‘I can’t sleep at night,’ says Bangladeshi teen casualty of anti-Hasina protests
2024.10.04
Dhaka and Washington
Rifat Hawladar says he’s endured restless nights since a bullet shattered his love of playing football.
The student’s right leg had to be amputated below the knee because of the gunshot wound. He was among masses of young Bangladeshis taking part in anti-government protests in July and August to demand deep reforms to quotas for civil service jobs.
Rifat was with a group marching in Dhaka when security forces fired on the protesters.
“I can’t sleep at night. I remember going to the [football] field … Now I can go to the field, but I can’t play. I can’t hold back the tears when I think of these things,” Rifat, 17, told BenarNews in a video interview.
Rifat is one of 26 people who lost limbs through amputations as a result of being shot by security forces during the so-called Monsoon Revolution – a student-led uprising that brought about the fall of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, whose government ruled the country for 15 years with an iron grip.
Raju Mia, an autorickshaw driver, is a fellow amputee also recovering from surgery. When BenarNews spoke to them, he and Rifat were among a group of amputees waiting to be fitted out with prosthetic limbs provided for free by BRAC, a Bangladesh NGO.
“What happened has happened, and what was lost was lost,” Raju, 30, told BenarNews. “It is impossible to chop off Sheikh Hasina's leg and put it on mine. Even if it can be done, it doesn’t change the fact that others have lost their limbs.”
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