by Syed Rubaiyat Habib & Mohiuddin M Mahi

DHAKA, Aug 25, 2024 (BSS) - During the Anti-discrimination student-movement, auto-rickshaw driver Mohammad Pervej was targeted by the leaders of Bangladesh Chhatra League and later shot and hit with knife and machete mercilessly at Gazipur as he was giving lift to the injured students taking them to hospital.
 
After shooting Pervej pointing the gun at his backbone, the BCL attackers hit the 22-year-old auto-rickshaw driver in his head, hand, stomach, backbone, and shoulder with machete and cut the vein of his left leg, leaving him critically injured near Shibbari intersection of Gazipur around 3:30 pm on August 4.
 
"BCL leaders hit me with knife, machete and shot me pointing the gun barrel at my backbone as I was helping the injured students giving them lift to the hospital breaking BCL's restrictions of not carrying injured students with my auto-rickshaw", said Pervej while taking treatment at Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) with fear and uncertainty on his face.
 
On August 4, students and people from all strata of the society were protesting in Shibbari area, blocked by police and BCL leaders from both sides and there was no way to take injured people to hospital without avoiding police or BCL leaders.
 
Amid gunshot and attacks by police and BCL leaders, the protesting students were continuously getting injured one after another but no vehicle was agreeing to carry injured students as they were afraid of BCL's possible rage, said Pervej.
 
"In that situation, I became the target of BCL leaders as I was giving lift to the injured students to the hospital", Pervej said, adding, "After dropping three injured students from street to hospital, Around 70-80 BCL leaders, led by BCL Gazipur city General Secretary Sheikh Mostak Ahmed Kajol, threatened me asking not to help students anymore".
 
"Paying no heed to BCL's threat when I was taking another two injured students to the hospital, BCL leaders stopped the auto-rickshaw on my way to hospital, and started hitting me with local weapons including machetes, sticks, rods and knives," he said.
 
"BCL metro thana co-convenor Kobra Kabir took me away from the students and shot me placing the gun on my backbone. The shot was so powerful that the bullet went out of my body making a hole near my kidney," said Pervej.
 
They didn't stop even after shooting me; rather the rest of the people were hitting me mercilessly with a machete and also cut the vein of my left leg with a sharp knife, he added.
 
On his way to Gazipur Sadar Hospital, Pervej accompanied by his cousin Rubel, faced another obstacle while crossing the Joydebpur rail gate area as another BCL group barred them from taking the injured Pervej to hospital saying "Let them die here without treatment", said Pervej's cousin Rubel.
 
"Then we somehow managed a fish loaded-van in which we took them to the hospital laying the injured three including Pervej in the middle of fish and wrapping their body with coloured polythene", said Rubel.
 
Later, Pervej's cousin had to face a more challenging time as he (Pervej) was referred to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital but the ambulances were charging 40-50 thousand taka from Gazipur to Dhaka.
 
Then they returned to Shibbari to seek help from the students. Afterward, with the help of students and relatives Rubel managed to get Pervej to the Dhaka Medical College and Hospital. 
 
Apart from giving lift to the injured students, Pervej was also seen distributing water and food among the students on August 4 with his previous day earning, said Rubel.
 
Pervej is happy for the victory of students-people but tensed about his future and the loan he had to repay.

Pervej, who hailed from Maijbari of Sarishabari upazila of Jamalpur, lost his mother when he was one and a half year old. After the departure of his mother, his father left Pervej alone and did not maintain any contact with him.