I am reminded of a childhood game where we would ask, “Do you see what I see?” Now, I find myself questioning, “Do you see what we see?”
Imagine a scenario where a man driving a rickshaw is summoned to transport a gunshot victim to the hospital, only to discover that the victim is his own teenage son.
Consider a mother who used to scold her child for losing shoes. When she receives her son’s bullet-riddled body, she notes with a detached tone that the new shoes he was wearing are still intact and shiny.
Picture a situation where, in an attempt to block tear gas by closing a window, a man’s nephew is hit by a bullet, leaving a hole in the wall.
Envision a mother collapsing from gunfire after just putting her child to sleep on the veranda. Who could have anticipated that this would be her last touch on her child?
Do you witness these events too?
It is difficult to believe that you have seen Abu Saeed being shot or heard the desperate voices on video exclaiming, “He’s been shot! He’s been shot!”
Do you see the police aiming their weapons at an unconscious teenager, only to handcuff him and detain him for 12 days? The police report falsely claims that Abu Saeed died from injuries inflicted by thrown stones and bricks. I doubt you have seen this. In this game of observation, you seem to be failing.
You haven’t seen how the police fired repeatedly at a teenager clinging to a construction site in desperation.
You haven’t witnessed how the police, after torturing a nearly dead youth, discarded him from a car and left him to die slowly on the road.
You claim to have witnessed the atrocities committed by the Pakistani forces against students in 1971. Do you find any similarities between those events and what we are experiencing today?
To date, 137 individuals have been found with fatal gunshot wounds. We see this reality; do you? After the recent wave of indiscriminate killings, arrests, and superficial investigations, does your assurance that “every murder will be investigated” provide any comfort?
You trample over them like insects and yet you express concern for their afterlife. What about their lives in this world, which were abruptly ended by your police?
Despite the deployment of excessive armed police forces, do you see the list of those deployed and their locations? We see it, while you claim, “shoot on sight.” Regardless of internet access, we remain vigilant.
We have witnessed the deployment of one battalion after another. Do you see what we see?
How can you, with the same faces, claim that “no orders were given to shoot at the police”?
We see that you unlawfully detain coordinators in the DB office, leaving them hungry during breaks. We see them speak out against your dishonesty and deceit once they are released. Do you see this?
Yes, now you have indeed seen. That’s why their Facebook accounts disappear immediately.
Professionals who protest in the streets or at the High Court over people’s deaths are labeled by your followers as being associated with Jamaat-e-Islami, Shibir, or BNP.
Do you see this too? Do you take pleasure in it? Are your followers so merciless that they will never seek justice for the numerous unarmed killings?
If someone seeks justice or protests, they are immediately labeled as opposition party members. That’s how we perceive it. Do you see it too?
Are you eager to prove your cruelty? We see it. Do you?
We see people from various backgrounds taking to the streets to express their frustration. Do you see this too? You seem to focus solely on Jamaat-e-Islami or BNP.
We see people attacking symbols of development, exhausted from your development narratives. Do you see this as terrorism?
You lament the destruction of assets worth billions, but when billions are siphoned off under your watch, we don’t see you mourning.
We see ordinary students standing bravely in front of your trained forces, striving to eliminate the inequality and disparity we face.
— Afsana Begum, Fiction Writer
