National Citizen Party (NCP) Convener Nahid Islam has trashed claim that the ‘July Uprising’ was carried out at the instruction of Islami Chhatra Shibir’s Dhaka University unit.

In his Facebook post on Thursday, Nahid said in a television talk show Shibir leader Sadik Kayem claimed that Chhatra Shibir was involved in the formation of ‘Chhatra Shakti’ and that they acted according to Shibir’s direction. “This is false,” he wrote.

“Sadik Kayem was never a coordinator of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement. But from August 5, he began identifying himself as such. Due to Shibir’s significant role in the uprising he was allowed to join the press briefing.”

He went on to say, “Sadik and others launched a widespread campaign after the uprising claiming that DU Shibir led it and we were merely the faces. No one denied Shibir’s involvement but it was not solely their initiative, nor were we acting under their instructions. Decisions were made through coordination with various groups. Who is now trying to divide power and protect vested interests—that’s a matter I’ll address another day.”

Nahid said the student platform, ‘Chhatra Shakti’, was formed through the collaboration of the ‘Gurubar Adda’ reading circle, a breakaway faction of the DU Chhatra Adhikar  and a study circle from Jahangirnagar University.

“We’ve been active in campus politics for eight years. So we were familiar with both open and underground organisations and had relationships with many of them including DU Shibir,” Nahid wrote.

“But communication or occasional cooperation does not mean they were politically integrated into our process,” he added.