Common people in a tight corner
Shahnaz Begum is numb from the shock of her husband's death just three days ago. Yet the thought of the future of her two minor children sends shudders down her spine, unsettling her.
Confronted with the bitter reality of raising the kids, one aged six years and the other only six months, the young mother tries to think of the ways but all she sees is bleak days ahead. A petrol bomb has taken away her husband Md Shipon, a trucker, throwing the family into a total uncertainty.
"He died trying to earn a living for us. What will happen to us, our children now?" said Shahnaz.
When Shipon left his Shanarpar house in Dhaka for Sonamasjid Land Port in Chapainawabganj on Monday, he had asked Shahnaz to look after their children -- Azim and Sinthia Akter.
But Shahnaz never knew it would be her lifelong responsibility, one she will have to bear all by herself.
"How will I afford my children's education? I don't know what I will do if they want something," she told The Daily Star yesterday over the phone.
Second among three brothers, Shipon, of Pokhia village in Bhola's Borhanuddin upazila, was burnt alive when alleged blockaders firebombed his pickup in Shibganj of Chapainawabganj on Tuesday morning.
Having lost the sole bread earner of the family, Shahnaz has moved to her in-laws home in Bhola where her parents-in-law depend on their sons.
But Shipon's is just one of the many families victimised by the ongoing blockade that completes its two months today. It is the longest blockade in the country.
Since the blockade began on January 6, at least 83 people have died in violence. Hundreds others are writhing in pain in hospitals across the country.
Another 41 people got killed in “shootouts” with law enforcement agencies during the period. And in the last 50 days since early January, as many as 15,000 people have been arrested.
The nationwide blockade coupled with frequent shutdowns since February has affected every other aspect of public life. Economic activities have slowed down and academic activities at all levels have come to a near halt.
Working class people have been brought to their keens as they have lost their living. Zakir Hossain, day labourer, is one of them. In the last one month, the Netrokona man who lives in the capital's Jurain found work on nine days.
"I could not send money home for the last two months," he told this newspaper in Old Dhaka on Tuesday.
He was among some 100 labourers who gathered at Roy Shaheber Barir Mor looking for work.
"We don't understand politics. We want to work because we have families to feed," Zakir added.
The BNP-led alliance's blockade has upset the academic activities at the very beginning of the year, frustrating about 5 crore students of schools, colleges and universities.
Around 14 lakh SSC examinees, in particular, are the worst victims of the situation as none of their exams have been held as per schedule. All of them were deferred and held on weekends in the last four weeks.
In the capital, most of the schools could not give classes initially, but now they are doing so on weekends -- Fridays and Saturdays.
The blockade and hartals are taking a heavy toll on the kids as well. Such political programmes are ruining their harmonious daily life and holidays, restricting their movements and giving them a sense of insecurity.
It has also changed the lifestyle of many city dwellers.
Take Rokshana Yesmin. Both employees of private firms, she and her husband remain busy on their weekends to take their daughter to school and bring her home.
"We work six days and when we are supposed to spend our holidays together, we have to remain busy for our child's studies," she said.
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