A protest poem, by Tabassum Tahmina, written on death of Abrar Fahad, a student of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology. His death caused worldwide unrest. An exclusive for Different Truths.
Where am I?
I don’t know.
But, I know
I am no longer alive.
I was killed at night.
From 9 pm to 2am.
I was beaten by
Cricket bat,
Cricket stamp.
The stamp broke.
Kicking, slapping.
Skipping rope.
Who knows what else.
I lost count.
Slowly, very slowly
They killed me.
They were my classmates,
Batchmates, senior brothers
In the university.
I talked to them.
Dined with them.
Celebrated victory
Of my country ‘s win
In the cricket match.
Far away from home and family,
I thought, they were
My family.
I was killed at night
In my dormitory.
I thought my dormitory
Was my home, my shelter.
Why they killed me?
Why they tortured me mercilessly?
Even then,
And now, when I am not alive.
I keep wondering.
I gave a status,
In the Facebook.
I didn’t write against them.
Or the political party,
They support and they are members of.
I write about my country.
The water sharing between my country
And neighbouring country.
This was my fault.
The fatal one.
They were beating me
I screamed, screamed and screamed.
NO ONE CAME.
I wanted to live,
Till my last breath.
I begged, begged and begged.
I tried to tell them,
I am someone ‘s son, brother
Just like them.
I am not a monster.
Alas! All in vein.
By killing me
Were they after promotion in the party?
Favours?
Higher posts?
Or something came over them.
They saw me as a monster
For giving a Facebook status.
Who was the monster?
Monsters are immune to
any human feelings and emotions.
While they were killing me,
They were killing a collective dream.
My Dream.
My family’s dream.
When I will pass,
I will get a job.
My parents will have final retirement.
I will bear expenses of my younger brother.
In my small house, finally there will be less stress.
A relief.
We are simple.
I was from a low-income family.
Our dreams were small like us.
Tell my family,
Not to cry for me.
Where is humanity?
That night,
It became competition
Among my killers,
Who can top the degree of doing torture.
They succeed.
They killed me.
They killed my dream.
They killed my family’s dream.
Was I living in chaos?
When I was alive.
What was it?
Chaos or anarchy?
Was there any humanity
That night?
Did humanity die
That night
In the dormitory?
Here I am alone.
I am no longer alive.
I am free,
No inhuman around.
Free from predators.
No anarchy, no chaos.
Our dream is Dead.
I am no longer alive.
Poet’s Note: The poem is written on death of Abrar Fahad, a student of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, who was killed by his batchmates, senior mates, members of ruling government party supported student organisation in the dormitory for giving a Facebook status where he expressed a different opinion regarding government policy of water sharing with neighbouring country. Abrar Fahad was not associated with any political students’ organisation or any political party. He expressed his opinion as a citizen. His death caused unrest. United Nations, United Kingdom, United States of America, France, Germany expressed grave concern regarding his death.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-49986893
https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/world-asia-49979097#referrer=https://www.google.com
Photo from the Internet
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Police have pressed formal charges against 25 suspects over the murder of BUET student Abrar Fahad today. Addressing the media on Wednesday, (13th November, 2019) Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Monirul Islam said that 11 of the suspects were directly involved in the fatal abuse of Abrar while the others played a part in planning and implementing the brutal act. According to Monirul, the suspicion that Abrar was involved in the Jamat E Islam Students organisation Islam E Shatro Shibir was “a reason” for the actions of Bangladesh Chatro League Activists. The action caused the brutal and inhuman murder of a student who was not associated with any political party. The question is, this so called ‘a reason’ can lead to the planning of such heinous crime?This question is about humanity and freedom of expression. It is high time for social researchers, academics, and people from all corners to find out reasons for the absence of Humanity, rise of barbaric, sadistic acts and fall of morality.