Struck by 50 pellets: Tale of an 18-yr-old student
Staff Correspondent
Zihad Mahmood Sihab, an 18-year-old victim of the violent quota reform protests, is battling for his eyesight at the National Institute of Ophthalmology and Hospital.
Struck by multiple shotgun pellets while on his way to work on 18 July, Sihab’s left eye was severely injured and filled with blood.
Sihab, who does a part-time job alongside study to support his estranged mother, recounted his ordeal lying on a bed in ward-416 of the hospital.
He was moaning in pain with his face grimacing when he said around 50 pellets hit him.
Sihab suffered bullet wounds near the Mirpur Model Police Station at Mirpur-2 while going to work on 18 July, said his mother Rani.
“Local people took him to the nearest hospital where doctors referred him to an eye hospital. Then we took him here. My son has yet to see anything with his left eye,” she said.
Rani said, “I work at a hospital as a helping hand and bear the expense of my family consisting of two sons as I’ve got separated from my husband. How could I continue bearing the cost of my son’s treatment?”
She said Sihab was receiving free treatment at the hospital but some medicines that are not available in the hospital have to be bought from outside.
“My son studies at Dhaka Central Polytechnic Institute and does a part-time job to support me. Now what will be his future if he can’t get back vision on his injured left eye?” bemoaned the grieving mother.
She said the quota reform movement ended but their nightmare continues to persist.
