July Uprising: Financial hardship engulfs Shaheed Saidur's family
Syed Altefat Hossain
When the mass upsurge reached its peak, the "March to Dhaka Programme" was called by the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement that finally toppled autocratic ruler Sheikh Hasina on August 5.
Md Saidur Rahman Imran (22) was shaken by a massive wave of the "March to Dhaka Programme". And the young man was motivated spontaneously to join the movement, which subsequently ended the longest autocratic regime on the day.
Saidur embraced martyrdom soon after joining the historic movement meaning he could not return his home alive.
Saidur was fatally shot dead near Kajla foot over bridge at Jatrabari around 11.30am - as along with thousand others -- they tried to break through police barricades.
The martyrdom of Saidur, a carpet shop worker, in the uprising struck a devastating blow to his financially fragile family as his ailing father had been forced to quit his job due to illness during the Covid-19 period, leaving Saidur to shoulder the financial burden.
"I had worked at a corrugated sheet factory. But due to illness, I was forced to leave my job and engage my son in work stopping his study during the Covid-19 period finding no other way to survive," Saidur's bereaved father Md Kabir Hossain told BSS, saying, Saidur was a 10th grader at that time.
Uncertainty over a bleak future was manifested in the face of Saidur's 56-year-old father while sharing their endless anguish with this correspondent at their Mirhazirbagh residence in the city's Jatrabari area recently.
Saidur was the second among the three brothers. His elder brother Md Taufiqur Rahman (23) is preparing for his upcoming Alim exams from a local Madrasah in their village home in Bauphal of Patuakhali while his younger brother Mahmudur Rahman (12) is studying in class four at a school in Mirhazirbag area.
Saidur's income brought stability for the family, allowing them to afford daily meals and support his siblings' education.
With his death, the family is now facing a double blow of agony as Saidur's demise reminded his parents about their only daughter afresh who died five years ago at just nine years old from a stroke.
"How can we endure the pain of losing two children within five years?" wondered Kabir in a sobbing tone.
Kabir, however, said he is now working as a small corrugated sheet retailer to manage daily expenses, but the work barely helps the family.
"As we are a dignified family, my son's death caused such a financial hardship for us that neither could we seek help from others nor manage our livelihood," he said with a faded face.
However, immediate financial support from the July Shaheed Smrity Foundation and Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami helped them navigate the immediate aftermath of Saidur's death, but long-term stability remains out of reach.
"We got Taka 5lakh from the July Shaheed Smrity Foundation and Taka 2lakh from Jamaat-e-Islami with which I am now managing the family. But I don't know how long we could run with this money," Kabir said as he was gripped by uncertainty.
About Saidur's participation in the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement, his parents said he joined the street protest following the brutal killing of Begum Rokeya University, Rangpur, student Abu Sayeed on July 16.
"My son could not accept the brutal killing of Abu Sayeed. Therefore, he promised to do something for the students," Kabir said in a composed tone while he was observed trying to control his emotion.
"Maa (mother) if necessary I will embrace martyrdom for the students to liberate the country," said Saidur's mother Lovely, bursting into tears while recalling her son's selfless devotion for the nation.
Saidur made the remarks as turmoil brewed just days ahead of the August 5 visibly realizing he could as well embrace martyrdom as a selfless activist on the street.
Forty-five-year-old Lovely recounted that at that time her mother (Saidur's grandmother) countered Saidur saying, "If you embrace martyrdom, how will your mother survive?"
"Allah will take care of my mother," Saidur replied to his grandmother as if he was visibly ready to make his supreme sacrifice.
Lovely described her son as exceptionally devoted and caring, always wanting to stay by her side.
"Before leaving home in the morning on the day of his martyrdom, my son even served me a meal with his own hands-a gesture that I now feel it was like a final goodbye," Saidur's wailing mother said, adding, her son went out of home on that day ignoring her plea not to go outside.
"My son left the house around 10.45am. He assured me of returning home soon. He returned but as a corpse," Lovely said with a heart weighed down by grief.
According to his family, soon after Saidur left the house, one of his cousins named Nayem called him and asked to return home, seeing the horrifying situation on the city roads as curfew was imposed nationwide.
However, seeing Saidur's delay in returning home, his elder brother- Toufiq- was repeatedly making calls to him while around 12 noon someone received his phone and said Saidur was taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) and he succumbed to bullet wounds by then.
Saidur sustained two bullet wounds- one pierced through his head while another was stuck inside his neck.
"Hearing the news, I thought my son might have sustained only injuries as Toufiq concealed the real information from me. But reaching the hospital, I was fatigued, sensing my son was no more," Saidur's weeping mother said, adding that she was the first who reached the DMCH morgue and identified her son's body among five other corpses lying on the floor.
Saidur's family members, however, couldn't confirm the identity of the people who took him to DMCH. "We think the students might have taken my son to the hospital," said Saidur's father.
Later, some students helped them to bring the body to their Mirhazirbag residence, he said, adding, following the first namaj-e-janaza of Saidur there, his body was taken to their ancestral home in Bauphal of Patuakhali and laid to eternal rest around 9am on August 6.
Saidur's family demands justice. "We want trial of those who killed my beloved son," said Saidur's wailing mother.
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