By Syed Altefat Hossain

DHAKA, Jan 2, 2025 (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Zilani, however, said the case was withdrawn following the downfall of the Awami government on August 5 amidst a student-people uprising.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”.
 
Later, he said, they got Nasir admitted through the back gate of the hospital by giving Taka 4,000 while his brother was immediately put on life support.
 
Blaming that his brother was not given proper treatment at the hospital, Zilani said after getting his brother admitted into the hospital, two teams of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and Mugda Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) went to the hospital around 9pm on the same day and cordoned off the hospital.
 
“Witnessing the presence of BGB and police personnel, we panicked thinking that they might have taken our patient. But after taking information about the patients, who were injured in the movement, they took away the registration book of the hospital,” he said.
 
Zilani added: “However, we don’t know what they (the law enforcement agency members) told to the doctors, since they left the hospital, the doctors didn’t give treatment to our patient from then onwards,” he added.
 
Accusing the hospital authority over “compelling them to buy unnecessary medicines”, Zilani said, “Though they didn’t provide proper treatment to our patient, we had to buy medicine for over taka 12,000 to 14,000 everyday from July 20 to July 23. But we were not properly informed about the condition of our patient”.
 
He said they were compelled to buy one packet (10 pieces) of diaper and an air freshener every day, though his brother was not taking any food at that time and only saline was infused in his body.
 
Zilani said doctors declared his brother dead at 7.30am on July 23. “After my brother’s death, our new plight started. When we wanted to get the body, the hospital authority harassed us while the police didn’t cooperate with us. At one stage, MMCH authorities sent the body to the DMCH around 10am,” he added.
 
But in the DMCH such a situation arose that they tried for hiding the body, Zilani said, adding, “But we were adamant to get the body anyhow. Finally we got the body in the exchange of Taka 8,000 following the postmortem in the afternoon”.
 
He, however, alleged that the DMCH authority had given them a soft ultimatum so that they do not take the body to their village home in Raipur Upazila of Lakshmipur district.
 
“We had a wish to bury my brother in our ancestral home. But we couldn't do that due to the harassment caused by the then government and their supporters,” bereaved Nasir said.
 
As Nasir succumbed to death from bullet injury, sustained while participating in the movement, he said, “Local AL supporters were keeping an eye on us and harassing us in different ways”.
 
Therefore, he said when they took the body to Matuail graveyard after Asr prayers following his first namaj-e-janaza, the graveyard authority obstructed them, saying they need permission from Jatrabari Police Station and local AL leader Shantonu Khan Shanto.
 
“But Shanto was not receiving the phone at that time. Finally he received the phone around the time of Esha prayers. However, we had to pay Taka 8,000 to bury my brother there. In the meantime, another Janaza was held after Maghrib prayers at the graveyard,” Zilani said.
 
Expressing anger over the harassment after his brother’s death, he said, “After killing my brother, you didn’t allow us to give proper treatment and after his demise you obstructed the burial of the body! What is this? What kind of inhumane attitude is this?”
 
Zilani also alleged that an AL supporter threatened one of his colleagues for attending the namaj-e-janaza of his brother.
 
The inhumane acts were not confined to the burial process, he said, adding, “The regrettable matter was when we arranged the Quran Khwani on the fourth day of my brother’s death, no imam was allowed to come to our house. Later, we sent the food to different Madrasahs and arranged doa there”.
 
Breathing a sigh of relief over the downfall of fascist ruler Sheikh Hasina’s about 16-year autocratic regime on August 5 in face of the uprising, Zilani said, “If AL could have not been ousted, do you think we could talk now? They might have killed all of us to erase the history of the torture”.
 
“We were just like house arrestees until August 5 due to repression of AL men since my brother’s death while I could not even go to my work,” he said in a heavy voice.
 
“It is the government’s responsibility to go to the martyr families. If the government doesn’t properly treat the Shaheed families, people will not sacrifice their lives for the country in future,” Zilani added.
 
Shaheed Nasir was unmarried and eldest among his nine siblings including four brothers and five sisters while his three sisters were married off. His father Rafiqul Islam (71) is a day laborer.  
 
Nasir’s second brother Al Amin is a private car driver, third brother Rabbi is unemployed while fourth brother Zilani is a pick-up van driver.
 
His two younger sisters- Ratri Akter is an 11th grader at Begum Badrunnessa Government Girls' College while Riya Akter is a SSC examinee from Matuail High School.
 
Zilani said Nasir’s death caused an economic hardship for their family as Nasir used to bear the education cost of his sisters and family expenditure.

Noting that Nasir used to go outside Dhaka with him by his pick-up van, Zilani said, “It is impossible for me to forget his memories. I still feel my brother’s existence beside me”.
 
While visiting the house of Nasir, in Rayerbag area of Jatrabari, his mother Nazma Begum was seen traumatized while she burst into tears showing her son’s shirt, which Nasir wore on the day of his injury.
 
“My son woke up from sleep around 11.30am and after getting fresh, he wanted to eat rice. But my sorrow is that I could not give him rice as rice was not cooked in the morning on that day. I gave him Parata. After having breakfast, he left the house around 11.45am,” weeping Nazma said.
 
She said when Nasir was standing under the building, one of her grandchildren was asking him to come to the house.
 
“But my son smiled at my grandchild while I also asked him to come home instead of going to the road as there was huge trouble on the road. But he didn’t listen to me,” Nasir’s wailing mother said.
 
She demanded capital punishment of the killers.