36 attacks on uprising participants, families in 9 months: PIB study

At least 36 attacks were carried out on those who actively participated in the July-August mass upsurge and their families in different parts of the country in the last nine months, according to a study conducted by the Press Institute of Bangladesh (PIB).

The incidents resulted in 89 injuries, one death and the alleged suicide of a young woman following a gang rape.

Ghulam Murshed, senior research officer at the PIB, told the Daily Sun that the study has been conducted based on mass media reports.

Of the attacks, 33 were carried out on the surviving uprising participants and their families, while the rest three targeted the families of the uprising martyrs. Of the three attacks on the martyrs' families, one was carried out by members of a certain political party.

According to the study, the Awami League and its associate bodies allegedly carried out 13 of the total attacks, while BNP and its associate bodies are responsible for nine attacks.   

Besides physical assaults on the uprising participants and their families, the study reveals incidents of desecration of martyrs' graves. Miscreants vandalised the grave of Faizul Islam on 26 April and that of Sayem on 14 March, both at Keraniganj on the outskirts of the capital. 

Sayem's mother alleged that local Awami League leader Sirajul Islam committed the crime.

Jasim Uddin Howlader, a private company driver, sustained bullet injuries during the July protest in the capital's Mohammadpur area on 19 July last year. He succumbed to his injuries at a hospital on 29 July. He was buried at his village home in Dumki of Patuakhali. 

Jasim's 17-year-old daughter was gang raped on 18 March when she went to the village home to offer prayers for the departed soul of his father at his grave. 

After suffering from prolonged mental torture, the girl finally "committed" suicide in a rented house in the capital's Shekhertek area on 26 April.

On 19 March, local teen gang members seriously injured Shahriar Hasan, 16, the younger brother of martyr Mahmudul Hasan Rizvi, at Maijdee in Noakhali.  

The ADSM coordinator Ariful Islam said the teen gang was linked to the Awami League.

On 21 December last year, the organising secretary of the upazila unit of the banned Bangladesh Chhatra League, Mostaq Ahmed Noman, was arrested after he attacked Mobarak Hossain Abhi, the ADSM coordinator, with a sharp weapon in Gouripur, Mymensingh.

On 22 February, miscreants hacked and injured Kabirul Islam Joy, the district coordinator of the student platform, which spearheaded the uprising, in Thakurgaon. During the movement, he was also injured in police firing.