How many people died and how many were injured during the nationwide students' movement is a serious question that requires accurate answers for obvious reasons. So far, it is known that at least 757 people have died in police firing, violence, and clashes in the Student Against Discrimination movement between July 16 and August 23. Of them, at least 451 died during the peak period of the movement between July 16 and August 5, mainly due to police firing. The number of injuries is also estimated to be at least 18,000. The accurate number is necessary for the historical record and also to identify the victims correctly as the interim government is thinking of taking responsibility for looking after the families of the martyrs of the July-August mass uprising. Moreover, it is also necessary to find the injured ones to ensure their medical treatment.
During the movement, students and youths took several initiatives to prepare a virtual platform to create a database for those who were killed along with those who were injured, arrested and became victims of forced disappearance. Two such portals are www.shohid.info and www.quotashahid2024.com, which preserve information on many of those who were killed during the movement. The students were well aware of the fact that the autocratic regime would try to hide all the information about killing and disappearance and also erase records by using its virtual tools. The introduction the portals as a counter measure was a bold step at that time, no doubt. Now, these can be updated and revised. Early this month, the students of Jahangirnagar University also launched a web portal named www.redjuly.live to collect, check, and store information on those who were killed, injured and disappeared during the movement. The deceased include students, children, women, political leaders/activists and people from different professions. Some of them died on the spot, while some died at the hospitals while undergoing treatment.
In the meantime, the information adviser of the interim government, also one of the key coordinators of the movement, has said that a complete list will be prepared and released after filtering all the information. He also told the media that so far, the names of 800 deceased have been found, and they are working to identify all. Again, it has also been decided by the interim government that Gonobhaban, the official residence of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, would be converted into the 'July Revolution Memorial Museum.' Information about the deceased and injured will be a part of the museum.
In general, there is a tendency in countries like Bangladesh to refrain from preserving and storing data or developing a solid database of many essential things. It needs to be addressed, although preparing any database is now less costly and more efficient thanks to the advancement of information technology. Due to the weak database, archiving in the country is also vital. More than 50 years after the independence, the nation has yet to realise the importance of archiving critical national events. Political rivalry and ideological division are major factors behind the lack of comprehensive archiving, although some efforts were taken in the last decade in this regard.
Archiving in both physical and virtual formats is necessary, and efficient logistics along with modern technology are available now to make things easy. What is needed is to develop a team of human resources with proper training. Budget should not be a problem as many business bodies and trade organisations are ready to support any such move. As always, the defeated forces try to erase or distort the historical records, so utmost care is necessary to build a repository of the facts and events. The distortion of the history of the independence in 1971 is a vivid example.
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