Looking back at JULY UPRISING

Two years after the July uprising, its core aspirations remain unfulfilled as the government has ignored the reform agenda endorsed by the people through the referendum and the July charter, Jamaat-e-Islami Secretary General Mia Golam Porwar said yesterday.

Though the July uprising restored democracy and created conditions to protect people's rights, its broader goals and public expectations cannot be fulfilled overnight, BNP Secretary General and LGRD Minister Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said.

By late July 2024, deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina was aware that scores of protesters were dying on the streets across the country, yet her government doubled down on its heavy-handed response to suppress the movement.

To call it a tumultuous time would be an understatement. The state-sponsored massacre had reached a bloody crescendo, yet the iron grip of Sheikh Hasina seemed firmer than ever in late July and early August 2024. On some days, it felt as though law enforcement agencies would continue shooting until the bullets ran out.