Meet 12-year-old Shahriar and Afsar, Nitor’s youngest gunshot victims

Cornered and alone, Shahriar hid behind a pillar. There was a wave of relief when he saw the cops running out of bullets and returning to the station. Cautiously, he moved behind another pillar to hide.

He then noticed that the police were again loaded with guns. This time he sat down. And before he could breathe easily, a voice from behind warned him to look outside.

Three police officers, about 10 feet away, were looking at him. As a police officer was loading the chamber of his rifle, he heard a click, clear as day.

“I couldn’t understand what was happening. I tried to stand up,” Shahriar recalled. This was the moment he was shot. He fell and caught his leg over his chest.

Shahriar is 12 years old.

Shahriar actively participated in student protests. He was in front of a group that took to the streets in a celebratory mood around 15.20 that day. “This was after we heard the news of Hasina’s dismissal,” he said.

The group saw a lot of chaos and unrest near Model Police Station in Mirpur. “At one point, I looked back and saw that the group he was with was engaged in a shootout with the police,” he said. This was when Shahriar instinctively moved away to find some sort of shelter and fell behind a pillar.

After the police opened fire, Shahriar found himself at the National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopedic Rehabilitation (NITOR).

On September 30, the July uprising in NITOR had 77 victims (mostly gunshot wounds and teenagers); A sharp decline in the number of patients admitted, from hundreds in August.

Among the 30 patients in Ward B of the hospital, we met the two youngest gunshot victims, Md Shahriar or Rashid and Afsar Hossain; They were both 12 years old.

First rubber, then metal

The movement in Mirpur began in full force on July 17, a day after Abu Sayeed was killed in Rangpur, sparking nationwide outrage.

Police shot Shahriyar with five rubber bullets. Shahriar returned home, pretended to be exhausted after a long day of football, asked his mother for paracetamol and went to bed. There was no mention of the bullets in the house.

“Final students in my area started joining (the protest). I was determined that I would go with them. I saw many people getting shot,” Shahriar told The Business Standard on September 20.

July 19th was Black Friday. Police were firing rubber bullets, shotgun pellets and stun grenades from the direction of Model Police Station in Mirpur and soon even helicopters opened fire. Police shot Shahriyar with five rubber bullets.

Shahriar returned home, pretended to be exhausted after a long day of football, asked his mother for paracetamol and went to bed. There was no mention of the bullets in the house.

He remembers very well the painful feeling of rubber bullets penetrating his skin. However, on August 4, he would face rubber bullets again. Chhatra League and other groups affiliated with the Awami League resorted to bloody violence along with the police. Shahriyar was shot with three rubber bullets the same day.

He chose to repeat the same routine; Lying to his mother to get him to go out, participating in a violent and bloody student protest with older students, managing to return home to bed in one piece.

After the second performance, his mother unknowingly warned him not to go out. “Maa did not allow me to leave the house that day (August 5), but I left anyway to join the protests,” Shahriar recounted. Shahriar smiled shyly when asked what prompted him to join older students at protests.

The distinct pain caused by rubber bullets was nothing compared to that of shotgun pellets.

Luckily, the students noticed Shahriar’s tiny bullet-ridden body strewn across the streets of Mirpur. “They took me by rickshaw to Al Helal Specialized Hospital. The doctors managed to stop the bleeding. However, treatment was not possible there.”

He was taken to the National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopedic Rehabilitation (NITOR). “When they opened the bandages, they saw a vein and saw that my left renal duct had ruptured,” he said.

He was referred to the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD), where he underwent two surgeries and was under observation for two days, before being sent back to NITOR “after doctors warned us that my bones were broken. I then had to undergo three more surgeries.” ” he said.

Md Shahriar or Rashid, a sixth-grade student at Mirpur’s Obhizatrik School, has undergone five surgeries so far. He is a Mirpur resident who lives with his mother, who is also working, and his disabled father, who suffered cerebral palsy four years ago. His family is from Pabna.

Shahriar’s only sibling, his three-year-old brother Raiyan, lives with Shahriar’s mother in the hospital. It’s been over two months on NITOR; He is being treated for a gunshot wound to his left thigh.

“I see that all these victims have been discharged from the hospital. But there is still a long road for my son to recover,” said Shahriar’s mother, Sadia Akhter Rani. He is the breadwinner of the family who works as a tailor selling clothes.

His mother said, “In addition to my son, I also have a sick husband to take care of. I don’t know how to handle the treatment of both of them.” Doctors told them that full recovery would take about a year.

Despite the free treatment at the hospital, Shahriar’s mother had to transfer between hospitals etc. in August. spent around Tk 1 lakh on expenses.

“I can’t sleep at night. The wounds burn, itch and the pain is unbearable,” Shahriar said. According to Rani’s monotone speech on the phone call, on October 22, Shahriar was still hospitalized and not much had changed.

a stiff shoulder

Afsar Hossain is also admitted to the same ward. Like Shahriar, he is 12 years old but his body is smaller. His wound is on his shoulder. He was shot with a live bullet in Azampur, Uttara, around 4 pm on August 5.

“I cannot tell you whether it is the Chhatra Union or the police,” he told The Business Standard on September 30. His voice was gentle, his face looked much younger than his 12 years, and his eyelashes were thick and long.

On September 20, Afşar met with Chief Advisor Dr. He was one of many gunshot patients who joined others to meet Yunus. The aim was to draw the attention of the provisional government to their persistent struggle demanding fair and equitable treatment. “I met him, he put his hand on my shoulders,” Afshar said.

According to other participants, after September 20, high-profile doctors, including a team of Chinese experts, visited their wards.

Afshar’s bandaged shoulder is perhaps the smallest injury among the nearly 100 gunshot victims we have encountered at the same hospital since mid-August.

His mother, Jasmine Akter, pointed to the X-ray that shattered Afşar’s joint and said, “He passed from here and came out from there.” “Doctors told us he would have to wait until he was 20 when surgery could repair the joint,” he added. So what until then? “Therapy,” Afsar interjected, but he needs surgery to regain full mobility.

Afsar’s younger brother is 8 years old. He also has three older sisters. “My husband is a disabled man who has cerebral palsy at home,” Jasmine said.

On August 5, Afsar was among the large group of students in Azampur, Uttara. In the chaos, after she was shot, the students took her to the private Women’s Medical College and Hospital and spent the night there.

The family arrived at NITOR the next day at 6 am. “They discharged us on August 7. Only God knows how we covered the treatment expenses in those days. My daughter, her husband and I sold our gold (ornaments) to cover the treatment expenses.”

Afsar was readmitted to NITOR on August 20. Afsar underwent an operation to “remove the rod” placed in his shoulder on October 7.

Before the July protests began, Afsar came to Dhaka from his hometown Noakhali to visit his sister and stay with her. “My brother-in-law works in the area,” added Afsar, a fourth-year student at Islamia Madrasa in his hometown.

On October 19, Afsar was discharged from NITOR. “My house was also affected by the flood, but I was in Dhaka at the time,” Jasmine said over the phone on October 22. According to Afsar and her mother, although her mobility is still limited, there has been a slight improvement; Both of them are now back home in Noakhali.