Abrar murder, awaiting any change?

When the Feni madrasa student Nusrat Jahan Rafi was brutally burned to death a few months ago, the incident shook the entire nation. There was a huge outcry everywhere.

Immediately after the incident, the suspected killers including ruling party activists were immediately caught. This rapid action raised hope that such brutality would not recur in the near future.

How optimistic we are!

No sooner had we recovered from the shock, Barguna’s Rifat Sharif was hacked to death in broad daylight. It was a barbarism that touched every human being.

The latest incident of Abrar murder is even more horrifying. The narration of the killing by the suspected killers seems that beasts in a forest feasted over another living being on that ill-fated night.

BUET unit BCL leaders and activists allegedly tortured and beat Abrar till death.

Abrar Fahad, a 21-year student of BUET, was murdered following a Facebook status protesting several deals recently signed between Bangladesh and India. Abrar also had an altercation with a BCL leader over the quality of food at the hall.

Abrar was killed for merely raising voice against injustice.

Alas! Abrar is not alone. Many meritorious students at different public universities were killed and their bodies sent back to their village homes.

Zubair Ahmed, a student of the English department of Jahangirnagar University, was murdered allegedly by the activists of BCL in 2012.

Innocent students were beaten up, tortured to death and forced to leave the campus in the past. There was criticism and demands were raised to ban student politics.

Why don’t we see any change in sight?

In fact no change will come in the near future. We, the people, are victims of national as well as global politics. Our political parties are so shamelessly divided, they cannot sit together to discuss even vital national issues. In the past as well as in the present, our political parties, backed by the ‘foreign powers’, ascended to power and are still ascending to power in a similar fashion.

In absence of unity among the political parties, the ‘foreign powers’ can easily dictate their policies against the local interests. Our political parties make their foreign masters happy, simply to cling on to power at any cost.

Until we bring change to our political culture and narrow down the differences between our political parties, we will merely cry for justice for Abrar, Zubair, Rifat and Nusrat. But the rule of law will never be established.

Sooner the political parties understand this, the better. Let us hope for the best.
*Rabiul Islam is a journalist working for Prothom Alo. He can be reached at [email protected]