“What was my father’s fault? He was physically unwell. He was closing his shop and heading home after witnessing the clashes. He repeatedly begged for his life with folded hands. He couldn’t stand straight, nor could he walk properly. Even after he said he was unwell, why did they shoot him? Where will I find my father now?”
These words were spoken by Mitu Akter, a private university student and the daughter of Kurman Sheikh (49), a small business owner who was shot dead at Savar Bus Stand in Dhaka on July 20. On Sunday, at her uncle Sattar Sheikh’s house near the railway line in Ratanadia, Kalukhali Upazila, Rajbari, Mitu recounted her father’s tragic story. Kurman Sheikh, a resident of East Ratanadia village in Kalukhali Upazila, had no assets other than a dilapidated tin house near the Ratanadia railway line. For the past fifteen years, he had been running a small poultry business in a rented room at Savar Bus Stand. He lived with his wife Shilpi Khatun, son Ramzan Sheikh, and daughter Mitu Akter in a rented house behind the Savar fish market.
His son, Ramzan Sheikh (22), is a fourth-year public administration student at Jagannath University, and his daughter, Mitu Akter (20), is a first-year BBA student at European University.
Mitu Akter told Prothom Alo, “After noon on July 20, I got scared hearing gunfire at Savar Bus Stand. Around 12:45 PM, I called my father and told him to come home quickly. He just said, ‘The situation is bad; I am closing the shop and coming.’ Those were my last words with my father. He was coming home; why did they shoot him? He was a sick man.”
Shilpi Khatun, Kurman Sheikh’s wife, said, “He even received a disability allowance. He couldn’t stand up straight or walk properly. He worked hard to make his son a BCS cadre and his daughter a banker. He wasn’t involved in any political party. My husband begged the police with folded hands, saying, ‘Sir, I am sick. I earn a living through my business. Please don’t shoot me.’ Despite that, why did they shoot him? He worked hard because his children were good students. Who will take care of them now? How will we bear the cost of their education? I demand justice for my husband’s murder.”
On the day of the clash, Kurman Sheikh had opened his shop following the lead of others in the Savar area, said his son Ramzan Sheikh. He explained, “When the clash started at noon, my father closed his shop and took shelter inside the ice factory behind the fish market. Many people sought refuge there, including one of my uncles. Suddenly, the police entered the market and started shooting near the ice factory. Around 1:45 PM, my uncle called and said that my father had been shot. When I arrived, I saw several people carrying my father, who was bleeding. We rushed him to Enam Medical College Hospital in Savar, where the doctor declared him dead. He was shot in the left side of his chest and below the right knee. He also had pellet wounds on the left side of his face.”
