An unpaid debt

He had taken Tk 5 from his brother, saying he would return it one day. But Kazi Delwar Hossain never got the chance.

Because on this very day in 1984 a police truck intentionally ploughed through a peaceful procession of students protesting former military dictator HM Ershad's rule, killing Delwar and another Chhatra League leader of Dhaka University unit, HM Ibrahim Selim.

Thirty-two years on, none has been tried yet.

“We want justice. We want the persons responsible to be brought to book,” said Delwar's elder brother Fazlur Rahman during a recent conversation with The Daily Star.

He says the moment Delwar asked for the money keeps popping up in his mind. It was the last time Delwar visited his home in Uttar Poykkhali village under Pirojpur's Bhandaria upazila.

Born in August 1962, Delwar was the fourth among his five brothers and two sisters.

Completing his school and college years in Pirojpur, he got admitted to DU's political science department in 1981 and was attached to Zahurul Haq Hall.

President Ziaur Rahman was assassinated that year on May 30. The then army chief General Ershad staged a military coup, overthrowing elected president Justice Sattar and grabbing state power on March 24, 1982 before imposing martial law.

Protests had by then erupted. The first major one came on February 14, 1983 when Jafar, Dipali Saha, Zainal, Mozammel, Ayub Kanchan and several others were shot dead during a massive student protest against the regime's education policy.

It was a platform of progressive student organisations, Chhatra Sangram Parishad, which brought out the 1984 procession protesting Ershad's decision to hold upazila elections.

When the procession reached Phulbaria in the capital's Gulistan, police put up barricades on both ends of the road and the truck came out from a road beside a nearby fire station and started following it.

Writer Prasanta Mridha narrates this in his article published in Bangla daily Prothom Alo recently. Walking at the back, Delwar and Selim stood no chance.

“Delwar was very good at sports, especially in football...He used to lead a very simple life,” said Fazlur, who is the Bhandaria upazila correspondent of a national daily.

Delwar and one of his brothers used to bear their monthly living expenses in Dhaka from Tk 800 their father sent from farming.

On March 14, 1984, Ershad, then president, visited their village residence and offered Tk 50,000 to Delwar's parents.

“My father refused but he [Ershad] left leaving the money,” said Fazlur. The family afterwards turned down several offers of assistance from the Ershad regime, he added.

A memorial now stands beside a Shaheed Minar in Bhandaria town, inaugurated on the fateful year by Sheikh Hasina, now the prime minister, while the family and Chhatra League annually observe Shaheed Selim-Delwar Day.

Fazlur declined to comment on Jatiya Party being the main opposition in parliament with three lawmakers as cabinet members of the Awami League-led government.

Ershad, Jatiya Party's chairman, is the special adviser to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

“We want the government to establish a college or a school after him so that the new generation can know about his contribution,” said Fazlur.

“At least name a road after him,” he said.