Teacher injured in July uprising passes away after long struggle in Narayanganj

Gazi Salauddin, a school teacher from Siddhirganj who joined the historic July 2024 mass uprising in solidarity with the protesting students, passed away yesterday (26 October) night after a long and painful struggle with his injuries. He was 48.

He breathed his last yesterday (26 October) around 10:00pm while undergoing treatment at the 300-bed hospital in Narayanganj, according to family sources. 

Salauddin was critically wounded when police opened fire on demonstrators during the July movement. A splinter from a bullet struck his throat, leaving him with life-threatening injuries that doctors described as too risky to operate on.

Since then, he had lived with constant pain and breathing difficulties - a silent reminder of the price he paid for standing by the students.

"My father was an honest and selfless man. He could not sit at home when he saw students being killed in the streets. He gave his life for the country," said his son Ratul, struggling to hold back tears.

During the uprising, Salauddin lost sight in his right eye and suffered partial blindness in the other. His injuries ended his teaching career, and he lived in hardship for months before the July Shaheed Smriti Foundation helped him set up a small grocery shop in Siddhirganj. 

Even then, his spirit remained unbroken - he often told neighbours he was proud to have stood with the youth "in their fight for a fair and free Bangladesh."

As news of his death spread, locals gathered to pay tribute to the man they called a "July warrior" - a teacher who had turned his courage into an act of defiance and his suffering into a symbol of sacrifice