How Abrar Fahad’s murder laid the seeds of the July uprising
On the occasion of his 5th death anniversary, we look back at how his killing revealed to people the monstrous dimensions of the AL regime
On 6 October 2019, Abrar Fahad was taken from his room no 1011 at BUET's Sher-e-Bangla Hall by several Chhatra League leaders. They also took his two mobile phones and laptop.
Abrar was a second-year student at the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering. What happened afterwards is written in history and known to all: he was brutally beaten to death.
Although numerous incidents of enforced disappearances, torture, and extrajudicial killings occurred under the fascist regime of the Awami League; some of them left an imprint on the entire nation and carried immense significance in the political landscape.
Such was the murder of Abrar Fahad. It exposed the brutality and oppressive nature of the Awami League regime to its fullest.
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Movements spread across the country. Students and citizens were enraged as they raised their voice against the killing. Walls were covered with graffiti and protests took place on every campus.
"At that time, none of us could have imagined that my brother's death would shake everyone so deeply. These incidents had almost become regular and normal back then. Honestly, I believe this was part of a greater plan by the Almighty," Abrar Fahad's younger brother, Abrar Faiyaj, who is now a sophomore at the same institution, told The Business Standard.
A significant feature of Abrar Fahad's murder is that it revealed the oppressive face of the fascist regime in all its dimensions.
Firstly, it exposed the Chhatra League as a terrorist group disguised as a student organisation, and a key tool of the Awami League's oppression. "They were so brutal to my brother that there was no way to cover it up. Every individual involved in this incident is a known Chhatra League face," Faiyaj said.
Abrar Fahad was killed for 'suspected involvement with Shibir'. This was another ploy the Awami League used indiscriminately - labeling its critics as Bangladesh Islami Chhatra Shibir or Islamists to try and justify disappearances, killings, detention, and torture of people.
His murder also revealed the dark face of student politics in universities in general.
"Student politics as practised on campuses could no longer continue like this; Abrar Fahad's sacrifice made it clear that it was high time we reformed campus politics, in fact the entire country," said Arif Sohel, Jahangirnagar University Coordinator of the Anti-discrimination Students Movement.
Meghmallar Bosu, President of the Dhaka University unit of Bangladesh Students' Union (BSU), believes that through this murder, Abrar Fahad became a symbol of protest against imperialism of any country, including India.
Abrar was killed because of his opinion on Indian hegemony and the Awami government's submissive diplomatic relations with them. It demonstrated how sensitive the Awami government was when it came to India.
In several Facebook posts, he criticised the bilateral agreements signed during former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's four-day official visit to New Delhi. He strongly criticised granting India access to the Mongla Port, the withdrawal of water from the Feni River, and the export of LPG from Bangladesh.
The incident simultaneously exposed the deplorable state of freedom of expression in the country. Under the fascist regime, freedom of speech and expression was effectively silenced.
Since 2009, the Awami League government has consistently enacted and amended various repressive laws and imposed them to interfere with citizens' freedom of expression. They misused the Anti-Terrorism Act-2009 and the Digital Security Act-2018 as tools of oppression.
"In a democratic country, it should have been normal for a citizen to be aware of and speak out about national interests. His murder revealed how 'independent' we really are!" Sohel said.
"I feel Abrar Fahad passed the baton of revolution to Abu Sayed. To me, Abrar is an inseparable part of the July revolution."
Even after his death, Abrar Fahad remains a symbol of consciousness and a voice of protest. Whenever questions arise about the link between India's dam openings and the severe floods in the country, people remember his words.
Recently, his name also came up in discussions about Sheikh Hasina's futile hilsa diplomacy with India.
Arif Sohel believes that through the sacrifice of Abrar Fahad, the fascists were ultimately defeated both psychologically and culturally.
Faiyaj believes that his brother's incident gave people their voice back as they witnessed that if the entire nation can unite against an injustice, it is possible to resist any form of evil.
Indeed, the winds of revolution fueled the mass uprising against dictatorship.
"I feel Abrar Fahad passed the baton of revolution to Abu Sayed. To me, Abrar is an inseparable part of the July revolution," said Asad Mahdi, Abrar Fahad's batchmate from Notre Dame College.
He said how the nation observes the anniversary of his martyrdom this year might reflect the future political spirit of Bangladesh.
A notable name of this year's anti-discrimination student movement is Akhtar Hossen, the Social Welfare Secretary of DUCSU (Dhaka University Central Students' Union). Every year, he takes various initiatives in memory of Abrar Fahad.
He declared in a Facebook post that they would rebuild the 'Eight pillars against aggression' on 7 October this year in his memory.
It is worth noting that in 2020, on the first anniversary of Abrar's death, through Akhtar's initiative, the memorial at Palashi intersection was set up under the banner of 'Abrar Fahad Memorial Council'.
However, it was demolished within 24 hours by the fascist regime. A BBC Bangla report states that the structure was destroyed by the Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC).
Even in 2022, Chhatra League men attacked a protest rally brought out to observe Abrar Fahad's third death anniversary. At least 12 activists of Bangladesh Chhatra Odhikar Parishad were injured in the sudden attack, TBS reported.
But can these violent efforts erase the name of Abrar Fahad from our collective memory?
He will live in our thoughts and memories— forever. As he himself wrote on his Facebook bio, "Ananta mohakale mor jatra oshim mohakasher onte"--- meaning "My journey is towards eternity, through the infinite space".
Has justice been served to Abrar Fahad? Not yet. A total of 25 individuals were accused in the murder case. In 2021, the court sentenced 20 of them to death, while five received life imprisonment. Among them, 22 are currently in prison, and three are still absconding.
In a country where justice is a rare thing, this verdict was somewhat satisfactory and unprecedented. Now, the wait is to see whether the culprits actually receive the punishment.
Faiyaj shared the update of the case with us saying, "The process of appeal hearing is ongoing. The verdicts are delivered according to the case sequence, but the process has been delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Last year, we spoke with a senior court official and learned that it will take more time for the verdicts to be implemented."
"To be honest, at that time, the government needed to provide a quick and satisfactory verdict from the lower court to save their face, and that's exactly what they did," he added.
"We don't trust the broken judicial system backed by the Awami League. It's time to see if the verdict needs to be reviewed. If not, then it should be implemented as early as possible," concluded Arif Sohel.
