Youth injured in protest remains comatose after a month
Despite being in the ICU of Chattogram Medical College Hospital for over a month, he remains unconscious
"My son dreamed of going abroad and supporting our family. But that dream might never come true now," said farmer Altaf Hossain.
Altaf's eldest son, 21-year-old Saiful Islam Arif, was injured during an anti-discrimination student protest in Chattogram's New Market area on 4 August.
Despite being in the ICU of Chattogram Medical College Hospital for over a month, he remains unconscious.
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Brigadier General Taslim Uddin, director of Chattogram Medical College Hospital, said that Arif sustained a severe head injury and is in a coma.
On Sunday, he was transferred to the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) in Dhaka.
The hospital administration and the Anti-discrimination Students Movement are taking care of his medical expenses, however, his comatose state has devastated his family.
"I had arranged for a work visa for Qatar for my son for Tk4 lakh. I even borrowed Tk50,000 to pay in advance. He was supposed to work as a security guard there. The visa arrived a week after the accident, but now he is in the hospital, unconscious, fighting for his life," Altaf told TBS.
Arif, who had recently moved to Chattogram city, was working at his uncle's automobile shop in Kadamtali.
"He had come to work at my shop to learn and save money because he wanted to go abroad. He joined the protest without informing anyone. A month has passed, but he has not regained consciousness. His family is devastated," Sohel, Arif's uncle, told TBS.
Arif had joined the anti-discrimination student movement as the protest march passed through Kadamtali. Awami League activists and its affiliated organisations attacked the protesting students in New Market, firing shots and hurling brickbats, according to witnesses.
Arif was severely injured after being struck on the head with a brickbat and trampled. Locals rescued him and took him to Chattogram Medical College Hospital, where he was admitted to the ICU.
Sohel said they had been unable to contact Arif since the afternoon of that day. Fearing something had happened during the clashes, they searched several police stations before finding Saiful at Chattogram Medical College Hospital.
In addition to Arif being in the hospital, his family is also facing another severe crisis as their house was destroyed in the recent flood. Arif's father Altaf, a small-scale sharecropper, now waits helplessly hoping for his son's recovery.
