¶¶Òõ¾«Æ·

On July 19, after having lunch, Md Foysal Sarker told his mother, Hajera Begum, that he would return soon before stepping out of their rented house in Savar’s Abdullahpur about 3:00pm.

But, his family never saw the 25-year-old youth again, neither alive nor dead.

‘He was involved in the protest seeking quota reform in government jobs, and that day he left the house to join the protest,’ said Rahim Sarker, Foysal’s brother-in-law.

The seventh of his parents’ eight children, Foysal was living in Dhaka with his younger brother to study and work. Hajera came to Dhaka for a few days to cook for her sons as Foysal was busy with his Higher Secondary School Certificate exams.

When he did not return by Maghrib prayer that day, his worried family tried calling him, but his phone was switched off.

‘We searched for him in hospitals and police stations for the next 13 days before finally finding his whereabouts at Anjuman Mufidul Islam,’ said Rahim on November 17.

Anjuman Mufidul Islam, a social welfare organisation that also buries unclaimed bodies, informed the family that they had received Foysal’s body from Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College in the capital and buried him alongside several other unclaimed bodies at the Rayerbazar graveyard.

‘We wanted to see his grave at least, but the organisation told us that they buried as many bodies as they could in a single grave and, therefore, could not identify who was buried where,’ said Rahim.

Safiqul Islam Sarker, Foysal’s 75-year-old father, and his mother Hajera, who is around 60, live in Kachishair Dhampti village of Cumilla’s Debidwar upazila, with only homestead and a small piece of land remaining after marrying off their six daughters.

Foysal’s posthumously published HSC results secured him GPA-4.35 from SM Mozammel Haque Technical School and Business Management College. He also worked as a supervisor for the Shyamoli Paribahan transport company to support his and his brother’s education and accommodation in Dhaka.

With a dream to build his own future Foysal moved to Dhaka four years ago. Intending to go to Japan, he even completed a Japanese language course with good marks after passing the Secondary School Certificate examinations. Assiduously he had pursued his HSC studies as he needed this degree to be eligible to apply to go to Japan. 

‘He was the most intelligent and hardworking sibling among us. We do not even know how and where he was killed,’ Foysal’s sister Rojina said, adding that they could not post Foysal’s missing news on social media due to the countrywide internet shutdown that time.  

The photo of Foysal’s body that his family has received from Anjuman shows the left side of his head is covered with a white bandage which has writing on it ‘No bone, do not press.’

The youth’s death has left his parents broken, both emotionally and physically. His younger brother had to move to Cumilla, where he now works at his brother-in-law Rahim’s grocery store.

Foysal’s father filed a case with the International Crimes Tribunal on September 15. 

The student protests, which began on July 1, eventually transformed into a mass uprising later that month, finally toppling the Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League regime on August 5 ending its 15 years’ rule.

The Directorate General of Health Services on September 24 said that after a preliminary investigation, it had listed 708 people having died in the protests and uprising.