Govt’s promise fades into silence as July martyrs await recognition

Bangla Press Desk:  Fourteen months after the uprising that ended Sheikh Hasina’s authoritarian rule, the families of hundreds killed in the protests say the interim administration’s pledges to honour the “martyrs of July” have faded into silence.

“We have got nothing from the government. Nothing means literally nothing,” said Jyotsna Begum, whose son Emon, a young activist, was shot dead in Rayerbagh on 19 July 2024.

“So many journalists and political leaders have come and gone, but our condition hasn’t changed.”

Sitting beside her mother-in-law, Monshuma Begum, Emon’s widow recalled being two months pregnant when her husband was killed.

“I ran from one place to another with my unborn child so that my husband could get the honour of a martyr. But all my efforts have gone in vain,” she told the Daily Sun.

The story is similar for Jahangir Hossain, shot in the head and killed in Dhonia, Jatrabari, on 20 July. His family submitted every document required proving his involvement in the movement, yet his name still does not appear on the official list of martyrs.

“For the past one and a half years, we’ve been visiting different offices but my father hasn’t received official recognition,” said his 20-year-old son Rabiul Islam.

Protests 

“I spent around Tk70,000 from my savings to collect documents and travel to Dhaka from Patuakhali’s Galachipa so that my father gets the honour he deserves.”

Fighting back tears, he added, “I work as a painter, but now I can’t do anything properly. I can’t even look at my mother’s face. I have three younger siblings. When I go home, they ask me, ‘What did you bring for us?’.”

Emon’s and Jahangir’s families are among many across Bangladesh who say they have been denied both recognition and compensation despite having all the necessary paperwork.

The Daily Sun spoke to five other families, including those of Abdur Rauf, Mosleh Uddin and Hridoy – who described similar struggles to have their loved ones acknowledged. While families of officially listed martyrs are receiving state assistance, others remain excluded.

Confusion over numbers deepens families’ pain

According to a government gazette, 836 people have been declared martyrs of the July–August movement that overthrew Sheikh Hasina. But the true toll is believed to be far higher. At the Rayerbazar graveyard alone, 114 unidentified victims were buried in a mass grave.

Humanitarian group Anjuman Mufidul Islam buried many other unidentified bodies in Savar, Tongi, Gazipur, Narayanganj and Chattogram.

A UN Fact-Finding Mission, reporting on 12 February 2025, estimated that around 1,400 people were killed between 1 July and 15 August 2024, including 118 children.

The report by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) detailed widespread human rights violations during the uprising, which began as a student-led protest and escalated into nationwide unrest that forced the prime minister to resign.

On 21 August 2025, a High Court bench of Justices Fahmida Kader and Mubina Asaf declared the UN report a “historic document” and called for justice over what it described as “mass killings” during the July-August uprising.

Injured and forgotten

Beyond those killed, thousands were wounded. The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) recorded 13,811 people injured, while the July Martyrs and Fighters Welfare and Rehabilitation Ordinance 2025 listed 12,887.

Despite repeated government pledges to complete the verification process within months, no full or verified list of martyrs and injured has yet been released. Inconsistencies persist between the figures provided by the government and those compiled by the July Shaheed Smrity Foundation.

Confusion over the official gazette has further fuelled anger.

On 3 August, the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs removed eight names after discovering irregularities – four were duplicate entries, while the remaining four were found to have no direct connection to the movement. Among them were a police officer, a fugitive prisoner, a man killed in a family feud and another who was hospitalised during the protests.

A national daily’s investigation also found that at least 52 of the 834 names listed by the government did not meet the criteria for martyr status.

Civil groups challenge government data

The July Revolutionary Alliance (JRA), a volunteer group supporting victims’ families, claims the real number of martyrs is 914, with information on more than 600 others still being verified.

“It was the duty of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs to prepare the list,” said Saleh Rayhan, the JRA’s convener.

“The health adviser is incompetent and has failed to perform her duty. From the beginning, we wanted an independent body to handle this.

“The interim government has only a little time left – if they cannot complete the list within this period, they will be considered a failed government.”

Asked about the delay, Mohammad Faruk Hossain, joint secretary and additional in-charge for July uprising affairs at the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs, defended the process.

“The list prepared and numbers mentioned by the United Nations are not necessarily complete and accurate,” he said. “Most of our work has already been done. Only a few cases are left, which we can call exceptional.

“We are trying to do this work very carefully, maintaining an international standard so that no one can raise questions about it in the future.”

He added that DNA testing is under way to identify the bodies from the Rayerbazar mass grave. “We hope to complete this entire process within the next three months.”

‘A betrayal of sacrifice’

Political analysts and journalists say the interim government – which took office promising a “new Bangladesh” built on the sacrifices of those killed and injured – has failed to fulfil one of its most basic responsibilities.

“This is an extreme failure of the government,” said Masood Kamal, a senior journalist who campaigned in support of the uprising.

“They came to power on the blood of these martyrs, and failing to prepare this list is a betrayal of that sacrifice.

“If a political party like Jamaat-e-Islami can publish a ten-volume record listing 770 martyrs, why can’t the government? Incompetent people have been placed in key positions – that is why this is happening,” concluded Masood Kamal.

BP/SP