All Salma Akther Anika could do was plead desperately: “Can you cure my brother and my mother? If not, please, leave us alone, we do not want any sympathy from you people. Leave us to our fate. We will face it on our own.”
Anika was talking to the Dhaka Tribune at the Burn and Plastic Surgery Unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital yesterday. She, her brother and mother were being attended to by doctors after they received burn injuries because miscreants hurled petrol bombs at the CNG run autorickshaw they had hired.
The incident occurred as the autorickshaw stopped at Kazipara signal amid heavy traffic around 7:30pm on Sunday. Out of nowhere, some youths appeared, threw bricks at the CNG, then set the back of the vehicle on fire, the victims said.
Describing their ordeal, Anika, still shocked and afraid, said: “Before we could get out of the CNG, the fire spread rapidly, and we do not know how we got out. Later, locals brought us to DMCH.”
Such incidents have become commonplace before a hartal day. On Sunday alone, the Dhaka Tribune reported on five such incidents, motivated by political violence where pickets either hurled crude bombs or set vehicles on fire with petrol.
The strike was called for the following day, and the victims, mere pedestrians, were not involved in politics. Their only crime was to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Some people, belonging supposedly to political parties, attack people the strike can gain momentum, and the panic-stricken public stays indoors, bringing a halt to normal life.
In this specific incident, Shamsunnahar, Anika’s mother, had nine% of her skin burnt, her son Ayon was burnt 10%, Anika, the most fortunate of the lot, had been burnt in two% of her
body area.
Ayon was unfortunate enough to have had his face burnt. His respiratory system was also damaged. Ayon and Shamsunnahar are both undergoing treatment at the HDU ward of the Burn and Plastic Surgery Unit.
Anika’s injuries did not require her to be admitted to the hospital.
Ayon, a third year student of Drama and Dramatics in Jahangirnagar University, used to live in Rafiq-Jabbar residental hall. The family is from Hatia, Noakhali.
On Sunday morning, Shamsunnahar and Anika came to the capital as Anika needed to see a doctor. Anika’s father, Md Javed, stayed back at Hatia.
They first went to Anik’s uncle’s house at Mirpur from Sadarghat in the morning. Later, after seeing a doctor at Shantinagar, they were on their way back to Mirpur.
A case was filed with the Mirpur police station in this regard. Police are yet to trace anyone connected to the incident.
When contacted, Partha Shankar Pal, resident surgeon of the Burn and Plastic Surgery Unit, told the Dhaka Tribune that they were taking extra care of Ayon. He said they were hopeful his condition would improve.
Tanvir Ahmed, investigating officer of the case and sub-inspector of Mirpur police station, said police are yet find the criminals responsible.
This year was almost devoid of political violence. But the political mercury is rising again as the year ends.
On Sunday, a day before a countrywide hartal enforced by the BNP, pickets set fire to a public bus carrying secretariat staff at Paltan, and blasted crude bombs.
Passers-by Harun-or-Rashid, Reena Chowdhury and Shathi Akther, were hurt by crude bombs hurled by pickets. They are also receiving treatment at DMCH.
Just a year ago, during the last three months of 2013, a number of people came under picket’s attacks, and two dozen people lost their lives.