Wife could not recognise her husband killed by Jamaat-e-Islami men

Darkness descended on Police Constable Hazrat Ali’s family as Jamaat-e-Islami erupted in violence across Bangladesh after war criminal Delwar Hossain Sayedee was sentenced to death two years ago.

“I have just one child. He has no one to call father. Who do I go to?” Hazrat Ali’s wife Laila Khatun broke into tears and collapsed on the stage of Osmani Memorial Auditorium as she said these words.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and many others sitting in the audience stood up. Laila was taken backstage where former health minister AFM Ruhal Haque looked after her.

On Saturday, over 50 such victims of political violence in the last few years told their stories. Some have lost a dearly loved one, some were themselves injured and carry their wounds to this day.

Hasina was seen crying on several occasions as she listened to their testimonies.

The event was organised by Awami League to launch the photo album ‘Blood-stained Bangladesh: A saga of BNP-Jamaat terrorism against people of the country’.

Hasina, in her speech, consoled the victims and said, “We don’t want to see incidents like these again. This should never happen again in Bangladesh.”

Laila and seven others told their story onstage.

Hazrat Ali and his colleagues were killed in Gaibandha at the Bamandanga Police Outpost.

“Sometime before his death he called me. He said a procession was coming their way,” Laila said.

“When I called him later, he didn’t pick up. Another man picked up after some time and said three policemen were killed.”

“I ran to the spot. They killed him so terribly, I couldn’t recognise my own husband. I had to identify him by his badge,” Laila said.

Chhatra League activist Helaluddin Piaru, injured in April 2013 in Fatikchharhi in a Jamaat attack, still has to use a breathing tube. He spoke with difficulty, halting and taking breaths in-between.

“They announced on the mike from the mosque that we had attacked the mosque and the madrasa. The attackers hacked me 18 times, slit my throat and spilled my guts out,” he said.

The prime minister clapped her hand over her mouth at this horrifying description.

Van driver Rahmat Ali described how his son succumbed to burn wounds in front of his own eyes. The van he drove was set on fire by a petrol bomb. His son ‘Monir’ was sleeping there.

Monir died with 90 percent burns four days later.

“I haven’t been able to work for the last 10 months. I want justice. No one should lose a child the way I did,” he said.

At the end of the event the prime minister spoke to each of the victims and embraced some of them.

College teacher Saidul Islam, who served as an election official in Gaibandha in the Jan 5 elections, showed his two burned hands to the audience.

“They threw a petrol bomb on me. I was surprised that no one gave me shelter when I ran from the attack. They said their homes would be attacked if they did,” he said.

The envoys of Russia, China, Canada, Palestine, Vietnam, the Vatican and representatives from India, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Indonesia, Myanmar, North Korea, Bhutan, Libya and Egypt embassies were present at the event.