Family of Nibras apologises to countrymen, world

The family of Nibras Islam, one of the terrorists who was killed by the army commando team after they slaughtered 20 people in Holey Artisan bakery in Glushan, has apologised to the countrymen for their son’s actions.

When Prothom Alo tried to reach Nibras’s family, his father Nazrul Islam and mother Layla Bilkis gave a written statement seeking a public apology. They also asked for severe punishment for those who are leading the youth astray.

“We are ashamed and devastated. Our son Nibras was a gentle and modest boy. All his fellow students from Uttara can attest to that. He studied in North South University. He went to Monash University in Malaysia in pursuit of higher education.

In 2015, he came back to Bangladesh and went missing on 3 February, 2016. Before he went missing, he left behind a note asking us to pray for him, and that he would come back one day. We were very distraught at our son’s disappearance. We informed the detective agencies about this.

The families of the others who had gone missing with Nibras also mentioned his case in their GDs. We had tried everything to get him back during the last five months. We pleaded him to come back on Facebook as well. But all our efforts were to no avail.

Finally, we got to learn that our son was involved in the 2 July Holey Artisan attack. We are ashamed and devastated to learn that our son did this. Being Nibras’s parents, we have no words to console the families and friends of all those who have died. Our son could not eat with his own hands once.

We pray for justice against those who had filled his hands with guns and weapons. We believe that those who had lead boys like Nibras astray will be caught by law enforcement agencies and will be severely punished. Once again, we ask for forgiveness, from the people of Bangladesh and the people of the world.”