Little Zunayed was playing on his mother Honufa Begum’s lap. He had no idea what was going on around him and what he had already lost.
His mother was crying while waiting at a meeting room of Narayanganj deputy commissioner’s office to give deposition before the government-formed probe committee.
Zunayed’s father Ibrahim was killed, along with six others, following their abduction on April 27. Ibrahim was the driver of slain lawyer Chandan Sarker.
Honufa, mother of five, has been numb after her husband’s death. Around two weeks after his death, she has no idea how she will raise her children.
“He [Ibrahim] worked with Chandan Sarker for 10-12 years. On the day of his disappearance [April 27], he left the house at 10am. At 1:30pm, he told me over phone that he was coming home to pick Mimi apa (Chandan’s youngest daughter) from the coaching centre. Those were the last words I heard from him,” Honufa told the Dhaka Tribune.
“Ibrahim did not do anything wrong. Why did he face such brutality? I want punishment of his killers for the way they had murdered my husband.”
He was the only earning member of the family, she said.
Rony, the elder son of Ibrahim, was also with his mother. He is a student of class VI at Baroddi High School. “My father told me that he will allow me to study as far as I want to.”
On the opposite side of the table was a calm Shamsunnahar Akter Nupur, wife of Jahangir Alam, who was the driver of Moniruzzaman Swapan – an associate of slain councillor Nazrul Islam. Both Jahangir and Swapan have been killed.
Married with Jahangir last year, Nupur is eight months’ pregnant.
“Earlier my husband was a driver of Duronto Bus Service. He got appointed as Swapan’s driver only a month and a half ago. On the morning of the abduction, he told me that he will leave the job from next month as the salary is too low,” she told the Dhaka Tribune.
“He left the house at 8am. In the afternoon, when my elder daughter-in-law Masuda called him, he received the call and only said ‘Hello Masu.’ And then he got disconnected.”
Nupur demanded justice for the killing of her husband. But she is worried about the future of the child who is yet to see the light of the world.