Tenth grader Mahfuzur Rahman Mahfuz, 17, wanted to be an army officer to protect Bangladesh and its people but a bullet shattered his dream as he was killed in police firing in the capital during the student-mass upsurge on July 19.
Mahfuz, a student of class 10 of Alhaz Abbas Uddin High School in Dhaka, was shot dead on a street of Mirpur-10 in Dhaka during the nationwide mass movement that eventually ousted Sheikh Hasina, ending her 15 years of autocratic rule.
Mahfuz's father Abdul Mannan Howlader, a small trader, hails from Bagerhat district.
Speaking to BSS on Tuesday, Mannan shared that since 2010, he has been living with his wife and their only son, Mahfuz, in a rented house in the Mirpur-10 area of Dhaka, following the marriages of his three daughters.
To support his family and cover his son Mahfuz’s educational expenses, Mannan worked at a local shop.
"During the last dinner on July 18, Mahfuz expressed his resentment with grief and sorrow to his parents that the police shot dead Abu Syed like a bird. It hurt me and I must go to the movement tomorrow," Mannan said.
"I would stay safe. Why do you worry so much?" he quoted his son's last words as saying with a grieved voice.
The next day was Friday and Mahfuz joined the movement. He was shot dead on the spot by law enforcers during the movement after Jummah prayers.
Mannan said Mahfuz's body was found in the morgue of Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College and Hospital on July 20. The bullet pierced him below his ear.
As the hospital authorities informed them that it would take at least seven days to do the post-mortem, he brought his dead son's body to their village home without post-mortem.
Mahfuz was buried in the family graveyard after his namaz-e-janaza, his father said with teary eyes.
Mannan said he even had to flee his village to avoid police arrest after burial of his only son.
"I regularly joined the anti-discrimination student movement to minimize my grief and sadness after the immature death of my only son," he said.
"When I saw any procession of the anti-discrimination student movement, I consoled myself seeing thousands of students on the streets in the movement," he added.
Mannan said: "I feel proud of my son because Mahfuz got the opportunity to sacrifice his life for the country". But he said: "I have no one left to take care of me".
"I want justice for my son's brutal killing. That's enough for me," he concluded.