This is an unofficial translation of the Bengali conversation.

Hasina: Hello?

Inu: Hello. Yes, Assalamu Alaikum. This is Inu speaking. Hello…

Hasina: Yes, speak.

Inu: Yes, well, I was a bit concerned given the situation. So, I think the decision was very correct. What I was trying to say is that the curfew should be a bit stricter—a kind of strict curfew. If the administration were to announce the curfew over loudspeakers throughout Dhaka city— [to announce] things that arent allowed during the curfew. That would be useful. I think. 

Hasina: I have told the Home Minister jusst now to make announcements everywhere… Four people are injured… DC offices in different districts…

Inu: Yes, I have received all of that—DC office, SP office, Awami League houses, Awami League offices—I have received a list from each of these [places]…

Hasina: I will come to Dhaka now.

Inu: Alright. So now my point is that the curfew should mean that as soon as someone leaves the house, they will be arrested. There will be no shooting, but that is between you and me, no shooting—but the Army’s attitude should be like that: strict, meaning absolutely strict. So for that reason…

Hasina: To tell you the truth, today, let me tell you. I… there is a committee, so… I was meeting [with them], but even before doing that, I gave the order… I sat with the three chiefs…(the Chiefs of Staff of the Army, Navy, and Air Force)

Inu: I saw that.

Hasina: I told them that the situation is getting a little better. So, slowly, start removing the Army from the districts that are calm, and gradually withdraw them here [in Dhaka]. I have given this decision.

Inu: Alright.

Hasina: Let people be a bit… [calm/at ease]. Oh my, while I was sitting there, I heard that [it] had started.

Inu: Oh, it was targeted. They even vandalized the UNO office at the Upazila level…

Hasina: … When I heard the outcome, I said, “Alright… what do you think should be done now …”  [They are] moving up [the start time of] the curfew and they will provide protedtion in key places where they [protestors] planned to attack … and RAB and Police will patrol, and among the remaining Army units… you will patrol wherever necessary. What you are saying is correct… that pressure must continue.

Inu: The pressure must be there, I mean, the pressure must be there. And the other thing is what we discussed yesterday, within your party network and our party network… prepare that when the curfew is lifted, we will occupy Dhaka with one lakh (100,000) people. We will sit down [there].

Hasina: They will come from the districts, and our people are also wanting to come from the districts… I told them, “Alright, come.”

Inu: Yes, I think they should be brought in; this is correct.

Hasina: No, let them come…

Inu: I was saying yesterday, Honorable Prime Minister, that the Shaheed Minar, Shahbag Square, next to the university, in front of the Press Club, in Paltan…

Hasina: … We must take control of those [places].

Inu: We will take this [control]; we will sit here. And the day the curfew is relaxed, the city will instantly become a city of processions. And it will be simple: We want peace, we want peace, students go home, go back, go back, stop ‘shontrash’ (political violence)…

Hasina: Alright, I have told them to send this to the [news[ scroll. [We are saying] that all you students go back home. We are telling the guardians that a terrorist attack has taken place here.

Inu: Yes, right, right.

Hasina: No, this… I have received quite a few international. They are considering—I mean, saying—that this is a terrorist attack.

Inu: Yes, it was a terrorist attack… We will play this card now.

Hasina: No, it’s not playing a card. I didn’t do this before, but an international organization gave me the message that this is a terrorist attack…

Inu: The government is now confronting terrorist violence.

Hasina: …They told me this very thing: that this is a terrorist attack… I will put it in the newspapers.

Inu: Alright, this is one thing. The other is that there are two divisions: one is the students demanding quota reform, and the other is the overthrowers. The overthrowers have resorted to terrorist attacks. Regarding the quota reformers, we—your and my government—have full sympathy. I will politically confront the overthrowers. If any student gets involved with the overthrowers, I will not take that responsibility.

Hasina: …You people should say this. Why aren’t you saying this?

Inu: Indeed, I will…

Hasina: Hey, I am the enemy. If you people say it, then they will think it’s being said from other angles.

Inu: I will definitely say it…

Hasina: I don’t see anyone else. The Communist Party—they are finished now…

Inu: So, let me try to talk to them—Selim and everyone.

Hasina: …What is his name again? Saiful Haque, right?

Inu: Saiful, Saiful. Zonaed Saki. Zonaed Saki, Saiful Haque. Alright, let me liaise a bit with Zonaed Saki and Saiful Haque.

Hasina: Where are you taking the country? Look now, the support you are giving them has led to a full-blown terrorist attack.

Inu: Have you noticed another point: that Anu Mohammad, sorry, the teachers who have supported, are trying to float a framework for an interim government, where they are trying to say that the interim government will be formed with students and such, will form a shadow government, and a constitutional assembly must be held to abolish the constitution. I mean, they will abolish the constitution itself… Yes, they want the constitution abolished.  I… just told [my] brother, Mainul Bhai, that this is a very alarming matter. Since they are breaking the statues and murals of Bangabandhu, that means you have to accept my take that their attack is against the state. It’s against the basic achievements of the Liberation War. Therefore, they are not just seeking a change of government—they didn’t want quotas by protesting the quota system; they wanted to overthrow the government. And what the one-point movement, they mean they want to abolish the basic constitution of the government—I mean, of the state. So, I have to attack the politics in this area and establish [our position] now.

Hasina: Just like they did after ’75…

Inu: Exactly. So now, will you make an address—a small five or ten minute one -in a day or two?

Hasina: Let’s see how today goes.

Inu: Let today go. I will prepare the plans and give you my considerations. And I suggest that the curfew should be very strict in its body language—that as soon as someone leaves the house, they will be arrested. Not ‘shot,’ but ‘arrested’ will surface—meaning on TV: “Thirty people arrested from Shantiniketan, sent to jail.” But we won’t send them to jail, we’ll keep them at the police station, and release them after ten hours. You understand, right?

Hasina: Good, alright.

Inu: They are just poor people, after all. But the propaganda will be: “As soon as you leave the house…” I mean, “there will be shooting.” We won’t say the word ‘shooting,’ but “strict legal action will be taken.” No one will step outside the house. Meaning, it’s not a relaxed curfew. Increase security around your office—I mean, your residence—specifically from this side of Manik Mia Avenue…

Hasina: …

Inu: No, not that. They are saying “Go to Dhaka,” they are saying they will attack Ganabhaban (the Prime Minister’s residence)..

Hasina: Ganabhaban, Bangabhaban, they will attack everything…

Inu: I understand, fingers crossed. My point is [we have to] complete our homework, that “Dhaka belongs to the people” after us must be completed within the next twenty-four hours. Two thousand people must be prepared from every ward. The councilor of every ward must prepare two thousand [people], and in the districts too, I have told all my networks that as soon as the curfew is lifted, processions will start in Kushtia city with three thousand, five thousand people, in Rangpur city, in Mymensingh city—[with the message]: We want peace, we don’t want conflict, we want peace, we want peace, students go back home. These processions must take control [of the streets].

Hasina: Alright. You people first say that the students should go later.

Inu: I am saying it too; I will definitely say it. But energize your party a bit.

Hasina: I have put it on the scroll; see, it is coming up now.

Inu: Okay, alright. Alright.

Hasina: Alright. Okay.