3 Yrs Since Gulshan Café Attack: Remembering the friends lost
Agnese Barolo Rizvi and her husband were having dinner at the Italian ambassador’s residence in the capital when she first heard about the attack at Holey Artisan Bakery. She instantly thought about some of her friends who were at the upscale restaurant at that time.
“I immediately called them over phone and sent messages -- ‘where are you?’ But there was no reply from anyone…That felt really terrible…,” the Italian national told reporters as she reminisced about the night the armed militants attacked the restaurant.
Agnese, wife of prime minister’s Adviser Gowher Rizvi, has been living in Bangladesh for years. Each of the nine Italians killed by the militants was quite close to her. Among them was one of her best friends Claudia Maria D’Antona.
Claudia’s husband Gianni Boschetti’s life was saved by pure chance. The Italian textile businessman went outside to answer a phone call moments before the gunmen stormed the restaurant. But Claudia was not so lucky, Agnese said as she struggled to hold back her tears.
“It’s a tragedy for everyone,” she said while paying tribute to the victims at the old premises of Holey Artisan.
Like her, many others, who lost their loved ones in the attack, placed flowers there. The premises were open to visitors for four hours from around 10:00am on the 3rd anniversary of the attack.
On the night of July 1 in 2016, five armed militants stormed the café in Gulshan diplomatic zone and held the diners hostage. By the end of the night, they had murdered nine Italians, seven Japanese, one Indian and three Bangladeshis.
Twenty-year-old Faraaz Ayaaz Hossain, a student of Emory University in the US, was one of the three Bangladeshis killed there. He was given the choice of walking out of the café.
But he refused to leave his friends Abinta, a Bangladesh-born US citizen, and Tarishi, an Indian student of the University of California. He was killed along with his friends.
Two police officers also lost their lives as groups of law enforcers tried to close in on the place. The five militants and a chef of the café were killed in a commando operation the next morning. Another staffer died in hospital while in custody.
Around six months after the attack, the café reopened a few blocks from its original location.
Currently, the two-storey building, that was once the Holey Artisan Bakery, is being used as home by the land owners.
Agnese said Bangladesh is a peaceful country and a good place for foreigners. One small group will not deter anyone from coming here, she added.
Father Ricardo, who have been living in Bangladesh for decades, went there to pray for the victims.
He said, “People in Bangladesh are peace-loving. I believe, my neighbours will save me even if someone attacks me.”
Masuda Begum was also seen at the site. She was holding a picture of her son, Zakir Hossain Shaon, 19. A restaurant staffer who was detained as a suspect that night, Zakir succumbed to his wounds on July 8.
“Who will say why my son was killed? We didn’t get justice or any help because we are poor,” she wailed.
Diplomats from the embassies of Japan and Italy, and members of law enforcement agencies, paid their homage to the victims.
After over two years of investigation, the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime unit of DMP submitted a charge sheet to a Dhaka court on July 23 last year, accusing eight militants.
All the accused are behind bars and the case is now under trial. According to the charge sheet, “Neo JMB” militants had planned and executed the attack.
CTTC Chief Monirul Islam yesterday was asked about Bangladeshi militants in Syria. He said, “It is difficult to get information about all of them. Most of them have died in the war. The immigration police have been alerted about this.”
Terming militancy a global scourge, Rapid Action Battalion Director General Benazir Ahmed said people should be cautions.
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