Islamic scholar Mamunul Haque has described the 2013 Shapla Chattar crackdown as a “turning point” in the resistance against fascism. Rejecting claims that protesters had fled, he argued that state forces attacked peaceful demonstrators with live fire and tear gas, making it impossible to stay in the square.
He added that the massacre left a permanent stain on the ruling Awami League and likened it to sacrifices that fueled earlier anti-colonial struggles. Mamunul clarified that the recently published list of “martyrs” was not an official Hefazat document but a personal draft wrongly attributed to the group. He admitted a final, definitive list may never be possible since many bodies were “disappeared.”