RANGPUR, Oct 27, 2024 (BSS) - Homeless parents of garment worker Shaheed
Sohag, 17, have got a house to live in remote village of Paharpur under
Shanerhat union parishad of Pirganj upazila in the district.
 
Voluntary organization Old Rajshahi Cadet Association (ORCA) built the house
for the helpless parents of Shaheed Sohag and handed over it to his father
Rezaul Islam, 48, and mother Salma Begum, 45, in a simple ceremony held there
this afternoon.
 
Vice-chancellor of Begum Rokeya University, Rangpur (BRUR) Professor Dr Md
Showkat Ali was present at the function as the chief guest.
 
Among others, ORCA members Professor Dr Jarjis Mamun, Professor Dr Md
Shariful Islam, engineer Md Mahmud Naser, local coordinator of the anti-
discrimination student movement Mehdi Hasan and Chairman of Shanerhat union
parishad Mesbahur Rahman spoke on the occasion.
 
BRUR Proctor Dr Md Ferdous Rahman and Director of Student Affairs Md Ileas
Pramanik were present.
 
Highly appreciating the ORCA initiative, the Vice-chancellor urged the
affluent people and locals to come forward to help the helpless martyr family
of Shaheed Sohag.
 
The Vice-chancellor with ORCA members visited the grave of Sohag, offered
ziarat and munajat there seeking divine blessings for the departed soul of
Sohag and all martyrs who sacrificed their lives in the student-people mass
upsurge.

As Sohag was martyred in the anti-discrimination student-people mass upsurge,
his parents became helpless at once. They had no house to live in.

Sohag's parents had no other resources except two and a half decimals of land
in their village Baro Paharpur.

 After learning about this, the voluntary organization ORCA gave Taka 30,000
to Sohag's parents and constructed the two-room tin shaded house on that land
piece.

Talking to BSS tonight, Sohag's father Rezaul Islam said he moved to Dhaka
with his wife Salma Begum and son Sohag ten years ago to end up living in
poverty.

 
"We were living in a rented slum in Uttar Badda area of Dhaka city. I was
pulling a rickshaw and my wife Salma Begum is a housewife," said Reazul
Islam.

He said the times were very volatile in mid-July when tens of thousands of
students and people were protesting in the streets across Dhaka city.

"On July 19, it was Friday. Sohag did not take breakfast and went to the
mosque, offered Juma prayers, didn't return home and went to take part in the
protest processions with his friends in Uttar Badda area," he said.

At 3 pm, some of Sohag's friends informed that Sohag was injured in police
firing.

 "I instantly went to the nearby hospital in Uttar Badda area. But nobody
could give me any concrete information about Sohag. Then, I entered inside
the mortuary room where I found the body of Sohag lying with 15 other dead
bodies there," he said.

The father immediately fainted there in the hospital. After some time, he
came to sense with the assistance of nurses there.
 
"Hiring a rickshaw, I left the hospital with Sohag's body, but Awami League
people didn't allow me to move further when I reached Alir Mour point in
Uttar Badda area," he said.

Rezaul Islam said the Awami league people there tried to force me to hand
over the body to them instead of taking it home.
 
"I had no money in my pocket. I requested the Awami League people not to
disturb me in carrying the body home. But, they suggested that I hand over
the body to them when I denied again and again," he said.

"Some drivers and helpers came there and started collecting money from people
there to help in taking the body to my village in Rangpur. They collected
Taka 50,000 within an hour and hired an ambulance at Taka 30,000," he said.

But again the Awami League men asked Rezaul not to carry the body to his
village and bury it at Dhaka.

"The Awami League men said that they will burn the body if I try again to
carry that to my village in Rangpur," Rezaul said, adding that he told the
ambulance driver to go back.
 
Later, with the help of others, Rezaul hired a pick-up van at about 1 am
after midnight and carried the body to his village in Pirganj upazila of
Rangpur at 6 am the next day.

"We buried Sohag's body at 11 am on July 20 last," Rezaul said, adding that
we left Dhaka and started living in the village after the martyrdom of Sohag.

 After getting the house, Rezaul Islam is living there with his wife Salma
Begum, mother Naojadi, 65, his elder son labourer Sohel Mian, 25, and his
son's wife and two children.

 "So far, Jamaat-E-Islami Bangladesh gave us Taka two lakh, ORCA Taka 30,000
and we got more Taka 30,000 from different persons," Rezaul said, adding that
he learnt that he would get assistance from the July Shaheed Smriti
Foundation soon.