Youth and sports as well as local government adviser Asif Mahmud Shojib Bhuyain on Thursday told the International Crimes Tribunal-1 that the July 2024 uprising had no mastermind, foreign link, or political instigation.
He hastened to add that it was a spontaneous movement of students and people to end the 16-year rule of Sheikh Hasina.
Asif made the statement while testifying as the 19th prosecution witness in the crimes against humanity case against former Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner Md Habibur Rahman and seven of his subordinates.
The case is over the killing of six protesters at Chankharpool in Dhaka on August 5, 2024 鈥� the day Hasina鈥檚 regime collapsed and she fled to India.
He said that there were 58 coordinators and co-coordinators of the movement, all enjoying equal status.
Responding to defence聽 counsel Saddam Hossain Ovi, Asif denied any political or foreign involvement behind the one-point demand for Hasina鈥檚 resignation, saying, 鈥榃e took the decision collectively.鈥�
Asif added that the student coordinators decided to continue the Student Against Discrimination movement during the government鈥檚 appeal hearing on the High Court verdict reinstating the job quota system.
He further told the tribunal that he had received no training for the July movement and that before joining it, he had been involved in Chhatra Odhikar Parishad, founded by Nurul Haque Nur, and Ganotantrik Chhatra Shakti, founded by Akhter Hossen, another key coordinator.
In reply to another question, Asif said that no other force except the police was present at Chankharpool during the incident and no law enforcers were killed or injured there.
The three-member tribunal, chaired by Justice Md Golam Mortuza Mozumder, adjourned the hearing until October 26.
