'My father went to work to protect people. Why was he killed?'
For Motaleb’s family, the sequence of events is still unreal
"My father went to work to protect people. Why was he killed?" The question came from a 15-year-old girl standing beside her father's coffin. No one around her had an answer.
Shamima Jannat was looking at the body of Deputy Assistant Director Md Motaleb Hossain Bhuiyan at the Rapid Action Battalion's Patenga headquarters today (20 January). Her father had left home for duty the day before. He returned wrapped in the national flag.
Motaleb, an officer of RAB-7, was killed on Monday evening during an operation in the remote hills of Jungle Salimpur in Sitakunda. A team he was leading came under a coordinated attack by armed men while conducting an arms recovery drive.
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Three other RAB members were injured and later rescued. They are now being treated at Chattogram Combined Military Hospital.
For Motaleb's family, the sequence of events is still unreal.
His wife, Shamsunnahar, reached Chattogram from Cumilla with their children before his body was brought from the morgue of Chattogram Medical College Hospital. When she saw him, she broke down. "I have lost everything," she said, unable to speak further.
Nearby stood their youngest daughter, nine-year-old Sidratul Muntaha. She kept calling out, "Abbu, Abbu," staring at the still body under the canopy. There was no response.
Motaleb was the only earning member of the family. His son Mehedi Hasan, a university student, stood silently for a long time before speaking. "My father always told me to study well and take care of my mother and sisters," he said. "Now we don't know what will happen to us."
Colleagues described Motaleb as quiet, disciplined and deeply committed to his work. A former member of Border Guard Bangladesh, he later joined RAB-7 and served in high-risk operations for years.
His wife said she understood the danger that came with his job. "He was a patriot," she said. "He could have saved himself. But he didn't run away."
As RAB personnel lined up to pay their respects, grief replaced the usual rigidity of uniformed life. Many stood in silence, some in tears.
Later in the day, Motaleb's body was taken to his village home in Cumilla for burial.
The questions his children asked, however, stayed behind, unanswered, hanging in the air of a field where duty had once again claimed its price.
RAB DG vows crackdown
Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) Director General AKM Shahidur Rahman has declared that terror hideouts in Chattogram's Jungle Salimpur will be dismantled through legal action and sustained operations.
He issued the warning today at the RAB-7 headquarters in Chattogram after attending the Namaz-e-Janaza of the slain official.
The killing has prompted heightened alert across law enforcement agencies. Senior RAB officials rushed to Chattogram following the incident, with the force's top command signalling a tougher approach to dismantle armed groups operating in the area.
Located around 12 kilometres from Chattogram city and bordering Sitakunda and Hathazari upazilas, Jangal Salimpur is a vast and rugged hilly region spanning roughly 3,100 acres. Over the past four decades, the area has become notorious for armed groups involved in land grabbing, hill cutting, drug trafficking and illegal plot trading.
Most residents of the settlement are landless and displaced people, but law enforcement officials say several organised criminal groups have established parallel armed structures, restricting access to outsiders without identification. At least five killings, including that of a RAB officer, have been reported in the area over the last 15 months.
Previous attempts by law enforcement agencies to conduct operations in Jangal Salimpur have repeatedly faced violent resistance. Officials from the district administration, the Department of Environment, police and journalists have all been attacked during earlier drives.
Chattogram District Police Additional Superintendent Mohammad Russell said a murder case is being prepared in connection with the latest attack.
"Operations are ongoing to identify and arrest those involved," he said.
Authorities say coordinated action will continue until the armed groups entrenched in the area are dismantled and control is restored.
