‘You burn theirs, we’ll burn yours’: Tribunal hears Hasina calls from July Uprising

The prosecution at the International Crimes Tribunal on Monday presented purported phone conversations among former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and senior Awami League leaders Obaidul Quader and Hasan Mahmud.

The conversations, prosecutors said, showed the three discussing how to respond as protests and violence swept through Dhaka during July.

The exchanges included discussions about deploying security forces, using helicopters to disperse protesters and mobilising Awami League activists.

They also contained remarks about retaliating against opponents by targeting their homes, vehicles and businesses.

“Tell RAB and BGB to stay ready. They have to be dispersed from helicopters,” Hasina is heard telling Quader in one of the conversations presented before the tribunal on Aug. 10.

In another exchange, she allegedly advocates retaliation against those accused of setting fires.

“They have houses and cars, don’t they? The public will set fire to their homes,” Hasina says, according to the conversation presented in court. “You burn theirs — come on, we’ll burn yours!”

Hasan Mahmud responds: “Yes, yes, right! That’s tit for tat!”

The prosecution presented the conversations as evidence before the tribunal amid proceedings concerning the violence surrounding the July protests. The exchanges portray an increasingly alarmed political leadership discussing how to confront demonstrations spreading across Dhaka.

In one conversation, Quader tells Hasina that protesters were gathering in groups across Katabon, Matsya Bhaban, Paltan, Nightingale, Bosila and Mirpur and setting fires.

“What do we do now, Apa?” Quader asks.

Hasina questions why the Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner was acting without coordinating with the inspector general of police and says Awami League activists should be mobilised.

“We need to get our people onto the streets,” she says. “Call a big meeting and tell our activists to come out.”

When Quader raises the possibility of holding a funeral prayer in absentia for those killed, Hasina instead stresses keeping party activists on alert.

“Wherever they gather in large numbers, tell RAB and BGB to stay ready,” she says. “They have to be dispersed from helicopters!”

The conversation then turns to the Awami League-led 14-party alliance and the political identity of the protesters. Hasina alleges that Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami Chhatra Shibir were operating behind the quota reform movement and complains that the protesters had no effective leadership.

Hasan Mahmud later joins the call, telling Hasina that the situation had come under pressure.

Hasina warns that protesters were regrouping and would “set fires and burn everything,” before suggesting retaliation against their homes, vehicles and businesses.

“This is no time to sit around anymore,” she says. “They have houses and cars, don’t they? The public will set fire to their homes.”

Hasan agrees, calling the approach “tit for tat,” and proposes holding a funeral prayer before party activists disperse into different neighbourhoods to protect their respective areas.

Hasina then instructs the leaders to assign people across different areas and inform MPs that they would be responsible for protecting their constituencies.

“They are setting fire to Setu Bhaban again. I’m sending RAB there right now,” she says.

She also calls for compiling a list of businesses belonging to their opponents, according to the conversation.

“Make a list of their businesses. If they burn ours, the public will burn down all their businesses.”

A separate portion of the conversations presented in court shows the three leaders discussing how the government and Awami League should publicly frame the deaths and violence surrounding the protests.

Quader questions why the movement continued rather than relying on the courts to settle the quota dispute.

Hasina argues that those who continued the protests and allegedly destroyed state property after the court's ruling should be held responsible for the killings.

Hasan responds that the argument should be turned into the “mainstream narrative” and promoted more aggressively.

Hasina then suggests portraying those involved in the violence as “terrorists” and “militants” once students had distanced themselves from arson and other attacks.

“If the students aren’t there, then who are these people?” she says. “They are terrorists, militants! The protesters must bear full responsibility for these killings.”

Hasan tells her that party leaders would begin publicly pushing that line the following day.

Hasina also instructs him to repeatedly tell television audiences that the government had urged protesters to wait for the courts to resolve the quota issue.

She then makes one of the most striking assertions contained in the conversations presented by prosecutors: “Make one thing absolutely clear — no student was killed by police gunfire; the students fought among themselves and died.”

Hasan replies that the points would be emphasised at a press briefing and says blame would be directed at the BNP, Jamaat and religious activists.

“Say it that way,” Hasina responds. “Make sure nobody is spared.”

—