July Uprising Memorial Museum will show path to nation: CA

Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus said on Tuesday that if the nation becomes bewildered for any reason, it will find the path in the July Uprising Memorial Museum which has been possible to be built while the blood of the July martyrs is still fresh.

"It has been possible to build this museum while the blood of the July martyrs is still fresh. It is an unprecedented example for the entire world," he said, reports BSS.

The Chief Adviser added: "We do not want there to be a need to build such a museum anywhere in the future. If our nation ever becomes perplexed for any reason, it will find its path in this museum". Prof Yunus made the remarks after inspecting the progress in the final phase work of the July Uprising Memorial Museum at the Gonobhaban in Dhaka, the residence of ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

He said that every citizen of the country should come to the museum and spend a full day, and that students should visit the museum in groups.

Spending a day in this museum will help people understand what kind of brutality the nation had to go through, the Chief Adviser said, adding, if anyone wants to stay in the symbolic 'Aynaghar' set up in the museum for some time, a few hours, or even a full day, they should be allowed to do so.

He said by sitting inside the 'Aynaghar', visitors could realize the level of brutality in which the detainees were kept.

Prof Yunus further said that everyone must internalize how they can remain united so that such brutal incidents never occur again.

"On this one point, we will all remain united that this nation will never return to such brutal days again," he said.

When a brutal act was happening, the Chief Adviser said, the youth and students stood up against it and resisted it.

"They had no weapons and nothing at all. That even ordinary people can stand up fearlessly and courageously in front of weapons- this is a lesson for us," he added.

Prof Yunus expressed gratitude to Cultural Affairs Adviser Mostofa Sarwar Farooki and all those involved in the work of the museum.

Speaking on the occasion, Farooki said that it was a record that the work of this museum has reached this stage in a short time.

He said it has been made possible due to the tireless efforts of many young people, noting that many worked here for eight months without any remuneration.

Farooki expressed his gratitude to all of them.

Noting that work of several more sections will be completed in the next few days, he said the museum will be open to public before the elections slated for February 12.

"The July Museum will stand as a bearer of history and will remain a source of Bangladesh's past, present, and future politics," the cultural affairs adviser said.

He also said that the museum will play an important role in future political discourse, education and research, as well as in cultural and literary practice.

Earlier, the Chief Adviser arrived at the museum around 3pm and went around the museum that projects the reasons behind the mass uprising and the history of Awami League's 16-years' misrule under the dictatorship of Sheikh Hasina.

BNP Standing Committee member Salahuddin Ahmed, Bangladesh Jammat-e-Islami Ameer Dr Shafiqur Rahman and National Citizen Party Convener Nahid Islam as well as advisers of the interim government and victims and family members of the victims of enforced disappearance were present on the occasion.