Staff Reporter:
The July Memorial Museum will present the full account of Sheikh Hasina’s 16 years of misrule, including the Pilkhana massacre, enforced disappearances and killings, “Aynaghar”, the Shapla massacre and election rigging, in the form of historical records.
The museum building authorities revealed the information at a meeting with Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus at the State Guest House Jamuna in the city on Saturday afternoon, said a press release issued by the Chief Adviser’s Press Wing in the evening.
During the meeting, Cultural Affairs Adviser Mostofa Sarwar Farooki informed the chief adviser that the construction of the museum will be completed by 31 October this year and they hope to inaugurate it in the first week of November.
“We are curating the pictures of Hasina’s misrule to showcase in the museum so that the history of 16 years of fascism remains alive – along with the atrocities and brutalities executed directly under instructions from Ganabhaban,” he said.
Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus thanked all involved in the making of the museum and expressed hope that the people, who will visit this museum, would feel the spirit of 5 August, when masses surged into the Ganabhaban.
“One of the main objectives of this museum is to bring about this feeling of strong resistance against misrule among people,” he said.
Chief Curator Tanzim Wahab informed that the work is going on in coordination with the ICT prosecution team and the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances.
“We believe this will be a unique museum. The stories of 16 years of misrule will be presented sequentially. Visitors will learn how Sheikh Hasina used to run the country,” he said.
Cultural Affairs Adviser Farooki said, “The museum authority has already got many audio recordings of instructions to carry out enforced disappearances and killings. These audios will be preserved in the museum. It will also highlight how Sheikh Hasina called in families of victims of disappearances only to console them with false promises.”
The museum will also include a screening center where documentaries on the July Uprising and the 16 years of misrule will be shown, he added.
Housing and Public Works Adviser Adilur Rahman Khan, International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) Chief Prosecutor Mohammad Tajul Islam, Member of Commission of Inquiry on Enforced
Disappearances Nabila Idris, Secretary of the Housing and Public Works Ministry Md Nazrul Islam, Secretary of the Cultural Affairs Ministry Md Mofidur Rahman and Bangladesh National Museum Governing Body Chairperson Marina Tabassum were present at the meeting.
Among the researchers of the July Memorial Museum, Daniel Afzalur Rahman, poet Hasan Robayet, Maliha Namlah, museum artist Tejash Halder Josh, Mosfikur Rahman Johan, museum architect Salauddin Ahmed, and coordinator Hasan Enam were also present at the meeting, among others.
