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Sheikh Hasina Gave "Shoot" Orders During Deadly Bangladesh Protests: Report

Sheikh Hasina Gave "Shoot" Orders During Deadly Bangladesh Protests: Report

NDTV3 days ago
Dhaka:
Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina ordered security forces to "shoot" at students during last year's mass protests, according to a leaked phone call authenticated by the BBC. In the recording, Hasina is heard authorising the use of lethal weapons against demonstrators, saying, "Wherever they find [them], they will shoot."
The phone call, made on 18 July 2024 from her official residence in Dhaka, captures Hasina saying, "I have ordered all of them to be arrested tonight. Everyone has been informed, wherever you find them, catch them. I have issued an open order. Now, they will use lethal weapons. Wherever they find [them], they will shoot."
The protests, which began over civil service job quotas, quickly escalated into a nationwide uprising that ultimately forced Hasina from power. UN investigators say as many as 1,400 people were killed during the crackdown, the deadliest wave of political violence in the country since the 1971 war.
The phone call came at a moment in the unrest, when public outrage was growing over police killings of protesters, circulating on social media.
Prosecutors in Bangladesh plan to use the leaked audio as key evidence in Hasina's ongoing trial in absentia for crimes against humanity. The conversation is the clearest indication yet that Hasina directly authorised lethal force against unarmed protesters, many of them students.
One of the worst massacres occurred on 5 August in Dhaka's Jatrabari neighbourhood, where police opened fire indiscriminately after the army withdrew from the area. At least 52 people were killed, according to newly uncovered evidence, far higher than earlier reports suggested.
Hasina is charged with crimes against humanity, including incitement, conspiracy, and issuing orders that led to mass killings. She fled to India just before her government collapsed. Despite a request from Dhaka, India has not extradited her, and legal experts say it is unlikely she will return to face trial.
Alongside Hasina, 203 individuals, including former police and government officials, have been indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal (ICT), with 73 in custody.
Since Hasina's ouster, Bangladesh has been under an interim administration led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, who is now preparing the country for national elections.
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Mulk Raj Anand and his imagination of global resistance against caste, colonialism, propaganda
Mulk Raj Anand and his imagination of global resistance against caste, colonialism, propaganda

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time27 minutes ago

  • Scroll.in

Mulk Raj Anand and his imagination of global resistance against caste, colonialism, propaganda

In 1937, as India struggled to gain independence from the British, a more global battle was raging thousands of miles west in the war-torn city of Madrid. Of the many foreign nationals serving in the Spanish Civil War in different capacities was Mulk Raj Anand, who saw Spain's struggle as a key point to decide the fate of democracy in Europe. With the revolt of General Franco to overthrow the government, Anand's anti-fascist principles led him to defend the Spanish Republic. During the battle, Eric Arthur Blair, a friend of Anand, was shot in the neck by a sniper but miraculously survived, as mentioned in DJ Taylor's definitive biography, Orwell: The Life. Years later, their paths realigned during the Second World War to counter the Axis propaganda led by Subhash Chandra Bose. Prompting Indians to revolt against British rule, Bose presented a formidable challenge to the British government in India, writes Stanley Wolpert in A New History of India. 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Remarks like 'lesser breeds beyond the law' about Indians left him 'feeling anger and shame,' as he recounts in his memoir Conversations in Bloomsbury (1981). Untouchable and its global echo Although Anand had finished writing Untouchable in 1927, his first published work was an essay, 'Persian Painting' (1930). The printed edition of Untouchable did not see the light of day until 1935, after rejections from 19 publishers. Books on Mughals, mysticism, and the extravagant lives of Nawabs fascinated publishers more, not the disturbing reality of outcasts, which many considered 'dirt.' At last, a moving preface by EM Forster encouraged Lawrence and Wishart, a small left-wing publisher, to take a chance on Untouchable. Upon publication, the novel successfully found a reader base in left-liberal circles, especially among Marxists and anti-fascists. The disturbing horrors of societal brutality against outcastes linked Untouchable with broader, parallel struggles unfolding across the globe, from the industrial underbelly of Britain to the Jim Crow South. Richard Wright, an African-American writer, uncovered systematic racism in the US, robbing Black communities of dignified life with Native Son (1940). Like Bakha, Wright introduced the world to Bigger Thomas, a young African-American boy from Chicago who was crushed and criminalised by structural violence. Although Anand and Wright never met, through Bakha and Bigger Thomas, they powerfully held up a mirror to societal brutality. Orwell, Anand, and the BBC In the 1940s, when the Second World War was at its peak, Anand was offered the position of Talks Assistant at the BBC's Indian Service in London. Citing political turmoil in India, Anand politely declined the offer, which was then passed on to George Orwell. His desire to serve his country, his wife's ill health, and financial setbacks led him to accept the job. As the new Talks Assistant, Orwell wrote a letter to Anand to convince him to write and broadcast for the BBC. Anand readily agreed. Together, tasked with encouraging anti-imperialist sentiments in India, they worked on several radio talk series. In New Weapons of War, Anand explained the meanings of war-related phrases such as 'Pluto-Democracy,' 'Propaganda,' and 'New Order,' terms commonly spoken yet poorly understood. According to Abha Sharma Rodrigues' doctoral thesis, George Orwell, The BBC, and India: A Critical Study, despite several ideological differences, the early life experiences of Anand and Orwell bore striking similarities. Not only did the zeal of reform motivate them to write, but they also went to great lengths to experience the pain of the lowest orders of society. While Anand spent time at Sabarmati Ashram, living with the untouchables and performing the tasks of a sweeper, Orwell resigned from the Indian Imperial Police and chose to live in slums, working menial jobs like a dishwasher in restaurants. As Anand uncovered casteism in Untouchable, Orwell exposed classism in Down and Out in Paris and London (1933), laying bare the grim realities of poverty and exclusion in Europe's capitals. Often criticised as hypocritical and ironic, it remains debatable whether the BBC's wartime efforts to encourage anti-imperialist sentiments in India were successful. However, Orwell and Anand's experiments with language resulted in innovative broadcasts like New Weapons of War. Due to rising differences with the organisation, Orwell left the BBC in 1943, while Anand overlapped his tenure and continued to freelance as a scriptwriter and broadcaster until the end of the war. 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time2 hours ago

  • News18

Malala Day 2025: History, Significance And Powerful Quotes On Education

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New policy for population growth on anvil: Naidu
New policy for population growth on anvil: Naidu

Hans India

time2 hours ago

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New policy for population growth on anvil: Naidu

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