The family members of slain children and teachers of the Air Force jet crash at Milestone School and College on July 21, which claimed at least 35 lives, were barred from entering the premises on Sunday, when they went there to place an eight-point charter of demands in the presence of journalists.
They went to the Uttara main campus around 12:30pm after the end of a 72-hour ultimatum, which was given from a human chain by the guardians on August 12. Even though they entered the campus forcefully after an hour, the school authorities did not agree to accept the memorandum in front of the journalists.
Later, the guardians held a press conference outside the academic building and read out the demands.
On August 12, the guardians demanded that two, including branch head Khadiza Akhter, be removed, as they assaulted guardians and ran a smear campaign against the family members of slain students.
Several guardians and students complained about being threatened by detectives and school authorities for raising their voices and talking to the press.
When they held the human chain, some teachers gave posts on Facebook against the guardians, and two vice principals commented that they were greedy people.
Moreover, the teachers lied that the guardians had sought coaching classes after regular classes for their children. In fact, the teachers sent written forms to the parents via the students to bring signatures.
According to the government statistics, school teacher Mahfuza Khatun is the latest victim who succumbed to burn injuries on August 14, raising the toll to 35, including the pilot.
Among the 34 people from the school, 27 are students, three are teachers, three are guardians, and one is a nanny. There are 21 others being treated for burns at the Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery.
Statistics on injured persons from the plane crash who are undergoing treatment at various hospitals and clinics are not available in the public domain.
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The hush-ups began after the figures of injured persons provided by the Bangladesh Army and the Health Ministry differed by 100 persons, triggering protests by students. The government has deployed armed police to suppress the protests and has sent detectives to intimidate the guardians and students.
What are the demands?
The guardians want expulsion of the Uttara branch head, Khadiza Akhter, and another teacher named Kanak for assaulting the guardians; releasing the CCTV footage of the crash site; a fair investigation and punishment of those responsible; and banning coaching classes.
They have demanded compensation of Tk5 crore for each student who was killed and Tk1 crore for each injured student from the government, and Tk2 crore for each deceased student and Tk1 crore for each injured student from the Milestone authorities.
They also said that either the school or the Air Force runway should be relocated, and the Air Forceโs training activities should be conducted in uninhabited areas.
Mockery with saddened families
While the government showed utter negligence in handling the situation in the aftermath of the fighter crash, it declared a State Mourning for the next day. Another blunder was the chief adviser’s urge for donations from the public in a Facebook post, which was removed in the face of massive criticism.
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However, Yunus and his advisers were nonchalant; on the day of mourning, they sat with their key political allies to talk about elections and consensus on the July Declaration.
Orange juice was served at the meeting, following which a smiling 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.
On that day, according to the army, 165 injured people were receiving treatment at various hospitals, but the government put it at 78.
Before the meeting, advisers Asif Nazrul and CR Abrar, and Yunusโ Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam were cordoned at the school for 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. But no representative spoke to them. At one point, they broke open the gate and vandalised some motorcycles. At that time, the army and police personnel swooped on them, injuring over 75 students.
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.
โAt 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,โ 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.
โAt one point, when our principal, Ziaul Alam Sir, protested this, an army officer hit him.โ
After the assaults, 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 after the students chanted slogans against the army. Some students started throwing shoes, stones, and sticks at the army.
Tahsin said: โThen, on the instructions of the Principal Sir and Safayat Sir, we left the field.โ
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