The first-ever international conference on the July uprising was held at the University of Dhaka on Sunday, with researchers and analysts from home and abroad calling for a national commitment to documenting and preserving the history of the 2024 student-led mass uprising.
Titled 鈥業nternational conference on the July Rebellion-1鈥�, the daylong event took place at the university鈥檚 Nabab Nawab Ali Chowdhury Senate Building, jointly organised by Research and Integrated Thought, a non-governmental research organisation, and the university鈥檚 Department of Political Science.
Thirteen research and civil society organisations from Bangladesh, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Turkey and Singapore took part in the event.
Dhaka University professor and convener of the conference, Dr Md Shariful Islam, delivered the welcome address at the event focused on the July uprising that led to the fall of the authoritarian regime of Sheikh Hasina on August 5, 2024.
Parents of July Uprising martyr Zahiduzzaman Tanvin聽 Bilkis Zaman and Shamsuzzaman also spoke at the event.
Presided over by university pro-vice chancellor (academic) Professor Mamun Ahmed, the opening session was attended by Adilur Rahman Khan, adviser to the ministries of industries and housing and public works, as the chief guest.
Among other guests were Amar Desh editor Mahmudur Rahman, retired US diplomat John F Danilois, university professors and diplomats from several countries.
In his address, Adilur Rahman said, 鈥榃hat we have witnessed is the downfall of the fascist Awami regime whose brutality has deeply scarred our collective conscience. Enforced disappearances and killings became routine.鈥�
鈥榃e want to recover truth from distorted history. The cries of the families of the disappeared and the bullet marks still etched on university walls will one day serve as evidence in the rebuilding of justice,鈥� he added.
He proposed building of an archive of July uprising documents, videos and photographs, and called for incorporating an honest account of the July events into the curricula of schools and colleges across the country.
Professor Mamun Ahmed said, 鈥楾he July uprising of 2024 was a defining moment in the nation鈥檚 democratic awakening. It was not merely a student protest, it was a revival of the national conscience.鈥�
The closing session had speeches from university pro-vice-chancellor (administration) Professor Sayema Haque Bidisha, DU treasurer Professor M Jahangir Alam Chowdhury, deputy president of Malaysia鈥檚 Parti Keadilan Rakyat, Nurul Izzah Anwar, special envoy to the chief adviser for international affairs,Lutfey Siddiqi, and special assistant to the chief adviser Khuda Baksh Chowdhury.
Following the sessions, a play titled 鈥楲al July鈥� was staged at the university鈥檚 Teacher-Student Centre auditorium.
As part of the series of programmes undertaken to observe the first anniversary of the uprising, a seminar is scheduled for today at 3:00pm at the Kamal Ahmed Lecture Gallery of the Faculty of Biological Sciences.
