Opposition Leader Shafiqur Rahman and State Minister for Shipping Razib Ahsan locked horns at the parliament today over the number of July martyrs.
Speaking on the motion to thank the president for this speech, Razib said at least three MPs mentioned the number of July martyrs. "One claimed that 844 people were martyred, another said the number was over 1,000, and yet another mentioned 1,400 martyrs."
He said the health ministry had initially reported -- based on hospital sources -- that more than 1,400 were martyred, and even UN agencies echoed that figure.
Later, however, the liberation war ministry issued a gazette that cancelled previous gazettes and published a final list of 844 martyrs.
He said the leader of the opposition, Shafiqur Rahman, at a programme on April 14, 2026, said he had visited homes of 1,200 martyrs out of 1,400.
“But the government gazette lists 844. How could you have visited 1,200 homes out of 1,400? I cannot understand this.
“We need to know the actual number. If you did visit, no objection...praise be to Allah. But we want the actual figure. The July uprising happened only recently, not decades ago. If memories fade now, then in 10 or 20 years this history will be distorted,” he added.
He said people commercialised the Liberation War and its spirit, and capitalised on it over the past 54 years.
"We do not want a new business to emerge centring the July mass uprising. To stop this, we need the real history: how many were martyred, and their political identities,” Razib said.
Referring to a widely circulated video clip of a frontline July uprising leader remembering how much influence they had wielded during the tenure of the Yunus government, Razib said, “One student leader recounted how they lived...they could go and meet the chief adviser at his house whenever they wished. Such privileges are no longer available.”
After a prayer recess, the opposition leader took the floor to respond. He said, "If the (state) minister's claim of the number of July martyrs being just over 800 is true -- then how could I have visited 1,200 homes?”
The opposition leader pointed out that the state minister was not present in the chamber during his speech. He added, “Had he been here, I would have told him to seek clarification from the honourable state minister for fisheries and livestock [Sultan Salahuddin Tuku], who himself said in his speech that more than 1,000 martyrs were from the BNP and its affiliated organisations."
“If I endorse his statement, then the calculation is right there; he need not come to me,” he said.
Shafiqur continued, “Secondly, I did not utter anything fabricated. We have a complete profile on this matter, and many present here have received that profile. It is available on our website. Only after thorough checking and cross-checking did we prepare these lists.”
He further said his statement is not based on any domestic agency’s citation. The UN Human Rights Fact-Finding Committee itself reported that the number is around 1,400.
“Wherever I go, people come to me, looking helpless, asking: ‘Do you have any information about my father?’ During those two days when the internet was shut down, people were killed and forcibly disappeared -- no one is accounting for them. That number is even higher. When we speak in this post-August national parliament, our words must reflect responsible conduct. I urge that this be treated with seriousness.”
