Different student organisations will observe Autocracy Resistance Day today recalling the student uprising in 1983 that forced the then government to cancel Mazid Khan Education Commission report and forged unity among political, social and student organisations against the then military rule of Hussein Muhammad Ershad.
On this day in 1983, Dhaka University students brought out a procession opposing the martial law regime and demanding the restoration of democracy. At least two student activists were killed in police firing and more than 100 were injured on the day.
Maddhya February 鈥�83 Smriti Sanrakkhan Parishad and left-democratic student organisations will observe the 42nd聽 anniversary of the day today and pay homage to the martyrs by placing wreaths at the Shikkha and Ganatantra Smriti Stambha in front of the Shikkha Bhaban in Dhaka, in the morning, said a press release.
A press release issued by the former student leaders of anti-Ershad movement said that they would place wreaths at the memorial at about 9:00am.
The sacrifice of the martyrs of February 14, 1983 is yet to bring any result as the students still have to continue their movement demanding democracy and a uniform school education affordable for all, former student leaders said.
The 1983 uprising was the beginning of the anti-autocracy movement that ultimately toppled the Ershad regime in 1990, said former Dhaka University Central Students鈥� Union general secretary Mushtuq Husain, who is now a central leader of the Bangladesh Jatiya Samajtanrik Dal.
Fourteen progressive and left student organisations launched the campus-based movement in September 1982, which later turned into a combined movement to realise 10-point demand, including the cancellation of the Mazid Khan Education Commission report, the implementation of a pro-people and uniform education system and the establishment of a democratic and secular political system.
The organisations that launched the movement included the then three factions of the Bangladesh Chhatra League backed by the Awami League, the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal and the Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Awami League, Bangladesh Chhatra Union, Biplabi Chhatra Maitree, Chhatra Oikya Forum, Bangladesh Chhatra Samiti, Biplabi Chhatra Union, Jatiya Chhatra Union and Samajtantrik Chhatra Front.