A death and the politics of claims
What mechanism do we have to determine beyond doubt what Sajib was, what he was not and what actually had happened to him?
Each man's death diminishes me
For I'm involved in mankind
------ John Donne
The CCTV footage, where it starts, suggests a disquieting situation inside the alley. Some people, presumably locals, are cautiously watching a commotion at the place where the alley meets a road at Samad Intersection in Lakshmipur Sadar. A group of people, mostly youngsters, has got into a clash and one of them, in his twenties, jerks himself free from the crowd and darts into the alley.
Moving to the sides, the onlookers make way for him and look back at him, curious to know what may have happened to him. They must have noticed blood on the left of his ribs and drops of blood sprinkling as he runs. Here ends the footage.
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The next footage finds him entering a building and bolting its gate. He takes care to ensure it is bolted well. Assured that no one was coming after him, he runs his right hand over the left ribs lightly, to feel something and takes some wobbly steps around. The floor, which was until now clean, gets stained with his blood that is oozing down his legs.
From time to time, he seems to bend to a side in an apparent bid to negotiate between the pain from a deep cut wound and a fear of being attacked again. He takes a few quick steps to the stairway of the building - Feroza Tower near Madinullah Housing – in an effort to take himself to safety. But he must by this time have started feeling giddy from the draining of blood from his body. Surely, his vision has also started getting blurred.
A third footage shows him stooping to the ground with much difficulty in front of an apartment door in that building. Then he rises again, a bit staggering though, undoes his blood-soaked shirt and then collapses. His head hits the wall before he falls with a thud. Trying to sit up, he collapses again. A whole world of numbness and the North Pole chill must have come over him. Surrendering, he lies there in a pool of blood, dying.
The attending doctor at Lakshmipur Sadar Hospital pronounced the young man, Sajib Hossain, 25, dead on arrival at the hospital. The doctor said Sajib might have died from excessive bleeding from his wounds caused by a sharp weapon.
But who attacked Sajib and why?
Immediately after the incident on 18 July, when the main opposition BNP observed a countrywide march demanding the resignation of the government, the party claimed Sajib to be its activist.
Shahid Uddin Chowdhury Anny, the BNP's central publicity secretary, at a press conference later on the day claimed Sajib was a Krishak Dal activist and alleged that president and general secretary of Lakshmipur College Chhatra League led the attack on Sajib.
However, speaking at a media briefing the following day, the district police super Mahfuzzaman claimed, "Sajib did not die in the clash. The place where BNP activists attacked the police is 2.5 kilometres away from the place where Sajib died."
The ruling Awami League leaders also alleged that BNP was trying to take advantage of the situation by claiming Sajib as its activist.
But what proof have the two sides produced to substantiate their claim? What proof does BNP have that the slain was one of their activists?
Similarly, what have the police done to back their claim? Have they arrested the people who attacked Sajib? So far as we know, none has been arrested in connection with the killing.
Caught between these conflicting claims, will all that has happened to the deceased - all the blood and all the existential efforts to cling to life - become vain and just a horror story to be told?
What mechanism do we have to determine beyond doubt what Sajib was, what he was not and what actually had happened to him?
Will an angel descend and announce in a thundering voice: Look! this man was this…this…this. And the angel's voice will resonate deep into our souls and leave us with no doubt as to what it says about Sajib.
No, unfortunately, no angel will come down to dispel our doubt, and we will continue to be tossed in confusion, one leading to the other.
So, only Sajib will have known what it feels like when blood keeps draining from the body, when the blood-thirsty machetes are coming after him, and when the cold eyes of death stare at him. Yet nothing of these will be sufficient enough to proclaim what the truth is.
Because, like in many such incidents, he is just a score, a number, a useful one, or one to be negated or affirmed, but never to be felt in the heart and sympathised with such a futility!
What can be more lethal than this?
Abu Shyem Akhund is a News Editor at The Business Standard.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of The Business Standard.
