Amaur Aman: Rokeya Khatun could only say one thing over and over again as her relatives consoled her in her Kushtia home.

Fainting at times while crying, she grieved over the brutal killing of her elder son Abrar Fahad alias Rabbi, a second-year electrical and electronics engineering student at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet), on Sunday.

Abrar was beaten to death allegedly by Bangladesh Chhatra League mean at the Sher-e-Bangla Hall of the university.

Abrar was declared dead yesterday morning at the university by the hall’s resident doctor.

“My son was a gift from the Almighty. I have never faced any trouble raising my two sons. He [Abrar] was always first in classes,” Rokeya was seen telling herself. 

“Where and how I will get my son,” she asked, sitting on a chair from which she collapsed multiple times.

A kindergarten teacher, Rokeya was a proud mother of two sons.

Her younger son Sabbir Fahad is a higher secondary student in Dhaka College. Her husband Barkatullahh is a retired Brac official.

Rokeya was unaware of son’s death until her relatives and locals started gathering in her home yesterday morning.

She said she last spoke to Abrar on the telephone around 5:00pm on Sunday.

 “He told me he reached the university hall,” she said, adding that she had repeatedly called him her after 9:00pm but her calls were not received.

“I woke up for morning prayers and saw Abrar’s father weeping. I asked him why he was crying. He said someone from our son’s hall called him and said there was some problem and that he needed to go to Dhaka immediately.”  

Abrar went to his Kushtia home September 24 with his younger brother Sabbir and wanted to stay with his parents till October 20.

But he left on Sunday morning due to academic pressure, family sources said.

They added that Abrar completely his primary education at Kushtia Mission School and then completed his secondary schooling from Kushtia Zilla School. He got his higher secondary degree from Notre Dame College

He was always first in his class, they said. Abrar was accepted in six universities but decided to go to Buet.

Family sources said Abrar was religious since his childhood but was never involved in Shibir politics. “The whole family follows Awami League politics,” said Abrar’s uncle Mizanur Rahman.

Abrar’s father lives next door to Mahbubul Alam Hanif, a lawmaker of Kushtia-3 and also the joint general secretary of the Awami League.

Barkatullah said Abrar’s grandfather Abdul Gafur was an influential activist of the AL at Koya village in the district’s Kumarkhali upazila. 

“With Abdul Gafur, we took part in different Awami League programmes,” Ariful Islam, a former Bangladesh Chhatra League activist and now a data-entry operator of Kushtia Islamic University, said. Ariful is also a neighbour of Abdul Gafur.

“We only knew Abrar as a meritorious student and always engaged with studies [and not any politics],” said Shariful Islam, a teacher of Kushtia Islamic University and also neighbour of Abrar.

Rateen Ullah Mridha, a friend of Abrar who is a student of Kushtia Islamic University, said that though Abrar never showed any interest in politics, he told them his family is from an AL background. 

When Rokeya was asked about wanting justice for her son’s murder, she was silent for some time. She stopped crying and asked who will give her justice.

“I ask you all return my son to me alive. I don’t need justice.” courtesy of daily star.

Dhaka 07  October (campuslive24.com)//Az