Sajeeb Wazed Joy, grandson of Bangabandhu and a former adviser to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, has said that the Yunus-led dictatorship violently cracked down on grieving students as protests flared against attempts to cover up the death toll.
He made the remarks while sharing a news article on X Tuesday evening, as at least 70 protesting students were injured in attacks by the security forces at the Secretariat.
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The Bangladesh Awami League has also condemned the wave of systematic torture, deceit, and suppression meticulously inflicted on the students, teachers, parents, and staff since a fighter jet crashed into Milestone School and College on Monday.
โWe stand in solidarity with everyone raising voices against the ongoing state-sponsored cover-up,โ the party said in a post on X on Tuesday, criticising the deployment of law enforcement and the use of sound grenades and live bullets on students and teachers at several places.
โThe national mourning day has been tainted with blood due to Yunusโs repression, a betrayal not only of the affectedโliving and deadโbut also of the entire nation.โ
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Such actions not only undermine the regimeโs responsibility to uphold human rights but also expose its reliance on force even at the height of national crisis.
Even the insensitivity of the chief adviser towards the affected triggered shockwaves, forcing him to take down his Facebook post asking for donations from the public, the Awami League said, urging the global community to raise voices against the ongoing brutal wave of repression unleashed by the regime and save the lives of citizens who are merely demanding justice and accountability.
It said the regime has exposed its complete failure to deliver on the welfare of the nation at the time of national crisis by concealing the casualty toll and unleashing law enforcement on justice seekers.
The grief-stricken students, parents, and teachers were attacked by the police as they asked for the casualty list. It is a total disregard for human rights, pushing the families and fellow students into further trauma.
The party said the regime has lost its credibility after ruling out witness accounts on the death toll as disinformation, as seen from the massive protests by hundreds of thousands on the streets.
The public anger became palpable when two advisers and Yunusโ press secretary were rejected outright by students, teachers, and parents during their visit to the crash site.
Anger is also simmering against law enforcement, including the army.
To establish the narrative of the regime, journalists were attacked, intimidated, and barred from covering details on the impact of the crash site, the Awami League said.
On the medical front, services were disrupted as the political leaders and advisers were busy conducting photo ops with the critically injured victims in a barbaric show of scoring political points.
The party also criticised the attack on volunteers, who rushed to hospitals to donate blood, in the presence of police.
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