'Courage became worthless', Student groups in Bangladesh boycott 'July Declaration' event

Dhaka, Aug 5 As the Bangladesh interim government is set to hold a 'July Declaration' ceremony, the students on Tuesday who were involved in the protests to overthrow former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, boycotted the event, stating that their "courage" became "worthless" in less than a year, as not all of them received invitations.

The event will be held on Tuesday at Manik Mia Avenue in Dhaka, the Chief Advisor's Press Wing confirmed on Saturday. The Charter will be presented before the nation in the presence of all parties involved in last year's July demonstrations, it stated.

Abdul Hannan Masud, coordinator of the Students Against Discrimination (SAD) and Senior Joint Chief Coordinator of the National Citizen Party (NCP), took to his social media, stating that he will boycott the event.

"I heard that this government could not invite the 158 coordinators and co-coordinators, the legitimate body of the July Uprising. They may have set up a few seats, but there will not be room for 158 people," Masud posted on Facebook.

"Those whose courage and leadership led to this coup and this government are worthless in less than a year. If my fellow fighters, who led the movement to overthrow Hasina, do not get the respect they deserve, I, Abdul Hannan Masood, personally announce to boycott tomorrow's July Declaration program," the post added.

Students' Federation General Secretary Saikat Arif also said that they had decided not to participate in the event.

"The government has not discussed the July Declaration with the student organisations. It has not even held any meetings with the student organisations in the last 1 year. Rather, they have wronged the rest of the student organisations by identifying a specific group of anti-discrimination activists as the leadership of the coup, which has also undermined the impartiality of the interim government. That is why we are not going tomorrow," leading Bangladeshi newspaper Jugantor quoted Arif as saying.

Reports suggest that as major differences emerged among key political parties in Bangladesh, the National Consensus Commission (NCC) of the country struggled to reach an agreement on several reform proposals during the second round of the dialogue.

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