By Rostom Ali Mondol

DINAJPUR, Dec 27, 2024 (BSS) - Arisha Afroz, mother of martyr Ashiqur Islam killed in anti discrimination student-people movement in Dinajpur, demanded justice for killing her son.  

"My 14-year-old minor son was brutally shot dead by the leaders and activists of Awami League (AL) and its affiliated organizations. My son’s crime was that he joined the anti discrimination student movement to oust autocratic ruler Sheikh Hasina," she said in a recent interview with BSS.
 
Noting that she had filed a case against those who shot and killed her beloved son, she wants quick trial of the killers.
 
Arisha Afroz gave the interview while staying at her father's house in Islam para area of Birampur upazila under Dinajpur district.
 
Describing her miseries, she said, "I am a helpless mother. I left my husband's house with a one-year-old baby boy (martyr Ashiqur Islam) in my arms."
 
Since then I have been working as a tailor to raise my son. I have been working day and night during the last 13 years to provide food and meet daily expenses for the family.  
 
"After separation with my husband, I came to Dhaka city along with my son. I have been working as a tailor by renting a shop in the Rampura-Banasree area and earning my livelihood here for more than a decade,” she added.
 
Talking about the early schooling of her son, Arisha Afroz said, "When Ashiqur was five year old, I admitted him to a Qawmi Madrasah in Rampura area. I rented a small house in this area with him and faced many difficulties here. I was forced to get married for the second time about five years ago for my own safety. Ashiqur used to live with us."
 
Recalling the fateful day, the bereaved mother said, "I went to a wedding reception with my husband and my son Ashiqur in the afternoon on July 18."
 
After attending the wedding ceremony, she (Arisha) returned to her tailoring shop, Arisha said, adding, "Suddenly, Ashiqur left me, saying he was going home from here (the shop)."
 
"That evening, I received the news that Ashiqur had been shot as he joined the anti discrimination student-people movement," she burst into tears recalling the horrible moment.
 
The news of shooting on Ashiqur made her shocked and perplexed, Arisha said she immediately rushed to Banasree G-Block where her son was shot.
 
People who witnessed the incident said leaders and activists of Awami League and its affiliated organizations opened fire on the protesters participating in the movement in the area, she said.
 
Locals said the injured had been rescued and taken to Advance Hospital Ltd in Banasree area.
 
As Arisha reached the hospital, she found Ashiqur's bullet-riddled body there after an hour-long search.
 
"I lost consciousness after seeing my son's body," she said in a heavy voice.  
 
"My ex-husband Faridul Islam also came after hearing the news. He is a rickshaw puller," she said, adding that later, an ambulance was hired to take Ashiqur's body to his village home in Naraharipur village of Nawabganj upazila in Dinajpur district on July 19.
 
He was buried in the family graveyard on the same day, Ashiqur’s weeping mother said.
 
While talking to BSS, martyr Ashiqur Islam's father Faridul Islam said his son used to stay with his mother most of the time.
 
"Sometimes he would come to visit me. I and my entire family are shocked and saddened that my son has left this world," said Faridul.
 
He demanded that those who brutally shot dead his son be brought under the law and punished.
 
Aisha Begum, the only aunt of Ashiqur said in a tearful voice that her younger sister Arisha Afroz (Ashiqur's mother) cannot imagine that her son is no more. "We don’t know how she will survive and lead her life," she added.
 
While speaking to Dr Abhishek Karn, the doctor in charge of the emergency department at Banasree Advance Hospital, he informed BSS that Ashiqur died on way to the hospital on the night of July 18.
 
Dinajpur Deputy Commissioner Md Rafiqul Islam said ten people had embraced martyrdom in the anti-discrimination movement in the district.
 
One of them is Ashiqur Islam, he said, adding, "We have compiled the martyr-list from the administration. Each family has been given a grant of Taka 25,000 by the district administration."
 
Ashiqur's mother went to Khilgaon Police Station on July 27 to file a case. But the police station officer did not accept the case. Later, on August 28, she filed a case at the court of Dhaka Metropolitan Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Tofazzal Hossain, mentioning names of 13 people, including former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and 150 unknown accused on the charge of shooting her son to death.
 
On the judge's orders, the case was recorded as a murder case at Dhaka Metropolitan Khilgaon Police Station on September 9 and the case number is 16 dated on 9/9/2024.
 
Ashiqur's mother said that the police have already arrested some of the accused.