By Mahmudul Hasan Raju

"My son called me around 1 pm that day. I received the call hastily as I was eager to know his well-being and what was happening in the area, but I couldn't understand any word because of the network problem," said Md Monir Hossain as he burst into tears while talking to this reporter.

"I couldn't have the last words of my son," added the weeping father who lost his beloved son in the July-August student-people uprising that led to the downfall of Sheikh Hasina's dictatorship.

Md Monir Hossain, 52, from Kachiya union under Bhola Sadar upazila of the district, will finally be able to see his son Md Hasan, 19, today but his regret of not understanding his son's last words will remain forever as the family found his lifeless and not recognizable body at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) morgue recently.

"We had been looking for him since August 5, we went to almost all the hospitals, clinics, graveyards, Anjuman Mufidul Islam, every place possible for us, but couldn't trace him anywhere. Then on January 11 or 12, we received information from the people of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement and went to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) Morgue and identified my son by his Panjabi, pajama and underwear," the grieving father said.

Md Hasan was shot dead most probably in the Jatrabari area, where he lived, in the afternoon on August 5. His body was kept at the DMCH morgue along with others and left there for more than five months to be recognized and claimed.

"Martyr Hasan's father had given a DNA sample to the Criminal Investigation Department for cross-matching after getting permission from the court. After one month, the result of the DNA cross-matching came positive on February 12," said Hasan Enam, secretary of the special cell on the July mass uprising of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement.

It was Enam and his comrades, who initially located the unclaimed body of Hasan along with five other martyrs at DMCH Forensic Morgue on January 10.

"Hasan was my second child out of four. He used to live with my elder daughter's family at the Jatrabari Suti Khal Par Model Town area and work at an electronics goods shop in the city's Kaptanbazar area. He was the only bread earner in my family of six. I cannot work or earn because of my heart ailments. Hasan used to pay all the expenses for the studies of his school-going brother and madrasa-going sister. Now I have no source to support my family, nowhere to go," Md Monir Hossain said.

Md Monir further said they are yet to receive the body of his son as the police are trying to get the necessary permission from the court, adding, "I hope we will get his body later today, as the next two days are holidays and it will be impossible to complete the official procedures during the time."

The mourning father said they would bury Hasan in their village in Bhola. He demanded justice for the killing of his son.

Md Monir Hossain didn't forget to express his gratitude to Anti-Discrimination Student Movement members for their help in locating Hasan's body and handing it to them. He also thanked this reporter and others like him for their reports on the unclaimed bodies of martyrs at the DMCH morgue.