All his belongings remained the same, but Shaheed Miraz

By Syed Altefat Hossain

DHAKA, October 29, 2024 (BSS) – Shaheed Miraz Hossain, a promising freelancer, left his house in Demra area here on the morning of August 5 hoping to return to his parents with a new message of finish around 16 years old. -long fascist regime.

But the irony of fate was that although the fascist regime collapsed that day with the fall of the autocratic ruler Sheikh Hasina, Miraz could not enjoy the victory as he was shot dead by the police in the afternoon of the same day.

According to his relatives, Miraz (30) has always spoken out against injustice since his student life. He actively participated in the student movement against quotas in 2018. Therefore, when students waged the student movement against discrimination this year, he was quick to join the street protest.

“My brother actively participated in the anti-quota movement in 2018. And this year he was on the streets from the beginning of the student movement until his martyrdom,” said Miraz’s heartbroken younger brother, Pavel Hossain.

Apart from joining the protest, Miraz often inspired his friends to participate in the movement and carried out massive campaigns through his social media platforms such as Facebook and YouTube.

Shaon Al Mahmud, one of Miraz’s childhood friends and classmates, said that like other days during the movement, on the morning of August 5, Miraz called all his friends and gathered them at the Shanir Akhra point. from Jatrabari area.

There he bought national flags for all his friends with his own money and started marching towards Shahbag to join the ‘March to Dhaka’ program declared by the student anti-discrimination movement, breaking the curfew imposed by the Awami League government.

Shaon said that when they reached Kajla, they saw police firing bullets indiscriminately from Mayor Hanif Flyover’s toll plaza.

At that time some people, probably policemen, were seen shooting at protesters from the roof of a building from a long distance near the Jatrabari police station, he added.

However, between 1.30pm and 2pm, the police were seen retreating towards the police station and snipers were also seen coming down from the roof as news spread among the people that Sheikh Hasina might have resigned, he added.

“Though we were not confirmed whether the news was correct, some of our friends returned home from there, but Miraz was adamant about going to Shahbag,” Shaon said.

“Miraz was not afraid that day,” he said, adding that when everyone tried to hide to escape the bullets, Miraz did not.

“Shortly after we reached Jatrabari police station, around 2.45 pm, the police cars in front of the police station were set on fire.

And suddenly we saw bullets exploding next to us. I ran and went to the opposite side of the police station. But Miraz didn’t run away,” Shaon said.

At that time the police were shooting at anyone who appeared from the roof of the police station building, he said, adding that at that moment Miraz suffered a gunshot wound to the right side of his chest.

Later, Shaon said, he was trying to contact Miraz on phone when a rickshaw driver received the phone and informed him that Miraz had been shot and first asked him to go to a diagnostic center in Jatrabari.

Later, the rickshaw driver asked him to go to Mitford Hospital, where the doctor on duty declared Miraz dead.

As there was a dire situation on the city streets that day, he said: “None of Miraz’s relatives could reach the hospital. Therefore, I received his body from the hospital completing all the procedures.”

Shaheed Miraz was a rising star as a freelancer, but a bullet cut short his promising life and left his family distraught.

He was the main source of income for his family as his father, Abdur Rab, a private car driver, often struggled to support the family with his earnings.

“My brother mainly contributed to our family with the income he earned as a freelancer,” Miraz’s brother Pavel said, his voice breaking with emotion, adding that they are currently a family of three, including his father and mother. His only sister has already been married.

After Miraz’s martyrdom, his father Abdur Rab and mother Momtaz Begum were left baffled as they still cannot return to normal life.

As Miraz was a brilliant freelancer, he used to work on his laptop sitting on a chair and kept his computer on a table in the front room of his house.

While visiting the house, it was observed that all of Miraz’s belongings were in the same place where he usually kept them.

His laptop was still open on the left side of the table, while the Bluetooth connection, glasses, and wristwatch were on the right side of the table.

His table also contained a photograph of his participation in the movement and a souvenir given to his family after his martyrdom.

Although the chair, table and computer remained in their own places, the man who used to use these things is no more, creating a permanent void in Miraz’s family.

Miraz’s father was losing control of his emotions as he showed Miraz’s belongings, even his blood-stained shirt.

He kept them in their places because he still felt that Miraz was working sitting there. He said he and his wife used to cry holding these things because they couldn’t forget the memories of their son.

“I will never be able to forget the memory of my son. . . He was like a friend. How can I forget that while I was helping other wounded people in the Kajla area to go to the hospital, my son was lying under Mayor Hanif Flyover with a bullet in the chest?” Rab said and burst into tears.

Noting that Miraz had two pieces of bread with egg mamlet for breakfast on the morning of August 5, he said: “After having breakfast, my son went to join the movement around 8 am.

Who knew it would be their last meal?

During the movement, his father said, Miraz used to say: where is the possibility of standing idle when there are people like rickshaw drivers on the streets?

“We will liberate the country and make it independent (again) to keep its people well,” Rab quoted his son as telling them.


He said Miraz always thought about the welfare of the country and its people and was a benevolent personality.

Miraz dreamed of pursuing higher education abroad and contributing to the country, Rab said, adding: “My son used to tell me: Abba (dad), please bear the pain for a few more days, once I go abroad, all your pains will be annihilated.”

Rab is still traumatized since Miraz’s death.

“I can’t work now because I am physically and mentally unstable. “I can’t find peace anywhere because the memories of my son haunt me everywhere,” Miraz’s father said crying.

Regarding the martyrs of the uprising, he said that the student coordinators may not have a list of those killed on August 5. He urged the government to include the names of those who were killed in Chittagong Road, Signboard, Shanir Akhra, Rayerbag and Jatrabari areas, during the uprising in the list of martyrs.

“If you give me the whole country I will not have peace. When we see the names of our children on the lists of martyrs, peace will blow in our hearts,” Rab said.

He also urged the government to make a list of the injured so that everyone can be by their side and demanded justice for the mass killing.

“All people responsible for mass killings, including those who ordered police to kill people, must be identified and brought to justice,” Rab said.

Recalling his memory with his older brother, Miraz’s younger brother Pavel said they used to sleep together.

“We never slept without each other.

I miss my brother so much when I go to bed every day. . . I miss him. “I was in trauma for a month and I always cried for him,” she added.

He still feels the existence of his brother, Pavel said: “I can’t think that he is no longer among us and that he will never come to us.”