July mass uprising: The touching story of Antor’s mother

BSS

November 2, 2024, at 12:10

Last modified: November 2, 2024, 12:15

On August 5, 15-year-old Antor died. Photo: BSS

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On August 5, 15-year-old Antor died. Photo: BSS

Darkness enveloped Hamida Banu’s life, and for a moment she lost hope of survival in the world when her husband left her with nine-month-old Antor.

However, this harsh reality turned Hamida into a struggling mother who sacrificed her life with the promise to make her son an enlightened citizen. Practically, Asharaful Islam Antor became the sole reason for its survival in the world.

Antor (15 years old) became Hafez-e-Quran because his mother put all her efforts and sacrificed all her personal needs into it. However, suddenly the assassins’ bullets took away “everything” from Hamida forever when Antor accepted martyr’s death on August 5.

On August 5, police fired on joyful people celebrating victory after the fall of autocratic ruler Sheikh Hasina.

“Since my husband left me with his son, I have put all my strength into making him a worthy son. I always walked from Kamrangirchar to my workplace in New Market to save money for my son’s education,” said a grieving Antor. mother.

Hamida broke down in tears while recalling her struggles during an interview with BSS held recently at her residence in Dogair area under Demra police station in Jatrabari district.

Since it was difficult for Antor’s mother to take care of the child as she had to work outside, he grew up in his (maternal) grandmother’s house in the Dogair area, and all his maternal aunts helped him raise him.

One of Antor’s aunts, Khuku Moni, said in a heavy voice, “My sister sacrificed her entire life for Antor. She hasn’t married in nine years, since her husband left her thinking about Antor’s future. But we forced her to get married six years ago.”

She added: “Although we raised Antor, his mother covered all his expenses by working outside.”

Antor’s tearful mother, Hamida, said she had worked hard to raise her son and added: “Thanks to this, my son was admitted to Holy Quran Madras in the Hifz department, where children from wealthy families study.”

She, however, recalled the contribution of her current husband Ferdous Khan, who is an emigrant from Malaysia, in conducting the Antor study in the Holy Quran Madras.

Hamida said Antor dreamed of joining the Bangladesh police. So in January this year, she enrolled him in seventh grade at the Siddique-e-Akbar (RA) Institute in Dogair area.

“I made my son Hafiz dream that he would perform my namay-e-janaza (funeral prayer), but a bullet fired by the police shattered my dream. Now who will carry my body to the grave, perform namaj-e-janaza and do dowa for me?” – Hamida said, sobbing.

“I never thought my son would leave me at such a young age. My son would be a worthy citizen of the country. But a brutal murder reduced my achievements to zero,” added Antor’s tearful mother.

Regarding Antor’s involvement in the anti-discrimination student movement, Khuku Moni stated that she was unaware that Antor regularly joined street protests.

“We knew from others. But when we asked him, he never confessed. One day we received proof of his involvement in the movement,” she said, adding that Antor’s mother wanted to beat him, but she forbade it.

“Today I feel I made a mistake by forbidding his mother from beating him. If I had let her mother beat her, Antor would have stayed among us. He wouldn’t have left us at such a young age,” Khuku Moni cried.

She added that on August 4, Antor went to the demonstration again and told his friends: “I don’t know if I will come back or not.”

“The day Antor returned home, I verbally insulted him and asked him not to go outside because many people were shot,” she added that on August 5, after a meal, around 12 or 12:30 he left the house secretly.

Since then, Antor remained missing until August 7, Khuku Moni said, adding that during that period she randomly searched for Antor in the Jatrabari area but found no trace.

“It was unthinkable for us that he died from a gunshot, so we did not search him in hospitals until August 7. But on August 7, my mother and I started looking for him in all hospitals. But we couldn’t find him, we became more tense,” she said.

At one point, a student controlling traffic at Shanir Akhra took Khuku Moni to Dania College, taking with him a photocopy of his school ID and a photo of Antor.

The student then suggested that she go to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) and Mugda Medical College and Hospital, alleging that the bodies of people shot in Shanir Akhra area had been sent there.

As they did not find Antor at Mugda Medical College and Hospital, they returned home.

“Meanwhile, my nephew Hridoy (older sister’s son) posted a status on his Facebook in which he mentioned that Antor had been missing since August 5. And after this status, we received information that Antor was no longer there. His body was in DMCH,” cries Khuku Moni said.

Noting that they knew nothing about the place of his death, she said in a heavy voice: “When we received the body, we saw traces of two bullets – one in the middle of the chest and the other in the leg. We later found a video that confirmed that Antor was shot by the police.”

The footage shows police leaving the Jatrabari police station in squads, hunting protesters on the street and shooting them like birds. During this time, Antor tried to hide under Mayor Hanif Flyover’s pillar opposite the police station to avoid bullets, but was unsuccessful.

Khuku Moni cried as she showed Antor’s photo where her nephew was smiling even in death.

Recalling the agonies involved in obtaining the body, she stated that the DMCH authorities did not issue them a death certificate in Antor’s name, but rather an unidentified death certificate on the basis of which Antor was buried in the Dogair cemetery.

Grieving Antor’s family members called on the government to take steps to permanently preserve the martyrs’ graves and demanded a trial for all killings, including Antor’s, during the massive student uprising.