A dozen burn victims fighting for life
With no sign of let-up in the mindless arson attacks, the Burn Unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital presents a sordid picture of the brutality inflicted upon the country during the ongoing anti-government programmes.
With different levels of burns, 12 people who belong to the lower rung of the society have been writhing in extreme pain and fighting for their lives there.
They were burnt in arson attacks during the blockade and hartals enforced by the BNP-led alliance since January 6.
Twelve more took treatment at the hospital. Two of them succumbed to their injuries, with car driver Abul Kalam Hawlader becoming the latest casualty yesterday.
Most of the burn victims are the breadwinners for their families and had no political affiliations whatsoever.
"I live by hardwork. What have I done to deserve this?” said driver Mohammad Selim, who received 36 percent burns after blockaders set fire to his human haulier at the capital's Kamalapur on Sunday evening.
Ever since Selim was admitted to the hospital, his wife Hashi Begum have been attending him, leaving their two school-going children under relatives' care.
"As night approaches, his pains increase. Barely can he sleep at night,” said the wife.
At 55, trucker Piar Ahmed had to take the wheels to repay a Tk 2 lakh loan he took to send his son abroad last year, hoping for a better future. But fortune did not smile on him and the son returned empty handed.
Piar was burnt when blockade supporters set fire to his truck in Comilla on Sunday.
Fifteen-year-old bus helper Masum was sleeping inside his bus on Wednesday night when pro-blockade activists torched the vehicle in Narsingdi. The boy received 20 percent burns.
Only son among four children of a rickshaw-puller father, Masum took the job at an early age to support his family, said his uncle Malek Mia.
"But now he is fighting for his life," he said, adding Masum's parents could not come to Dhaka due to the ongoing blockade.
Rickshaw-puller Amulya Barman, 40; bus helper Murad Mollah, 20; Mohammad Siddique, Al-Masud and Swapna also were taking treatment at the hospital for burn injuries.
In a pre-hartal violence on December 28, school teacher Shamsun Nahar, her son Tanjimul Haque, 22, a university student; and her HSC examinee daughter Anika Akter were burnt after criminals set fire to the CNG-run auto-rickshaw they were travelling in at the capital's Kazipara.
The mother and the son were still at the hospital while Anika was released.
Talking to The Daily Star, Partha Sankar Paul, resident medical officer of the burn unit, said the eleven people were not completely out of danger.
"As long as they are undergoing treatment, we cannot say they are out of danger," he said yesterday.
Meanwhile, having visited the burn victims at the DMCH on Thursday, National Human Rights Commission Chairman Prof Mizanur Rahman urged the country's politicians to spare common people the violent attacks.
"I am humbly appealing to our politicians, please spare the common people," said the NHRC boss folding his hands in request.
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