Darkness had engulfed the life of Hamida Banu, and for a while, she lost her hope for survival in the world when her husband left her along with nine-month-old Antor.
However, this hard reality developed Hamida as a struggling mother who sacrificed her life with a promise to make her son an enlightened citizen. Virtually, Asharaful Islam Antor became the only cause of her survival in the world.
Antor, 15, became a Hafez-e-Quran as his mother invested all efforts and sacrificed all personal needs. But all of a sudden, bullets of the killers snatched away Hamida’s “everything” forever as Antor embraced martyrdom on August 5 as the fag end of the student-led mass uprising.
On August 5, police fired on the jubilant people when they were celebrating victory following the downfall of autocratic ruler Sheikh Hasina.
“Since my husband left me along with my son, I invested all my efforts to make my son a worthy one. I always travelled to my workplace in New Market on foot from Kamrangirchar to save money to ensure my son’s education,” said Antor’s bereaved mother.
Hamida burst into tears while recalling her struggle during an interview with BSS at her residence at Dogair area under Demra Police Station in the city’s Jatrabari area recently.
As it was hard for Antor’s mother to look after her child as she had to work outside, he grew up at his (maternal) grandmother’s house in Dogair area while all his maternal aunties helped bringing up him.
One of Antor’s aunties, Khuku Moni in a heavy voice said, “My sister sacrificed her whole life for Antor. She did not get married for nine years since her husband left her thinking about Antor’s future. But we forced her to marry six years back”.
She added: “Though we reared Antor, his mother bore all his expenditures working outside.”
Antor’s weeping mother Hamida said she worked hard to raise her son and added, “I got my son admitted to Holy Quran Madrasah in Hifz department where children of affluent families study”.
She, however, recalled the contribution of her present husband Ferdous Khan, who is a Malaysia expatriate, in running Antor’s study in the Holy Quran Madrasah.
Hamida said Antor had a dream of joining Bangladesh Police. Therefore, she enrolled him in class seven at Siddique-e-Akbar (RA) Institute in the Dogair area in January this year.
“I made my son Hafiz with a dream that he would conduct my namaj-e-janaza (funeral prayer), but the bullet fired by police ruined my dream. Now who will carry my body to the grave, conduct namaj-e-janaza and make dowa for me?” sobbing Hamida said.
“I never thought my son would leave me at such an early age. My son would have been a worthy citizen of the country. But brutal killing reduced my achievement to zero,” Antor’s weeping mother added.
About Antor’s engagement in the anti-discrimination student movement, Khuku Moni said they did not know that Antor was joining the street protest regularly.
“We knew from others. But when we asked him, he never confessed. One day, we got evidence of his involvement in the movement,” she said, adding, at that time Antor’s mother wanted to beat him but she barred her.
“Today, I feel I made a mistake by barring his mother from beating him. If I would let her mother beat, Antor would have remained among us. He would have not left us at this early age,” weeping Khuku Moni said.
She said, on August 4, Antor again went to the demonstration and told his friends, “I don’t know whether I would return or not”.
“On that day, when Antor came home, I verbally abused him and asked him not to go outside as many people were shot dead,” she said, adding, on August 5, after having meal around 12 or 12.30pm, he went out of the house secretly.
Since then, Antor remained missing till August 7, Khuku Moni said, adding, she randomly searched for Antor around the Jatrabari area during this period but did not get any trace.
“It was beyond our imagination that he would have been killed by gunshot, therefore, until August 7, we did not search him in hospitals. But on August 7, my mother and I started searching for him at all hospitals. But failing to find him, we became more tensed,” she said.
At one stage, a student, who was controlling traffic in Shanir Akhra, took Khuku Moni to Dania College taking with them a photocopy of school ID card and a picture of Antor.
Then the student suggested her to go to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) and Mugda Medical College and Hospital, saying that the bodies those who were shot dead in the Shanir Akhra area were sent there.
As they did not find Antor in Mugda Medical College and Hospital, they came back home.
“Meanwhile, my nephew Hridoy (elder sister’s son) gave a status on his Facebook mentioning that Antor remains missing since August 5. And following this status, we got information that Antor was no more. His body was in DMCH,” weeping Khuku Moni said.
Noting that they knew nothing about the spot of his death, she said in a heavy voice, “When we received the body we saw signs of two bullets- one in the middle of his chest and another in his leg. Later, we found a video through which we have been confirmed that Antor was shot dead by police”.
The video showed police coming out from Jatrabari Police Station in troops, hunting down the protesters on the street and shooting them like birds. At that time, Antor was trying to hide himself under a pillar of Mayor Hanif Flyover just opposite to the police station to escape bullets, but he failed.
Khuku Moni was sobbing while showing a picture of Antor where her nephew was smiling even after his death.
Recalling the sufferings to get the dead body, she said the DMCH authority did not give them death certificate in the name of Antor rather they gave an unidentified death certificate, through which they buried Antor at Dogair graveyard.
Antor’s bereaved family members urged the government to take steps to conserve the graves of martyrs permanently and demanded trial of all killings, including the killing of Antor, during the student-people mass uprising.
