#WeWantJustice Screams Bangladeshi’s to the International Community

The Bangladesh Liberation War (Bengali: মুক্তিযুদ্ধ Muktijuddho), also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence, or simply the Liberation War in Bangladesh, was a revolution and armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Bengali nationalist and self-determination movement in what was then East Pakistan during the 1971 Bangladesh genocide. It resulted in the independence of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh. The war began after the Pakistani military junta based in West Pakistan launched Operation Searchlight against the people of East Pakistan on the night of 25 March 1971. It pursued the systematic elimination of nationalist Bengali civilians, students, intelligentsia, religious minorities and armed personnel. The junta annulled the results of the 1970 elections and arrested Prime minister-designate Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. The war ended on 16 December 1971 after West Pakistan surrendered.

Who is Sheikh Hasina?

Sheikh Hasina is the current and 10th Prime Minister of Bangladesh, in office since January 2009. Hasina is the daughter of Bangladesh’s first President Sheikh Mujibur Rahman who was assassinated along with his entire family (except for his daughter Sheikh Hasina who was living in UK at that time along with her husband) – in the early hours of 15 August 1975. A group of Bangladesh Army personnel went to his residence and killed him and fourteen of his family members, during a coup d’état.

Dictatorial (& Brutal) Government

On 29th of July 2018 two school going students were run over by a passenger bus which was driven by a reckless underage (15  yr) bus driver carrying no valid ID or driving license.

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The students immediately took to the streets protesting the incident in the scene of the accident carrying slogans saying “Follow Traffic Rules” & “We Want Justice”. Within the same day students from various different schools & universities of Dhaka Bangladesh started joining the protest which demanded safer roads &  strict traffic law implementation & regulations.

Their peaceful protest, now titled #WeWantJustice , was never intended to cause any harm or damages to any individual or property.

Unfortunately the dictatorial ‘non-elected’ government (allegedly “peoples republic”) of  Bangladesh have since been giving orders to it’s police and military police forces to  help disperse the students protesting – by brutally beating them up & even firing rounds of live ammunition’s wherever or whenever possible. Some unconfirmed reports of students getting shot with REAL bullets (sometimes rubber bullets) straight to their faces, chest or necks;  have been surfacing on the social media websites. Female students were reportedly being raped mercilessly (by the student wing party ‘Chatra League’ of the present government) whenever the young girls were found on the streets protesting. There are alleged videos of girl students being raped on sidewalks in public being posted on some internet forum and adult websites.

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Nearly over 320 students, photo journalists & writers have been either arrested, apprehended or injured (with bullet wounds) some of them quite severely. All the evidence (such as live video footage’s of police attacks) are gradually being removed from the social media networks as days progress.

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Extracts from Al Jazeera : 

Silencing the press Alam was picked up at his Dhaka home late on Sunday, hours after the interview he gave to Al Jazeera. He accused police of “specifically ask[ing] for help from armed goons to combat unarmed students”. Police official Moshiur Rahman said authorities were interrogating Alam for “giving false information to different media and for provocative comments”.

Video also emerged of an Associated Press photographer being repeatedly struck by unidentified men wielding clubs. According to HRW, some 20 journalists have been beaten up for documenting attacks on protesters. The rights group demanded an immediate investigation into reports that renowned photographer Shahidul Alam was beaten while in custody.

Al Jazeera’s Tanvir Chowdhury, reporting from Dhaka, said following Alam’s arrest a video posted on social media showed him limping while being held up by two people as he was purportedly taken to court. Bangladesh’s High Court on Tuesday ordered authorities to immediately send Alam to the government-run Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University for treatment.

Hospital officials were also told to form a medical board to examine his injuries sustained during his detention, and submit report on his condition to the court on Wednesday.

Extracts from the New York Times : 

Students at several university campuses in Bangladesh clashed with police officers in riot gear on Monday, as the government met what began as a students’ road-safety protest with escalating force and panic.

Dhaka, the capital, was in its ninth day of widespread protests, and rights advocates said they feared an increasingly violent response from the government, led by the Awami League, which is due to face elections in December.

A prominent photojournalist, Shahidul Alam, was arrested on Sunday night, his wife said, and rights groups including Amnesty International said they were looking into reports of four more arrests of activists that they called unjustified.

In a text message on Monday, a student protester at the East West University described seeking refuge inside a classroom after being attacked by police officers with tear gas and rubber bullets. He added that supporters of the government had assaulted them in tandem with the police, throwing rocks and wielding makeshift clubs.

Letting your Kids do the Dirty work for you

Since 2008 Bangladesh has implemented strict “public street protest” laws which allows the law enforcement’s (police) to arrest and detain anyone violating the almost dictatorial protest laws enacted during the rule of the military caretaker government of ’08. Hence the public protests and demonstration has all but simmered down in fear of police brutality and mass arrest with long detention in the last decade.

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Until now when juvenile’s took to the streets and started protesting. The Bangladeshi protest laws “forgot” to include juvenile arrest and detention when it was written and passed in the supreme justice court by the then military government in power.

So in other words the adults and senior citizens of Bangladesh has no other choice but to let their juvenile kids go out risk their lives in public protest to win back the country that was once theirs (since it’s freedom in ’71) – and completely “democratic”. They are fed up with extreme hardship & brutal dictatorship of the current government.

CONTENT WARNING: The content below has blood and violence. Watch at your own discretion.