The book titled “Witness to the Uprising,” featuring images and accounts of the July-August movement that led to the ousting of the Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League government last year, was unveiled at Alliance Française in Dhaka on Tuesday.

University Press Limited (UPL) and Netra News jointly launched the book written by photojournalist Jibon Ahmed.

The book features 107 images and covers chronological events from 1 July 2024 to 5 February 2025.

Addressing the event, Jibon Ahmed said that there was no single mastermind behind the uprising, and that those who took to the streets during the movement were the main players driving it.

He said the lack of visual documentation of past movements, which allowed others to narrate the history of those from their own perspectives, inspired him to document the day-by-day incidents of the July Uprising to record its actual history.

He also said women played a significant role in the uprising, but their contributions were later “denied” by the state.  

UPL Managing Director Masrukh Mohiuddin said the book would serve as a historical document.

Activist Khushi Kabir said the July Uprising cannot be compared to the 1971 War of Independence, rather it was different from past uprisings in the country as it not only led to the fall of a political power but also signalled a change in the state structure.

Golam Rahman, father of Golam Nafiz, who was shot to death on 4 August 2024, expressed his gratitude to Jibon Ahmed, whose photograph of Nafiz lying in a rickshaw helped him find his son, and to the rickshaw puller Nur Mia for carrying Nafiz from hospital to hospital for treatment during that fearful time.

Netra News Editor-in-Chief Tasneem Khalil and rickshaw puller Nur Mia also spoke at the event.