in clashes and violence across the country on 4 August. On the day, it was seen that alongside the law enforcing agencies, many Awami League leaders and activists used lethal weapons.

On 5 August, Sheikh Hasina resigned from the post of prime minister and fled to India. Massive violence took place on the day and the following day. 265 people died in two days (5-6 August). 20 more people, who were injured critically during the clashes and violence, died while undergoing treatment till 20 August.

Analysing facts and figures, deaths were higher in Dhaka in the first phase (16 July to 3 August). 246 people died in different areas in the capital during the period. At the same time, at least 95 people died outside the capital.

In the first phase, a higher number of deaths is reported in Jatrabari, Uttara, Mirpur, Mohammadpur, Rampura and Badda. 46 people died in Jatrabari, 31 in Uttara, 29 in Mirpur and 21 in Mirpur.

Analysing information and data of deaths of the second phase (after 3 August and onward), incidents of deaths took place more outside Dhaka. Some 126 people died in Dhaka while 290 died outside Dhaka during the period. Of the deceased, at least 88 are Awami League leaders and activists. Upon the fall of the government, aggrieved persons in many areas carried out attacks on the leaders and activists of Awami League and their houses and establishments were set on fire.

On the contrary, deaths of 15 leaders and activists of BNP and one Chhatra Shibir have been confirmed centering movement for quota reform and the one-point demand for the resignation of the government. However, BNP claimed that 117 leaders, activists and supporters of the party have died. Similarly, Jamaat-e-Islami claimed their 87 leaders and activists have died.

Both BNP and Jamaat said they concealed the information of deaths as they didn't want to give the movement of students and the masses a political colour. Moreover, this strategy was taken to avoid misunderstanding with the general students. Although the movement in the beginning was of the student and later it took the form of the movement of students-masses and the Awami League government was deposed through the mass uprising.

A review of the deaths reveals that the highest number of students died on 18 and 19 July and on 4 August. A total of 25 students were killed on 18 July, 23 died on 19 July and 15 on 4 August. They included school children, college students, university students and madrasa students. So far the deaths of 91 students have been recorded.

The first death at the outset of the clashes and violence took place on 16 July in Rangpur. The police on that day opened fire on Abu Sayeed, a student of Rangpur's Begum Rokeya University. A video taken of that incident shows how he stood on the street, stick in hand and arms widespread, facing the police's firearms. It was seen how a member of the police took aim at him and fired. Once this video went viral, students all over the country rose up in fury and the movement grew intense.

Videos of excessive use of force by the police went viral on social media during the movement. One video showed police firing pellets at a youth non-stop. Another youth came forward to save him but the police simply continued shooting. This incident took place on 20 July in Jatrabari. The youth was Imam Hasan (19). He was a Class 11 student of Government Adamjee Nagar MW College in Narayanganj. His father Mainal Hossain was also a police officer.

Imam Hossain mother Parveen Akhter, speaking to Prothom Alo, said in angry reproach, "The police shot dead a policeman's son, what recompense did my husband get?"

Prothom Alo perused the records of 13 hospitals in Dhaka and Narayanganj to learn how the persons were killed. Also, 8 staff correspondents and 49 correspondents of Prothom Alo spoke to the families and relatives of those who were killed to find out how they died. It was learnt that of 757 killed persons, at least 424 were killed by bullets.

From 16 July to 3 August at least 277 and from 4 August onwards 144 were killed in gunfire, it was confirmed. Those who were shot dead include 89 infants and children and 4 women.

A video went viral on Facebook of a conversation between the deputy commissioner (DC) of the police's Wari zone at the time, Mohammad Iqbal Hossain, and the home minister Asaduzzaman. They spoke of using excessive police force and lethal weapons to suppress the movement.

In the video, the police official Iqbal Hossain told the former home minister Asaduzzaman, "We are having to shoot to kill, sir. When we shoot, one gets killed, one gets injured. One goes down, the rest don't. That's the scariest thing, sir, and worrisome too."

The home minister was flanked by home secretary of that time Jahangir Alam and inspector general of police (IGP) Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun.

In Jatrabari alone 86 persons were killed in gunfire during the movement. Even on 5 August, the day that the government fell, at least 36 were shot dead in Jatrabari. Jatrabari is a part of the police's Wari zone. The police officer had been the DC of Wari zone at the time.

Concerned persons say, police indiscriminately opened fire in Jatrabari and killed people. That is why the people are furious at the police. Seven policemen were killed there too. One member of RAB and one of the Ansar force were killed too. One body of one policeman was even strung up in Jatrabari.

According to the police headquarters, 44 members of the police force were killed after 16 July. Other than that, two members of the Ansars, one RAB and one BGB member also died.

Students and women took part in this movement in large numbers. Of the 424 persons shot dead by the law enforcement agencies, 83 were women and children. Another 10 women and children were killed in fire and other attacks.

Professor Tanzim Uddin Khan of Dhaka University's department of international relations, speaking to Prothom Alo about the use of excessive force including firearms to suppress the student-people's movement, said the state machinery had become a one-person show. The main aim was to safeguard that one person. It didn't matter how many common people were killed in the process.

Tanzim Uddin Khan said, the repression and the killing to which the Awami League government resorted in order to suppress the movement had made everybody unsafe. When staying alive became a huge challenge, then people begin to forget all divides, whether ideological or otherwise. The struggle to survive draws everyone together. That is what happened during the student and people's movement. It played a big role in uniting everyone. This movement also brought forward the matter of state reforms.

*This article, originally published in Prothom Alo print and online editions, has been rewritten in English by Ayesha Kabir and Rabiul Islam