Sliding aside the glass panel on the showcase, she took a laptop and two cellphones out. Holding them out in her hands she said, “These were my son’s” and burst into tears.
She kept saying, “If my son were alive today, he would have a job and what not!” That’s exactly how Abrar Fahad’s mother Rokeya Khatun was reminiscing of her son by showing his belongings.
Abrar Fahad was brutally tortured to death by a group of Chhatra League leaders and activists at the Sher-e-Bangla Hall of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) during the early hours of 7 October 2019. Abrar was a second-year student at the electrical and electronic engineering department of BUET.
Abrar Fahad’s mother Rokeya Khatun spoke to this correspondent at their home located beside the PTI road in Kushtia city yesterday, Sunday. She was alone at the home.
Abrar Fahad’s only brother Abrar Faiyaj is a second-year student at the mechanical engineering department of BUET now. Their father Barkat Ullah was in Dhaka to attend a few programmes marking five years of Abrar Fahad’s death at BUET today, Monday.
Recalling the day, Abrar’s mother Rokeya Khatun said, “Today is Sunday. It was also a Sunday, that day five years ago. Just that morning, I had sent my son off to Dhaka.
My son reached BUET campus in the afternoon. Then the Chhatra League men took him away and tortured him to death. Despite being Chhatra League activists, some of them were in fact friends with him. Even his friends did not phone to tell us about our son being killed.”
While speaking of her son, tears rolled down the cheeks of Rokeya Khatun. She was choking back her tears when she said, “I still hear him calling out ammu. I can never forget that. How can I? How can anyone ever forget a child like him? I shudder whenever I think of the way he was murdered.”
Abrar’s family lives on the ground floor of the three-story building. One of the rooms was neatly organised. There was a large showcase on one side of the bed. Standing close to that Rokeya Khatun said that they have brought back all the belongings of their son from the room he used to live at BUET. And, they collected his laptop and cellphones from police.
Abrar’s mother, Rokeya Khatun has preserved a lot of her son’s belongings including his wristwatch, backpack, books and ID card inside that showcase with care. His shoes, clothes, a sphere, prayer mat (jainamaz) and prayer beads (tasbih) are there as well.
Showing some chocolate she said that Abrar used to keep a piece of chocolate in his mouth while going to sleep. She has also kept those chocolates for these five years. The dials on the wristwatch have stopped. “How long would this watch keep going?” she asked pointing at that.
Abrar always wrote for the betterment of the country, said Rokeya Khatun. “Abrar used to think for the country. He had become an enemy to a particular party just from writing something in favour of the country. He wasn’t involved in politics. Then why was he murdered so brutally? And, those who killed him were his friends after all. Didn’t they care for the betterment of this country?”
There has been a verdict in Abrar murder case. The court gave death sentences to 20 people and life terms to five others in this case. The appeal placed against this verdict has not been settled yet. Rokeya Khatun strongly demanded a speedy execution of all the accused.
This correspondent spoke to Abrar Fahad’s younger brother Abrar Faiyaz over the phone on Sunday. He told Prothom Alo that three of the accused are still fugitives. All of them are death row convicts. He demanded those accused to be arrested fast and the rapid execution of the sentences awarded to those held in prison.