Ayatullah Photo: Collected

SUNAMGANJ, May 28, 2025 (BSS) - Nineteen-year-old madrasah student Ayatullah dreamed of becoming a great Islamic scholar. But that dream met a tragic end on the very day the nation was celebrating the fall of nearly 16 years of fascist rule.

On August 5, 2024, Ayatullah himself joined the victory procession in front of the Ansar Academy at Shafipur in Gazipur after ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled the country in the face of the massive student-people uprising. But he was fatally shot during the procession, bringing his dream to a tragic end.

According to his family members, Ayatullah, son of Sirajul Islam and Shubha Akhtar of Jalusha village in Madhyanagar upazila of the district, was a student of Marqazul Iman Madrasa at Dakshin Bhannar in the Mouchak area of Kaliakoir upazila in Gazipur.

His grandfather, the late Abdur Rahim Kalarchan Fakir, was a revered Sufi and one of the organisers of the 1971 Liberation War.

Ayatullah, the youngest among four siblings, briefly taught at a Noorani madrasa and used to participate in Tablighi Jamaat activities.

Recalling the fatal incident, his grieving father, Sirajul Islam, told BSS that Ayatullah had joined the victory procession with his elder brother, Sohag Miah, following the ouster of autocratic Sheikh Hasina.

"When the rally reached near the Ansar Academy in Shafipur from Kaliakoir's Mouchak point around 5 pm, indiscriminate firing began as students and people scattered. At that time, Ayatullah and his brother were separated from each other too," he tearfully recounted.

Sohag last spoke to his younger brother Ayatullah over the phone around 5:30 pm Since then, there was no response, and Ayatullah was not found anywhere.

"I rushed from our village to Gazipur in search of my son. I pleaded at the Ansar Academy, begging them to return my son, alive or dead. But I received no cooperation. I went from hospital to hospital and from clinic to clinic, but I returned home empty-handed even after searching through piles of dead bodies," Sirajul wailed.

Failing to find Ayatullah, his brother Sohag Miah filed a general diary with Kaliakoir Police Station. Finally, eleven days later, on August 16, the family found Ayatullah's body in the morgue of Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital in Dhaka following a report aired on a TV channel.
"With the help of student movement organisers, I received my son's body on August 17 and brought the corpse home that night around 12:30 am, following a janaza held on an under-construction bridge over the Ubdakhali River," Ayatullah's grief-stricken father, Sirajul, said in a sobbing tone.

Ayatullah was laid to his eternal rest at their family graveyard in Jalusha village in Madhyanagar around 2:30 pm on the same day.
Tears streamed down Sirajul Islam's face as he spoke about his martyred son. "I wanted Ayatullah to become a great Islamic scholar. Now, I want justice. Those who killed my son must be punished," he wailed.

Sirajul said that apart from his studies, Ayatullah had started a part-time job at a local industry in Gazipur from July 2024 to support his impoverished family. He lived in a rented house in Jamtala with his elder brother, Sohag. 

"But all my dreams were shattered by bullets fired by the aggressive Ansar force trying to protect the fascist regime," Sirajul sobbed.

Local administrations, religious leaders, and political figures have extended support to Ayatullah's bereaved family.

To immortalize Ayatullah's legacy, a newly constructed 320-meter-long bridge over the Ubdakhali River in Madhyanagar has been named in his honor. On August 19, 2024, a signboard was installed officially renaming the bridge as 'Ayatullah Bridge'.