By Syed Altefat Hossain

DHAKA, Jan 23, 2025 (BSS) – Wife of Md Wasim Sheikh, a 38-year old pant seller on footpath in the city, has been staring at a bleak future with her nine-month-old only daughter as her husband embraced martyrdom in uprising, leaving the family distraught.

Wasim was fatally shot dead on July 18 at Kajla area of Jatrabari when the anti-discrimination student movement ascended to the peak from July 17 with the participation of the people from all strata following a massive crackdown on the protesters.

The movement that initially began demanding quota reform in government jobs eventually turned into a student-people uprising that succeeded in ousting the nearly 16-year-long autocracy on August 5, 2024.  

His family comprising his wife Rehana Akter (33), only daughter nine-month-old Tasnia Sheikh, mother Josna Begum (50) and younger brother Abu Bakr (23) is now facing an uncertainty and enduring unbearable agony losing their only breadwinner.

Wasim's embraced martyrdom within span of fourth months of his father death.  His family could not absorb shock of deaths of Wasim and his father.    
 
“On July 18, my husband left the house around 4pm to see his footpath shop at Shanir Akhra. But, according to eyewitnesses, he went to distribute water among the protesters when members of law enforcement agencies were firing at the protesters,” Wasim’s grief stricken wife told BSS.

She recalled, around 6pm on that day, Wasim’s elder brother-in-law Md Zasim informed her that Wasim sustained bullet injury and was taken to Anabil Hospital, a private health facility at Shanir Akhra.

Zasim, who lives in a separate place in the city with his family, recalled that he received a call from a shopkeeper, who used to run a shop beside Wasim’s footpath shop, around 5pm while he got the devastating news.

By the time he reached the Anabil Hospital, he said, his brother was shifted to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH). In a picture it was shown that a bullet pierced through his head while his brain came out as the head was divided into two parts.

Later, Zasim and his sister went to the Dhaka Medical and found Wasim in an ambulance at the gate of emergency service when the duty doctor declared him dead.

Recounting the sufferings to receive the body from the hospital, Zasim said, “When we went to Jatrabari Police Station, we were not allowed to enter the station on July 18. They refused to provide any assistance over getting the body”.

Finally, when a police officer from Jatrabari police station went to the DMCH on the next day, he said, a hospital staff asked him to go to the police officer while the officer cleared the way for taking his brother for postmortem.

“We received the body in the late afternoon on Friday (July 19). But we have to pay Taka 12000,” Zasim recounted.

Wasim was laid to eternal rest at the Matuail graveyard after Magrib prayers on the same day.

He was second among their five siblings, including two sisters, who are married women. But he was the only breadwinner of his six-member family as his father was forced to leave his small suit business on footpath in Gulistan area following a stroke five years back.

Wasim’s death exposed the family to a state of total wilderness emotionally as well as financially, leaving his wife, nine-month-old daughter, younger brother, and elderly mother without any means of livelihood.

“We had been married for nine years. We were struggling to get a baby for eight years. Finally, Allah blessed us with a baby girl nine months back. But unfortunately my daughter lost her father within only three months after her birth,” Wasim’s wife Rehana burst into tears.

The joy of the couple, however, was short-lived as their daughter lost her father before she could even say the word “Baba”.

Sharing the financial hardship of the family, weeping Rehana said, “Tasnia is our long cherished daughter. Her father had a big dream centering her. But since her father’s death, I can’t even afford milk for her. She needs a pot of powdered milk every four days”.

As Wasim’s younger brother Abu Bakr, who lives with his family in Ahmadbag area of Matuail in Jatrabari, is still unemployed, she said, “We are now struggling to manage daily meals for our now four-member family”.

To make ends meet, Rehana said, the family has been forced to leave their previous rented house and move to a cheaper home in the same area.

They currently rely on the minimal income from Wasim’s footpath shop, which brings in just Taka 4,000 per month as rent, along with occasional help from relatives.

“My younger brother-in-law, however, is trying to contribute to the family by working occasionally. But we are now mainly dependent on relatives’ assistance,” Rehana said in a sobbing tone, fearing the support won’t last forever.

The family’s roots trace back to Louhajanj Upazila in Munshiganj district, but their ancestral home was lost to river erosion decades ago. They have been living in Dhaka for 30-35 years with no land or means to return.

“We have no way to return to the village home,” Rehana said with a heavy heart weighed down with grief and sought government help to secure a safe future for her daughter.

She demanded justice for killing her husband and said that she lodged a case with Jatrabari Police Station against 43 named and 100-150 unnamed people.

Ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, former law minister Anisul Huq and Awami League general secretary Obaidul Quader are among the accused.

“I want capital punishment for those who are responsible for killing my husband,” Rehana demanded.