Fisheries and Livestock Adviser Farida Akhter. Photo: BSS

Mushtaq Ahmed 

DHAKA, July 15, 2025 (BSS) - Fisheries and Livestock Adviser Farida Akhter said she actively participated in the July 2024 mass uprising through a platform called “Khuddho Nari Samaj” as she herself was injured while participating in various programmes until the final victory of the student masses achieved. 

“I was always in the field until the victory of the student movement was achieved. I saw how young students and their parents participated in the movement equally. Many of our companions were seriously injured. Many still carry that painful memory,” she told an exclusive interview with BSS at her ministry office on Tuesday.

Noting that the interim government is celebrating the first anniversary of the July Uprising, Farida said as long as Bangladesh exists, the people of Bangladesh will remember this July Uprising with respect.

She expressed deep sorrows and condolences to the families of the martyrs in the July Uprising. She also said the government's efforts will continue for the treatment of the injured and for improving their quality of life.

Recalling the days of movement Farida said, “At one point in the middle of the movement, we could not sleep being traumatized. We could not understand what to do. Chhatra League men were carrying out atrocities, torture and attacks on ordinary people including students all around. I mean, I was seeing such a picture of cruelty but I couldn't do anything.”

She said they were initially thinking of doing many things, but there were many obstacles in that too. Finally, a few women came together and formed a platform called Khuddho Nari Somaj, she added. 

Farida said university teachers, journalists, women's movement activists, and labor leaders started gathering under the platform.

“At one point, we thought of holding a press conference. Then we tried to contact the protesting students. Then we held a press conference at Dhaka Reporters’ Unity on behalf of Khuddho Nari Somaj. We presented our statement at the press conference. Then we said in one word that there are killings happening all around. This is brutal oppression. It must be stopped immediately," she said.

Farida said, "We were getting fed up with the oppression on the anti-discrimination activists towards the end of July. We assumed that we too would have to take to the field against the oppression." 

“We will take a stand on the street, bearing in mind whatever storms come upon us. In the meantime, I heard that many people were gathering in front of the High Court. Then we left the Reporters' Unity after the press conference and were moving towards the Press Club. There, the police stopped us,” she said.

“We could not go towards the High Court due to the police's obstruction. It was around 12 noon. When we were arguing with the male members of police force about moving forward, the female members of police came and surrounded us. The police did not let us move forward and said that there would be firing and we could not go there. Later, we returned from the Press Club due to the police's obstruction.”

She said one day towards the end of the July movement, they were coming from Mohammadpur to Shahbagh to gather there. 

“But there we saw that the police on one side and the disorderly leaders and activists of the Chhatra League and Jubo League had taken position. As a result, we could not even try to stay in Shahbagh,” she said.

“That afternoon, we gathered at Sat Masjid Road in Mohammadpur and held a rally. Our activists and supporters raised slogans on the open street. We addressed the rally. At that time, a group of unruly women activists of the Jubo Mahila League came with a procession and attacked us,” she said. 

“Fearing for our lives, we somehow took shelter under a nearby building. There too, they attacked us with sticks and threw bricks. Many of our activists were injured that day and admitted to the hospital in the joint attack by the police and the Jubo Mahila League activists. Despite all this, the forces of the autocratic government could not suppress our movement,” she said.

Recalling those turbulent days of the July Uprising, the adviser said, in that incident on Satmasjid Road, “Our women leaders and activists were the most affected by the terrorist attack by the police as well as the Jubo League and Chhatra League. When the building where we went to take shelter saw the joint attack by the police and Chhatra League, the security guards of that building and the surrounding buildings closed the gates for the safety of the building.”

“As a result, many of our workers could not take shelter in the buildings. Some of those who were a little late in entering were seriously injured in the attack by the police and Awami terrorists. After being stuck in the buildings for a long time, we slowly moved towards our homes,” she said.

“Then one day we were standing on Sat Masjid Road. That day it was raining heavily again. But we all stood there and sang songs. Boys and girls came and performed, getting wet in the rain.”

Farida said, "We went to Shahbagh the other day. There, we saw boys and girls writing posters. After seeing us, they told us to sit next to them. Since we are senior, they understood that we were suffering. So, to ease our suffering, they kept telling us to sit down. They were happy when we sat next to them. We told the protesting boys and girls, don't get tense. We are coming for you. You will win."

“That day, I saw fire coming out of the PG Hospital and got news. A few cars were burnt there. Students or the general public, rickshaw pullers, hawkers, workers, they really bit the ground in this movement. We saw the scenes of their suffering with the protesting students and girls with our own eyes," she said.

"During the movement, our only vehicle was a rickshaw or CNG. We used to sit in a rickshaw and listen to them. Through the rickshaw pullers, we could understand what the people wanted. It was very clear in their words that what the people wanted was change." Our message was in the minds of these rickshaw pullers and CNG drivers. For this reason, I think that if the history of Bangladesh is truly written, then there should be a chapter about the rickshaw pullers,” said Farida.

Farida said she went to Shaheed Minar one day during the movement. At Shaheed Minar, girls in school uniforms were standing around her. 

“Later, I saw their parents standing around. Seeing the presence of their parents along with the students, it seemed that the anti-discrimination movement had gained momentum. People have woken up against tyranny. Parents have awakened their children to fight for democracy as well,” she said.

The adviser said that she was impressed by the role that parents played in the movement on the streets. A father is sometimes a government employee, sometimes a businessman, sometimes a fisherman but he was on the field throughout the movement as the father of the agitating child, he said, adding for this, she thanked the mothers participating in the movement as well as the fathers.

The adviser said in memory of the martyred fighters in the July Mass Movement, her ministry is being decorated with memories of various events in the atmosphere of the July Movement.

She said, “Many of us may know about the injured. But there are also some injured in the July Uprising whom we may not know in that way. Referring to a 25-year-old youth, the advisor said, that young man has suffered so much damage to his back that now he cannot even lift a five-kilogram weight.”

“We are trying to work with such injured people. We will continue to provide assistance and cooperation from the government for their development,” she said.

She said 60 percent of the population of Bangladesh is between the ages of 30 and 50. “Therefore, in implementing the future development plan, we have to prepare our development plan keeping in mind all these young men and women. I myself will feel grateful if I can do something for the fighters who participated in the movement,” she said.