News Flash
By Md Mamun Islam
RANGPUR, May 24, 2025 (BSS) – Even at the age of 21, Sahida Akter never learned from those close to her that a husband could be as good as her beloved auto-rickshaw driver husband, martyred Md Abdul Latif, 27.
All the time, it seemed surprising to Sahida that her pious husband Latif loved her so much. He couldn't stay away from his wife for long without seeing her, talking to her or caring for her.
Sahida believes that if every girl were lucky enough to have a husband like her husband, Latif, then every family in this country would be a paradise on earth.
No couple would ever get divorced, no children would lose their mother or father in this critical society.
Latif always tried his best to keep his wife Sahida happy with everything he had and praised her highly everywhere and among his neighbors.
Sahida also loved Latif very much. She never ate rice alone at home without him and always tried her best to make Latif happier.
Even the night before he was martyred when a bullet fired from a helicopter gunship on July 20, the Latif-Sahida couple talked a lot about their plans to have children by the end of 2025.
Before leaving home in his auto-rickshaw at noon, Latif wanted to eat Biryani that his wife would cook with her own hands and asked Sahida to prepare it on time at night.
Sahida did so, but the cooked Biriani remained intact in the oven all night because Latif never returned.
While talking to BSS at different places recently, Latif’s wife Sahida and his parents and relatives narrated about his martyrdom and struggling life.
Born into an extremely poor family in remote village Ballovbishu under Shaheedbag union of Kawnia upazila in Rangpur, Abdul Latif had to struggle unto his martyrdom with a hope to bring out his poor parents from the vicious cycle of poverty.
His landless father, Md Nizam Uddin, 50, is a daily wage laborer and his mother, Nobiya Khatun, is a housewife.
Latif was the second child in the family, among his two brothers and the only sister.
His elder sister Lipi Khatun, 26, is married and lives nearby with her husband, a poultry trader, Majidur Rahman, and their two children.
His only younger brother, Lutfar Rahman, 25, worked and lived with Latif in Narayanganj. Lutfar is now an unemployed young man. Since Latif's martyrdom, he has been living with his parents in his village home in Rangpur.
Recently, while talking to BSS at their village home in Ballovbishu in Kawnia upazila, his father Nizam Uddin and mother Nobiya Khatun said that they were poor and landless people and lived in extreme poverty.
Latif somehow studied up to class four at the local Ballovbishu Keramotia Dakhil Madrasa.
Unable to continue his studies due to extreme poverty in the family, Latif had to leave home and go to Narayanganj in search of a job and livelihood in 2012. He wanted to stand by his poor family to survive.
Latif soon got a job at Kores Bangladesh Limited, a garment factory in Narayanganj, and started working there. He could send some money to his parents every month.
“Latif then took Lutfar to Narayanganj and employed him at his workplace, Kores Bangladesh Limited, in 2022. After a few days, Latif left the job and started driving an auto-rickshaw,” said his mother Nobiya Khatun.
Meanwhile in 2019, Latif met garment worker Sahida Akhter, 21, from Mymensingh district, who worked at Ananta Huaxiang Limited garments factory in Narayanganj city.
A resident of Maradeura village in Phulpur upazila of Mymensingh, Sahida's landless father Shukkur Mahmud, 50, is a mason and mother Achhia Begum, 45.
They now live with their daughter Sahida in the Sanarpar Manu Mia Market area of Demra police station in Dhaka.
Her father works as a mason in a team. Her mother works in a small Genji factory next to their rented house.
Sahida is the third child in their poor family among three sisters and one brother.
Her elder brother Atiqur Rahman, 28, is also a mason and lives in Sanarpar area of Dhaka with his wife and two sons.
Sahida's elder sister Rahela Akhtar, 25, is married and also lives there with her vegetable trader husband Mohammad Babu Mia, 28.
Her younger sister Sahela Akter, 16, is a ninth-grade student at a school in the same area.
Soon after they met, a romantic relationship developed between Sahida and Abdul Latif. After dating for about a year and a half, Latif and Sahida got married on October 24, 2021.
From the day of their wedding until the day of Latif's martyrdom, there was no disagreement or misunderstanding between the couple.
“We had a divine love for each other. Everyone, including our neighbors around us, considered our love, our relationship of respect and admiration for each other to be an extraordinary example,” said Sahida Akter while talking to BSS.
After their marriage, the couple lived in a rented house in the Mizmiji Chowdhury Para area of Narayanganj city with Latif's younger brother Lutfar Rahman.
"The days were passing very well with both of our incomes. We were happy with what we had. After quitting his job at the garment factory in 2022, Latif started driving an auto-rickshaw to earn more," said Sahida.
During this time, the students and people of the country started the anti-discrimination student-public movement in July 2024.
“Latif always thought about the country. He was upset with the fascist regime of Sheikh Hasina, who created a reign of terror, looted public money and sent it abroad, carried out forced disappearances and destroyed democracy,” Lutfar Rahman said.
“Latif started participating in the protest marches of the anti-discrimination student-people's movement in Narayanganj daily. He would take pictures and make videos of the daily events. I also participated in the protest marches with my brother,” he said.
Sahida said, “It was July 20. As usual, Latif took breakfast with me and Lutfar at home in the morning and went out with his auto-rickshaw.”
The garment factories were closed due to the massive protests against the fascist regime of Sheikh Hasina on the streets. Sahida and Lutfar were at home.
“Latif came back home around 1 pm. We ate lunch together. Latif was resting on the bed, talking a lot. I was getting ready to go to my father's house in the Sanarpar area,” she said.
“At that time, Latif was looking at me with fixed eyes and saying, “Sahida, you are so beautiful and good. Having you as my wife from Almighty Allah, I feel like I have found heaven on earth,” recalled Sahida with deep love, teary eyes and an emotional voice.
Sahida asked him, "Why are you looking at me with so much love? Have you never seen me before?"
"Latif then said that the more he looks at me, the more he wants to see me and that he can't be satisfied. That's why he keeps looking at me like this. He was my husband, I don't think any other woman in this world has a husband like Latif," said Shahida, sobbing.
And then, on July 20, when Latif was resting at home, Sahida left her house for her father's house at 4 pm.
"After reaching my father's house, I felt bad when I remembered that Latif wanted to eat Biryani at night. I soon returned home at 6 pm. Latif was already outside. I completed cooking Biryani with beef for Latif by 8 pm," she said.
Sahida said, “On other days, while driving his auto-rickshaw in the streets, Latif would occasionally enter the house while passing by, flirt with me, make love, and then leave. We had become accustomed to this for several years.”
But, Latif did not come home even once after Sahida returned from her father's house at 6 pm, until 8 pm. This surprised Sahida and a hidden fear also arose in her mind. She started wondering if something bad had happened.
Sahida's brother-in-law Lutfar Rahman and his other friends started searching for Latif here and there, everywhere including the hospital in Narayanganj city. The whole night passed. Latif was nowhere to be found.
“The next day, July 21, I, Lutfar, my own brother Atiqur Rahman and his wife Sharifa Khatun started searching for Latif in various hospitals in the morning,” said Sahida.
After seeing Latif’s picture, a person at a local private hospital in Sanarpar area said that a person with serious bullet injuries like Latif had been sent to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) last night.
"Later, we went to DMCH, searched for all possible words for a long time. At one point, Lutfar Rahman saw Latif's body in the morgue where many other bodies were stored. Lutfar broke down in tears," said Sahida.
After going through indescribable harassment and humiliation at DMCH, Sahida and her relatives were able to receive Latif’s body from the hospital morgue two days later, on July 22 at around 12 noon.
Lutfar said, “We hired a mortuary ambulance and took the body directly to our ancestral village Ballovbishu in Rangpur. We reached there at 9:30 pm.”
Latif’s Namaj-E-Janaza was held at the local Gulshan Ahmadiyya Jame Mosque at 10:30 pm and he was buried at the local Gulshan Mour community graveyard in the nearby area at 11 pm on July 22.
Later, Sahida came to know that her husband Latif was participating in the massive anti-discriminating student-public protest marches at Madarinagar area near the 10-storey under-construction building on the Dhaka-Chattagram road before the Maghreb prayers.
"A bullet fired from the helicopter hit my husband below his right eye and exited through the back of his head, seriously injuring him. He died on the night of July 20 while being taken from a local hospital to DMCH," said Sahida.
In this incident, Latif's father Nizam Uddin filed a murder case at Siddhirganj Police Station against ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and other Awami League leaders Obaidul Quader and Asaduzzaman Khan.
