Syed Mostafa Kamal Raju, a father of three, left his house at Siddhirganj in Narayanganj after he had heard helicopters hovering above and gunshots on July 20. He was shot in the head about an hour later. It was then 5:00pm.
Mostafa Kamal, a mechanical engineer 36 years old, died in Dhaka Medical College Hospital at about 1:30pm on July 22 after he had been on life support.
His wife Aklima Akter urged him to stay indoors that afternoon. But Mostafa did not heed her and climbed onto the roof to see the situation. Later, he sneaked down on the road near the Dhaka-Chittagong Highway.
Down on the road, he heard his wife calling him out. He said, 鈥業鈥檒l be back soon. No worries. There are many people around.鈥� This was the last time she spoke to her husband.
Helicopters of the Rapid Action Battalion and the Border Guard Bangladesh had flown throughout the day, Aklima said on September 12, recalling what happened on that fateful day.
Helicopters began firing gunshots after a building on the highway, where police personnel lived and Awami League activists were trapped, had been set on fire.
Gunshots from the helicopters and the building set afire shook the neighbourhood of Painadi Natun Mahalla. Several people died and many became wounded. The deceased and the wounded also included some who had stayed indoors, Aklima said.
Aklima believes that Awami League people had shot her husband as he had joined the protests that took place in the Signboard area in July 18鈥�19, seeking reforms in civil service job reservations.
She said that Mostafa had put all their money in a plan to go to Malaysia on July 24. This has left them without any savings. The only money the family has now is the money they lent to others.
鈥業 don鈥檛 know how I鈥檒l survive. I need to move to a one-room house soon,鈥� she said.
Aklima and Mostafa were from Lakshmipur. Two of the children 鈥� Syed Ayesha Akter, 13 years old, and Syed Rayhan Abdullah, 11 years old 鈥� are madrassah students. The third, Syed Abu Bakkar, five years old, is yet to start going to school.
Aklima, who has a master鈥檚 degree in political science from the National University, said, 鈥業 would get by if I could get a job.鈥�
The government on August 28 said that about 1,000 people had died in the student-mass聽uprising, which led to the overthrow of the Awami League government on August 5.
