News Flash
By Md Mamun Islam
RANGPUR, July 20, 2025 (BSS) - On July 19 last year, three days after the martyrdom of Abu Sayeed, Rangpur city witnessed a horrific bloody day when bullets from the bloodthirsty fascist Sheikh Hasina's police force pierced the chests of four young men.
On that day in the afternoon, police bullets pierced the chests of martyrs Hossain, 27, (vegetable and fruit vendor), Abdullah Al Tahir, 32, (student), Merajul Islam, 36, (banana shop labor) and Moslem Uddin Milon, 36, (goldsmith).
The situation in Rangpur had became explosive since the martyrdom of Abu Sayeed, a talented student of Begum Rokeya University and one of the student coordinators, in police firing on July 16 during the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement.
After Abu Sayeed's martyrdom, the local administration imposed a curfew in Rangpur to suppress the unyielding protests of students and the public aimed at sustaining Sheikh Hasina's fascist regime.
In this situation, an unusually calm atmosphere had prevailed in Rangpur city since the morning of Friday, July 19. The entire city was in an uproar.
After Juma prayers, hundreds of armed police personnel aggressively moved towards the student-public protest procession in Armored Personnel Carriers (APCs).
The police force moved rapidly from the Rangpur Police Lines area to the Town Hall, City Corporation Office, Over Bridge, City Market and Raja Ram Mohan Roy Market areas to attack the protest procession.
At around 4 pm, hundreds of armed leaders and workers of the Awami League and its affiliated organizations and the police started chasing and counter-chasing the students and people and throwing bricks; the entire area turned into a battlefield.
That afternoon, the guns of the state machine suddenly roared. One after another, bullets stopped the stories of each life.
Nazmeem Islam, 32, the wife of banana shop worker Merajul Islam, lost her husband on July 19, the day of her 17th wedding anniversary.
Nazmeem now lives with her two sons in Amashu Kukrul area near New Jummapara, Rangpur city.
The couple's three-year-old son Mohammad Hanifa still does not understand the fact that he has been forever deprived of his father's affection.
The eldest son, Mehrab Hossain Nazil, 15, is a student of the tenth grade of the Rangpur Government Technical School and College.
Nazmeem said, "July 19 was our 17th wedding anniversary. Merajul brought me a three-piece suit and asked me to wear it. I couldn't wear that three-piece suit. My husband died that day in police firing."
She said a single bullet from the police destroyed the happy family they had built. "Now where will I go with my two sons? How will I manage the expenses of my children's education? I want justice."
Dilruba Akhter, 26, wife of martyred goldsmith Moslem Uddin Milon, of the city's Purbo Ganeshpur area, said her husband had been regularly participating in the protest marches of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement since early July last year.
Upon learning of Abu Sayeed's martyrdom on July 16, Milon immediately swore in the name of Almighty Allah that he would overthrow the fascist Hasina regime and, if necessary, will sacrifice his life to uphold the honor of Abu Sayeed's blood.
" That's exactly what happened. It shattered our dreams and left our two sons orphaned. Milon was also martyred around 4:30 pm on July 19 at," Dilruba told BSS at her home.
Milon was living happily with his wife Dilruba Akhter and two sons, eighth grader Bayezid Bostami, 15, and first grader Tanzid Al Hassan, 8.
Milon was killed on the spot in police firing at around 4:30 pm while thousands of students and the public were participating in an indomitable protest on the west side of Raja Ram Mohan Market near Rangpur City Market.
Martyr Abdullah Al Tahir's mother Shirina Begum, 60, who lives alone in her rented house in the Purbo Shalbon area of Rangpur city, said Tahir was the final year student of the ceramics department of the Bangladesh Institute of Glass and Ceramics in Dhaka.
He returned to Rangpur on July 10 last year when the movement was reaching its peak.
Tahir had been participating in the anti-discrimination student movement protest marches regularly since the beginning of July in Dhaka.
After waking up on the morning of July 19, Tahir took a bath and ate rice with fried papaya cooked by his mother at home.
Tahir left home and met his friends Asifuzzaman Asif, Nazir Hossain Chan and Suman Hossain at Shapla Square at 11 am.
The streets had already turned into a sea of people by 3:30 pm as thousands of people from all walks of life had come out that day.
Later, Tahir was killed in police firing in the Raja Ram Mohan Market area.
Shirina Begum called on the interim government to ensure justice by ensuring exemplary punishment of the killers of innocent Tahir.
Having lost her husband martyred Hossain to just one bullet during the fascist Sheikh Hasina regime on July 19, Jitu Begum, 24, now fears an uncertain future for their five-year-old only daughter Sinha.
They lived happily on meager earnings from selling vegetables and fruits as a seasonal roadside vendor.
Jitu Begum at their home in the Kamal Kachna area in Rangpur city said earned livelihoods by selling vegetables or fruits in the city in a van cart as a seasonal roadside vendor. He also worked as a helper to the masons at construction sites.
Jitu Begum still cries and fails to concentrate on family work. She urged the interim government to ensure exemplary punishment to the killers of her husband.
