Yunus’ orange juice photoshoot mocks mourning for Milestone victims

The interim government’s top brass sat with their key political allies in a show of unity against the Awami League on Tuesday night but spent no words on the mourning day as 31 deaths were confirmed from the Milestone School and College plane crash, with the witnesses reporting over 120 deaths.

According to the army, among the 165 injured, 46 are at the Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery, 60 at Uttara Adhunik Hospital, 28 at CMH, 13 at Lubna General Hospital, eight at Kuwait Bangladesh Friendship Hospital, three each at Dhaka Medical College Hospital and Kurmitola General Hospital, two at United Hospital, and one each at Uttara Crescent Hospital and Shaheed Mansur Ali Medical College Hospital.

However, the government claims that 78 people are undergoing treatment in various hospitals.

Orange juice was served at the meeting, following which a smiling Muhammad Yunus and five of his advisers posed for a photo with the top leaders of the BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami, National Citizen Party, and Islami Andolan Bangladesh (IAB), featuring leaders like Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and Nahid Islam, at the state guest house Jamuna.

Law Adviser Asif Nazrul, who was in the photo smiling like Yunus, briefed the media in a serious mood. Although it was declared a mourning day, he said that they discussed contemporary issues and stressed that their “unity against fascism” was intact.

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Pointing to the recent verbal tug-of-war among the allies, he said that the allies may differ on various political issues, but they were all ready to work against the Awami League.

Asif Nazrul said that the allies asked the government to be strict on law and order and take firm steps against the Awami League and affiliated organisations as they have staged demonstrations in some places recently.

Yunus told the parties to make their unity visible so that the people could get some relief, he said.

Before the meeting, Asif Nazrul and CR Abrar, another adviser, and CA’s Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam were stuck at the crash site for nine hours as hundreds and thousands of students, parents, teachers, and staff protested outside the campus at Uttara Diabari, condemning the attempts to hide dead bodies and cover up the death toll.

Later, the government deployed several hundred police members to disperse the protesters and bring out the advisers.

Meanwhile, another group of students demonstrated outside the Secretariat around 4pm, pressing for the resignation of advisers and the release of the actual list of the deceased.

However, the army and police personnel swooped on them when the protesters entered the Secretariat premises and vandalised some motorcycles, injuring over 75 students.

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They beat up the students mercilessly and lobbed sound grenades and tear gas canisters, which turned the entire area into a battlefield.

“The national mourning day has been tainted with blood due to Yunus’s repression, a betrayal not only of the affected—living and dead—but also of the entire nation,” the Awami League said in a post on X.

Such actions not only undermine the regime’s responsibility to uphold human rights but also expose its reliance on force even at the height of the national crisis, it said.

Hours ago, Yunus came under severe criticism for seeking donations for the Milestone victims in social media posts and was forced to remove those within half an hour.

The insensitivity of the chief adviser towards the affected triggered shockwaves. 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 on Monday.

Attempts to conceal bodies

Engaged in the rescue operation, school teacher Shafayet Faiyaz said he protested when the TV reporters mentioned the death toll of 18-19 persons.

Faiyaz reported recovering 15-20 charred bodies from the damaged classrooms. After saying this, the army personnel present at the spot started beating him.

When the principal, vice-principal and teachers came to save him, the army personnel assaulted them too.

“At one point, they took me to the Project-7 building and beat me again. They tried to strangle me with the scarf I was wearing,” Faiyaz said on Facebook.

According to a source at the school, at least 120 students, teachers, and staff were killed on the spot. The school authorities wanted to announce the list, but the army personnel wanted them to keep silent.

Describing the torture of the teacher, student Tahsin Ul Haque posted on Facebook that the army is trying to play politics with dead bodies.

He said around 5:30-5:35pm, when the death toll crossed 70-80, the media was reporting only 15-20.

“At one point, when our principal, Ziaul Alam Sir, protested this, an army officer hit him. After that, the real game started.

All the students left the hostel and gathered in front of the gymnasium. The army was also in a face-to-face position. Within a while, tension on the campus rose high as the students chanted slogans against the army. Some students started throwing shoes, stones, and sticks at the army.

“Then, on the instructions of the Principal Sir and Safayat Sir, we left the field.”