The tale of a Bangladeshi UN peacekeeper

"With utmost care, the highest honour and lots of love, we have buried him here. The young boy from your country is having a peaceful eternal sleep on the soil of my country," the old man choked as he finished his sentence, and I could hear the crack in his voice. I looked at the headstone on the grave and its epitaph. The writings on it were cramped without spaces, the black part of many letters had been gone, yet one could read what was written so lovingly on the white stone - 

"BANGLADESHI SOLDIER CORPORAL AZIZ SACRIFICED HIS LIFE IN THE SERVICES OF THE UN TO ESTABLISH PEACE IN EAST TIMOR. CORPORAL MOHAMMAD ABDUL AZIZ MIA OF BANGLADESH ENGINEER BATTALION-1 CAME TO EAST TIMOR ON 07 MARCH 2000 AS A MEMBER OF PKF UNDER UNTACT. HE DIED ON 03 AUGUST 2000 DUE TO FATAL INJURY CAUSED BY GRENADE EXPLOSION WHILE CLEARING UNEXPLODED ORDNANCE AT DILI SEA BEACH ON THE EASTERN SIDE OF JESUS CHRIST STATUE. HE WAS BORN IN DHAKA, BANGLADESH ON 01 MARCH 1964. MAY HIS SOUL REST IN ETERNAL PEACE."

I remembered that during the past few days, I had spent several evenings on the Dili seabeach. With friends and colleagues, I sat on the benches in front of the beach's temporary thatched shops and enjoyed instantly fried fish freshly caught from the ocean. While eating, sometimes I looked at the statue of Jesus Christ on the top of the hill, not far from where I sat. This is the same statue referred to in the epitaph. 

I gazed at the white coffee flowers on the coffee plants by the side of the grave. Near the headstone, there was a bougainvillaea creeper with purple flowers, which were dancing with the gentle breeze all around us. It seemed to me that the plant was cuddling softly the dead young boy from Bangladesh. An unknown bird had been chirping from the top of a nearby big tree. I was looking for the bird. Then I looked up-no, not to see the sky, but to hide my rolling tears. My voice was choked with emotion. Elizabeth, who was standing beside me, could sense it. She softly took my hands into hers.  Elizabeth, my friend, was the World Bank Country Director in East Timor at that time.  

It was Elizabeth who brought me to the grave site of Aziz. We were heading towards a provincial city from Dili, the capital of East Timor. On the car, Elizabeth told me the story of Corporal Aziz. I was in Dili, the capital of East Timor, heading an UNDP-World Bank mission in 2004. We were advising the new government of a newly independent country on the reconstruction of its economy. Dili was totally devastated then. There was no hotel in the capital to stay. I was staying on a ship, which was turned into a temporary hotel. 

By the time we were standing by the grave, a big crowd had already gathered all around us. From various corners of that quiet village, people of all ages - old men and women, young men and women, boys and girls - have come to the grave of Corporal Aziz. Different people were giving various accounts of what happened on the 3^rd of August four years ago. They were overwhelmed to know that I came from the same country as Aziz. The people of the village expressed their gratitude to me for the sacrifice Aziz made while serving their country. Some of them touched me, some told me the bravery of Aziz in their own language. At one point, one pretty teenage girl came forward and told me something in the local language, which I did not understand. Someone interpreted it for me. She told me that she happened to be by the side of Aziz when he breathed his last. He had his last sip of water from her hands. "Please tell his family," she said, 'that we did not let him die unattended and uncared for. We did everything to make his passing as peaceful and dignified as possible. As she said those words, I saw that tears were rolling down her pink cheeks. I gave her an affectionate hug. 

I left the place, sad but proud. I was saddened by the untimely death of a young person. His whole life was in front of him. Yet, I felt proud that he did something brave, and his bravery has not been forgotten. I was pleased that his memory is held in high esteem in the hearts of the local people, and they remember him with love and gratitude. As a Bangladeshi, what more could I ask? 

On the day of his demise, 7^th March, 2000, the sad news about his death reached the UN headquarters immediately. And in a rare act, on the same day, the President of the Security Council, Hasamy Agam of Malaysia, delivered a message of condolence. In the message to the Press, the President of the Council said, "Members of the Council express their profound condolences to the family of Corporal Miah Mohammad Abdul Aziz of the Bangladesh Engineering Battalion, currently serving with United Nations Transitional Authority in East Timor (UNTAET), who gave his life in the cause of peace. We also express our sympathies to the Government and people of Bangladesh." 

Bangladeshi peacekeepers have always performed their duties with dignity, professionalism and commitment. They have never retreated in the face of danger when confronted with unknown enemies on foreign soil. In many cases, they have made ultimate sacrifices, as has been done by Corporal Miah Abdul Aziz. As of 2022, as many as 165 Bangladeshi peacekeepers lost their lives while 258 were injured in the line of duty in different UN peacekeeping missions to bring peace to various conflict-ridden and war-ravaged parts of the world. 

So far, more than 180,000 Bangladeshi peacekeepers have served in nearly 60 peacekeeping missions around the world. As of 2022, there were more than 7,000 Bangladeshi peacekeepers have been deployed in nearly 10 different missions. They have earned recognition and goodwill not only for themselves, but also for our country and for us, the people of Bangladesh. 

Every year, 29 May is celebrated as the International Day for United Nations Day of Peacekeepers. On this day, we honour all the Bangladeshi men and women who have been serving in the UN peacekeeping missions, and we remember all those who made the ultimate sacrifice while serving humanity. And I feel honoured that I have had the unique opportunity to hear the tale of one who has made the ultimate sacrifice, and is now lying in eternal peace on a land far from his country, Corporal Miah Abdul Aziz.