BSS :
Shaheed Md Nasir Hossen (39), a tailor by profession, was accused in a case under the Anti Terrorism Act just two days before his death on July 23, as he sustained bullet injuries on July 20 during the student-people uprising.
Three bullets hit Nasir’s forehead while he joined the movement in the Rayerbag area of Jatrabari when the anti-discrimination student protest turned into a student-people uprising with the participation of people from all strata.
“My brother was an ordinary person. So, it is normal that he would have no headache over the country’s politics. But he joined the movement as he could not accept indiscriminate of killing of people like birds. Even, I myself narrowly escaped a bullet,” Nasir’s youngest brother Md Zilani Islam, a pick-up van driver, told BSS.
“But the irony of fate was that my brother was accused by police in a case under the Anti Terrorism Act a day after he received the bullet injury. According to police, my brother was a terrorist,” he said, expressing his astonishment while sharing their sufferings since his brother’s injury until August 5.
Zilani, however, said the case was withdrawn following the downfall of the Awami government on August 5 amidst a student-people uprising.
He said on July 20 his brother left the house around 11.45am and went to Rayerbag main road to join the demonstration. Around 12.15pm Nasir himself came back to their house on foot after three bullets hit on his head, Zilani said.
“Hearing the screaming in the downstairs, I immediately came down and found my brother was standing leaning on a pillar and his head was tied with his shirt. When I asked him, what happened to you? He replied he received bullet injuries,” he added.
Wasting no time, Zilani said he took his brother on his shoulder and started running towards Matuail Medical through lanes of residential area since there was no option to take him by any other vehicle as the roads remained blocked.
“But on the way to the medical, my brother started losing his strength. At one stage, I found a rickshaw and took him to a private medical opposite to the Matuail Medical,” Zilani said, adding, as his condition was very critical, the hospital authority suggested taking him to another hospital like Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH).
“But it was not possible to go to DMCH as indiscriminate firing was going on throughout the city streets and no vehicle was available for transportation. Finally, the private hospital authority helped us to take my brother by an ambulance to Mugda Medical College and Hospital (MMCH),” he said.
According to eyewitnesses, Jatrabari and its all surrounding areas turned into a battleground after July 16 as the student-led mass uprising ascended to the peak aimed at ousting autocratic ruler Sheikh Hasina.
They said police became reckless following the deaths of two policemen in the Rayerbag area on the night of July 19. Therefore, on the next day (July 20) police were reportedly firing bullets indiscriminately on the street and even entering different lanes of residential areas while they were rescuing the bodies of policemen.
Besides, helicopters of RAB were also allegedly firing tear shells and bullets from the sky on the residential areas.
However, referring to Shaheed Emon, who embraced martyrdom on July 19 in the same area, his mother said her son had informed her that 19 people were killed in the Rayerbag area during the movement on July 18.
Describing the harassment they faced in the hospital, Zilani said, “As my brother was the first bullet hit patient at the MMCH, a local Awami League (AL) supporter named Reza Kibria created obstacle over getting his admission into the hospital”.
