Liza Ahkter. Photo : Collected

By Al-Amin Shahriar

BHOLA, May 28, 2025 (BSS) – Liza Ahkter, 19, daughter of day laborer Md. Zainal Sikder from Bhola’s Borhanuddin upazila, was standing on the balcony of her employer’s apartment in Dhaka when bullet from a police helicopter struck her in the chest, turning her planned return for a wedding into a tragic homecoming in a coffin.

On July 18, Liza was fatally shot in the balcony of a seventh-floor flat in a 12-story building in the capital’s Shantinagar area where she was employed as a domestic worker, during the anti-discrimination student movement that ousted prime Minister Sheikh Hasina ending her nearly 16 years of dictatorship.

Liza Akter was expected to return home for her wedding, but instead, her lifeless body arrived in a silent ambulance, wrapped in a white shroud, at the same courtyard that was supposed to host her wedding became the site of her funeral.

 According to family members, Liza was standing on the balcony when the gunfire broke out on the street below. As she leaned over to see what was happening, a bullet pierced her chest, causing her to collapse instantly.

“She had just finished reading from the Quran with her teacher,” said Salma Begum, Liza’s elder sister. “It was a Thursday afternoon. She had fasted that day for Muharram. She had just stood up when the sound of bullets echoed through the air. One of them found her.”

Liza was immediately taken to Aurora Hospital in Kakrail. Doctors performed surgery to extract the bullet, and she was placed in the ICU in critical condition. For four days, her family waited and prayed. But on July 22, in the late afternoon, Liza breathed her last.

“She had called us just a week before,” recalled her mother, Yanur Begum, her voice choking with grief. “She told me she was close to finishing her Qur’an lessons. She said, ‘Amma, I’ll come home in two or three months, and then never go back to Dhaka again.’ 
 
“I had already started cleaning and repairing the house. We took out loans, bought new items, and prepared the courtyard for the wedding. I never imagined my daughter would return as a dead body.”
 
Following her death, Liza’s employer bore all expenses related to her treatment and funeral. The family received her body on July 23, and she was buried the same day at the family graveyard in Satchra, Borhanuddin.

Born into poverty, Liza left home for Dhaka at the age of 10 or 11. Her parents, struggling to feed their children, had no choice but to send her to the city. She began working as a live-in domestic worker for a family in Shantinagar who, by her family's account, treated her well and allowed her to observe her religious duties.

She rarely visited home — only once every couple of years — but maintained close contact with her family, especially her mother.

“She used to say she would only come home once her religious studies were complete,” said Salma. “She was deeply spiritual. She never missed a prayer or a fast. She was not just our sister — she was our pride.”

Preparations for her wedding had already begun. With her younger sister already married, the family felt it was time for Liza to settle down. They had started looking for a suitable groom and had taken out loans to repair their modest home. Hope and anticipation turned into unbearable grief when news of the incident reached them.

“She was heart of our family,” said Yanur Begum, sobbing. “All she wanted was to live a simple, honest life. She prayed, fasted, worked hard — and yet she died like this? I don’t understand. I will never understand.”
Her father, Md. Zainal Sikder, later traveled to Dhaka in September. “Maulana Abdul Hai from our local Jamaat-e-Islami unit took me to a meeting in Dhaka,” he told BSS. 

“There, they handed us a cheque for two lakh taka as a donation. I also filed a case at Paltan Police Station on September 4. But the stress made me ill. I had to return home, and I haven’t felt healthy since.”

Bhola’s Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Azad Jahan told BSS, “The government is committed to supporting every family that lost someone in the July-August mass uprising. Whether they were martyred or injured, we will not abandon them.”

He added, “This country owes them. We will ensure they receive proper support to rebuild their lives.”