Own representative: In July 2024, a student movement began across the country demanding quota reform. Senior journalist Wahid Zaman became an important background character in this movement in Chittagong. Initially, he was only reporting, but at one point he became a direct supporter of the movement. He became an important person of trust and reliance of the student coordinators.
Wahid understood the depth of the movement after watching a video of a brave student in the Tiger Pass area. Khan Talat Mahmud Rafi faced the police alone – he took measures to widely disseminate that video in the media.
Then in Chittagong, he met student leader Wasim Akram on the road adjacent to the parade ground in Chawkbazar. After 3/4 days, Wasim was shot and killed. Basically, Wahid was shocked by the incident of Wasim’s martyrdom and became actively involved in the movement.
He worked with 11 journalists to plan the movement, promote it, and provide security to the coordinators. But the situation became dangerous when some journalists gave their names to secret agencies. Avoiding the arrest of the coordinators became important. Later, with the help of a BNP leader from Dubai, he arranged for the student coordinators to change their personal mobile phones. He delivered new SIM cards to them.
A platform of journalists, army officers, and lawyers had been supporting the movement. According to their advice, they decided on a safe place for the program, treated the injured, arranged for safe accommodation for the coordinators, and brought them to the program without arrest. The entire month of July was spent doing all this.
Wahid and lawyer Rezaul Islam arranged for the student leaders to hide in secret. Several coordinators, including Khan Talat Mahmud Rafi and Russell Ahmed, were leading the movement from these hideouts in the last week of July. Wahid Zaman arranged for them to reach Dhaka on August 4. Some were sent in covered vans, some in ambulances, and some in trucks loaded with vegetables.
He kept in touch with the students in secret codes, and with the help of journalists and lawyers, he would safely evacuate the coordinators after the program.
Wahid said, “This movement has been successful because everyone has come together to stand by it—journalists, teachers, lawyers, ordinary people.
With the contributions of people like Wahid Zaman, this movement has become a national movement.
