KHULNA, Sept 27, 2024 (BSS) –   Martyr Hamid’s family has been plunged into deep economic hardship forcing his physically challenged father to earn money for maintaining daily expenses through pulling rickshaw. 
 
Hamid,27, was killed in police firing when he joined a procession of the anti-discrimination student movement on August 5. He was lone earner of his family.    
Hamid, along with his wife Fatema Akter, used to live happily with his small amount of income in a rented dwelling in Ashulia, on the outskirts of the capital city, Dhaka.  
 
Fatema, who hailed from Barasat village under Terokhada upazila in Khulna district, was married off to Hamid, son of Zafar Sheikh of Pantita village in the same upazila, and also an employee of Etlas Toiletries Company Ltd, in 2018. 
 
While talking to BSS, Fatema Akter said, “We went to Dhaka’s Ashulia after marriage and started living in a slum in the Nabinagar area with the hope of changing our fate. 
 
“But, time has changed, and I am now living a hapless life after the death of my husband,” she said. 
 
Recalling August 5, she said, “Being inspired by mass people and students, my husband left our house to join a procession of the anti-discrimination student movement at Ashulia in the afternoon of August 5.”
 
“At one stage of the protest, police opened fire indiscriminately targeting the students and people. Then, several bullets hit his left side of his chest, leaving him dead on the spot,” she sobbed while narrating the incident. 
 
“Later, I along with our relatives, informed my father-in-law over the phone about the death of my husband after the recovery of his corpse from the street,” she recollected that day’s memory. 
 
The family members took Hamid’s body to their native village and buried the body there on August 6.
 
Fatema said after the Kulkhawi of her husband, she came back to Ashulia.  
 
“I used to work as an operator at ‘Snotex Exposure Ltd’ garment factory in the Ashulia area. I left my job last June as per the wish of my husband . ..  Now, I am jobless, and I do not know how I will live my life in the coming days.” 
 
Fatema demanded exemplary punishment for the killers of Hamid. She also requested the government to help her side by side with her poor father-in-law’s family.
 
Hamid’s physically challenged father, Zafar Sheikh, is running a family by pulling a rickshaw. 
 
“I am pulling a rickshaw with my right hand as my left hand is paralysed,” he added.  
 
Apart from running the family, he has to continue the studies of his younger son, a student of Pantita Borobari Hafizia Madrasa located at Terokhada upazila, he said. 
 
“Hamid was the lone earner of our family. So, we are now in a miserable condition as we have yet to find any viable earning sources. The members of my family are passing days with hardship as I earn only Tk 200 to Tk 250 a day by pulling a rickshaw,” said Zafar in an emotion-chocked voice.  
 
 “I will never get my son back, but I am proud of him as he embraced martyrdom to free the country's people from the autocratic and fascist government of Sheikh Hasina. I want justice and exemplary punishment for those who were responsible for his death,” he said. 
 
Talking to BSS, Nur Muhammad Sifat, President of Terokhada upazila Press Club, said, Hamid's family is facing financial hardship and uncertainty after the sudden death of him. 
 
Zafar Sheikh urged the government and affluent people to extend support so that they can live their lives smoothly.