'Daal-Bhaat' no real reason
Wife of Col Mojib wants to know the actual motive behind such brutal killing
It's been a year since Col Mojibul Haque was brutally killed in the bloody mutiny at Pilkhana BDR Headquarters. But his wife Neheeren Ferdousi seemed to be in a trance and was hoping her husband was posted somewhere and would return anytime.
After an agonising year of hope, she finally realises the harsh reality that he will never return."I'm now mentally preparing myself to bid farewell to his departed soul as we're going to observe his first death anniversary," Neheeren said with her eyes filled with tears.
Col Mojib served the paramilitary force for over two years and was the sector commander of Dhaka. He was the brains behind the "Operation Daal-Bhaat" launched during the caretaker rule to combat price hike of essentials through import and sale of groceries at wholesale rate.
During the Operation Daal-Bhaat Col Mojib almost forgot his personal and family life as he had to work from morning till late at night every day."As it was leaving an impact on his health, I asked him not to work so hard. But he always replied that not only he, all the officers and soldiers were working hard to overcome the crisis," Neheeren said.
"My husband had to deprive us of his company and in return the BDR took his life," she said in an emotion-choked voice at her DOHS residence in Mohakhali."I'll never forgive the killers," she said, demanding exemplary punishment to the killers as soon as possible. She apprehends if the trial is delayed, many pieces of evidence might be destroyed.
She firmly said the soldiers who met Mojib can never kill him and the allegations over Operation Daal-Bhaat are totally baseless. "We want to know the real reason behind such brutal killings," she said.
She demanded recognition of the 57 valiant army officers by giving them posthumous promotion, declaring February 25 as a national day and establishing a mausoleum commemorating their memory at a place where general people can go.
After 32 years in service, Col Mojib was supposed to go on retirement in a month before he was brutally killed. He was prepared for retirement but at the same time was depressed knowing that he would not wear his favourite combat dress anymore.
Neheeren is bearing the pains of losing her husband, yet she feels lucky to be alive for their two sons and a daughter. She said she was at the gym when the mutiny broke out. She gratefully remembers two soldiers who locked up the gym and told the advancing killers that no-one was inside.
Their second son Nadeet Haque, who is doing his A Level, was at home when the killers set fire to the upper floor. Nadeet was lucky to survive but is so haunted by the horrors that he cannot sleep at night without the lights on.Their only daughter Tehreen was outside Pilkhana on that fateful day, while their eldest son Moheeb Haque was at Brisbane University in Australia.
About her husband, Neheeren said he liked to buy uncommon household showpieces. When he was posted as the minister councillor at the Bangladesh Embassy in Thailand, he visited different provinces and bought traditional items.
Many of those pieces were intact in cartons in their Pilkhana residence. But the mutineers looted most of those and burned the rest.Mojib was always hopeful about the country's future and had dreams to work for the youth and promotion of tourism after his retirement.
"He was a true patriot," Neheeren said, giving examples of his love for the country. When he was posted in Thailand, he asked his relatives to send him Bangladeshi gift items and always tried to promote Bangladeshi silk sarees at exhibitions there.He even furnished his residence with all Bangladeshi fittings, she said.
Their relatives have formed Col Mojib Trust, which has published a memorial book with photos and details of the slain army officers.
After an agonising year of hope, she finally realises the harsh reality that he will never return."I'm now mentally preparing myself to bid farewell to his departed soul as we're going to observe his first death anniversary," Neheeren said with her eyes filled with tears.
Col Mojib served the paramilitary force for over two years and was the sector commander of Dhaka. He was the brains behind the "Operation Daal-Bhaat" launched during the caretaker rule to combat price hike of essentials through import and sale of groceries at wholesale rate.
During the Operation Daal-Bhaat Col Mojib almost forgot his personal and family life as he had to work from morning till late at night every day."As it was leaving an impact on his health, I asked him not to work so hard. But he always replied that not only he, all the officers and soldiers were working hard to overcome the crisis," Neheeren said.
"My husband had to deprive us of his company and in return the BDR took his life," she said in an emotion-choked voice at her DOHS residence in Mohakhali."I'll never forgive the killers," she said, demanding exemplary punishment to the killers as soon as possible. She apprehends if the trial is delayed, many pieces of evidence might be destroyed.
She firmly said the soldiers who met Mojib can never kill him and the allegations over Operation Daal-Bhaat are totally baseless. "We want to know the real reason behind such brutal killings," she said.
She demanded recognition of the 57 valiant army officers by giving them posthumous promotion, declaring February 25 as a national day and establishing a mausoleum commemorating their memory at a place where general people can go.
After 32 years in service, Col Mojib was supposed to go on retirement in a month before he was brutally killed. He was prepared for retirement but at the same time was depressed knowing that he would not wear his favourite combat dress anymore.
Neheeren is bearing the pains of losing her husband, yet she feels lucky to be alive for their two sons and a daughter. She said she was at the gym when the mutiny broke out. She gratefully remembers two soldiers who locked up the gym and told the advancing killers that no-one was inside.
Their second son Nadeet Haque, who is doing his A Level, was at home when the killers set fire to the upper floor. Nadeet was lucky to survive but is so haunted by the horrors that he cannot sleep at night without the lights on.Their only daughter Tehreen was outside Pilkhana on that fateful day, while their eldest son Moheeb Haque was at Brisbane University in Australia.
About her husband, Neheeren said he liked to buy uncommon household showpieces. When he was posted as the minister councillor at the Bangladesh Embassy in Thailand, he visited different provinces and bought traditional items.
Many of those pieces were intact in cartons in their Pilkhana residence. But the mutineers looted most of those and burned the rest.Mojib was always hopeful about the country's future and had dreams to work for the youth and promotion of tourism after his retirement.
"He was a true patriot," Neheeren said, giving examples of his love for the country. When he was posted in Thailand, he asked his relatives to send him Bangladeshi gift items and always tried to promote Bangladeshi silk sarees at exhibitions there.He even furnished his residence with all Bangladeshi fittings, she said.
Their relatives have formed Col Mojib Trust, which has published a memorial book with photos and details of the slain army officers.
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