Total Death Toll in Mass Upsurge Reaches 1,581: Health Sub-Committee
A total of 1,581 people have lost their lives in the student-led mass uprising across the country, according to the primary data collected by Anti-Discrimination Student Movement’s sub-committee on health affairs. “We have prepared the primary list of 1,581 casualties based on the information which will be finalised and the name will be included in the health ministry website as martyrs after final verification by the districts committee led by Deputy Commissioners”, Tarikul Islam, member secretary of the sub-committee on health told a press conference today on Dhaka University campus.
The list has already been sent to the district level committee asking them to complete the verification within three days, said Tarikul. After the final verification, the number of martyrs will be finalized which may increase or decrease as there have some names of individuals who were not killed in the movement along with having some duplicate names in both lists prepared by the ministry and the sub-committee, said Tarikul.
The list was prepared by the joint efforts of the Jatiya Nagorik Committee (National Citizens Committee) and central sub-committee on health affairs, formed by the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement. As-Sunnah Foundation, Human Rights Support Society, Red July and many other organizations have also helped preparing the list, said Tarikul.
Jatiya Nagorik Committee convener Nasir Uddin Patwary said, “There have been some cases of deaths regarding which confusion is still there about their involvement in the movement. So, we are going for further investigation before publishing their names as martyrs in any open platform.” “We do not want anyone to be announced as a martyr in any public platform before verifying it in all possible ways”, Nasir added.
All the information of martyrs or victims will not be made public as a number of issues came in light over the data along with some policies of various international organizations, he said. Nasir expressed concern over politicisation of martyrs’ information saying, “We have been informed that some political party leaders reportedly put pressure on victims to announce them as their party man after collecting data from public platform”.
There are many groups who have been trying to misuse the information of victims and martyrs to serve their own interest, Nasir added. For treatment of the injured, a specialized team will be formulated soon with specialized physicians particularly for the critically injured persons, Nasir said, adding, “the team will also be working to send patients abroad for advanced treatment if needed.”
Regarding the list of injured, they said it will also be finalised soon. The family members of the martyrs and injured were asked to contact UNO, Civil Surgeon or Deputy Commissioner of every district for their any query about the list or other necessities including treatment.
Jatiya Nagorik Committee member Farhad Alam Bhuiyan, Dr Mahmuda Alam Mitu convener of central sub-committee on health Nahida Bushra, Red July representative Sheikh Mohammad Sabuj and Human Rights Support Society representative Abdullah Al Bokhari were present. Earlier, a report of the sub-committee on health published on September 21 showed 1,423 persons dead in the student-led mass upsurge.
