<i>All my hopes are buried here </i>
“Why have you come here? Can you tell me why my son was killed? I buried here (showing Mamun's grave) all my hopes eight years back. Journalists from different areas come here to know how we are doing this day (Baishakh 1). But such questions only add to our sorrows.”
Wailing Nur Jahan, mother of Al-Mamun, a victim of Ramna Batamul bomb blast in Dhaka on Pahela Baishakh in 1408 (April 14, 2001), said when this correspondent met her at their Kachipara home under Baufal upazila in Patuakhali district.
“We would be happy if the culprits get exemplary punishment by the court. We want to know the names of the masterminds behind the cowardly act,” said Mamun's father Kashem Gazi, sitting beside his wife.
Mamun, 23, his cousins Reazul, 22, and Shilpi, 20, were among the 10 people killed in the Ramna Batamul bomb attack that also left over 100 others injured.
The three cousins, all of them college students, went to Dhaka to visit their relative's house from where they went to Ramna Botamul to attend Pahela Baishakh function.
“I rushed to the spot hearing the news after the blasts. Rescuers found them unconscious. Shrapnel smashed their legs. Several grenade splinters pierced through their ribs, some might have hit their brain,” said Shilpi's sister-in-law (brother's wife) Parvin. Shilpi had gone to her house in Dhaka.
“As I hurried with them to PG Hospital, doctors declared them dead,” Parvin said.
Shilpi's mother Suja Begum died on February 12 this year, without seeing the culprits punished for the heinous crime.
“I told him not to join any procession or meeting of any political party, but he didn't listen,” said Shamsul Haq Gazi, father of another victim Reazul.
Every year on the day the three families arrange milad mahfil and special prayers for salvation of the departed souls.
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