NN Online:
All political parties are in agreement with the government’s initiative to draft the ‘Proclamation of the July Uprising’ based on national consensus. However, there are concerns about the initiative’s effectiveness.
Despite these doubts, political parties believe that the tensions surrounding the declaration of this proclamation by student leaders of the mass uprising have subsided. The interim government’s initiative has temporarily sidestepped a significant political debate on this matter. Now, questions arise regarding how the proclamation will be formulated and what it will encompass.
At the same time, the reliable leaders of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) said they would demand recognition of the sacrifices they made during the last 16 years under the Awami League rule. The BNP leadership thinks the government initiative is a timely one.
Speaking to media regarding this, BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said the proclamation should include everything, including the movements over the last 16 years, killings and enforced disappearances, imprisonments and torture on the opposition and the contribution of the political parties.
The proclamation should be based on a consensus among the parties which were involved in the anti-fascist movement, he insisted.
The BNP, however, has a different opinion regarding the “proclamation of the July uprising”. They do not consider the movement in July as a “revolution”. They consider it an “uprising”. So there could be a “declaration”, not a “proclamation” of the mass uprising, BNP leaders believe.
The BNP believes there was a mass uprising of students and people in July and August. Following that, an interim government was formed on the basis of a national consensus. This government was sworn in as per the constitution. So there is no scope to declare a “proclamation of the revolution” some five months after the oath.
Despite the controversy surrounding the “proclamation of July uprising”, most parties think the mass uprising was an outcome of unprecedented unity among the people of the country. Therefore, there should be an official documentation of the uprising. And, the political parties should not take it lightly.
