A day after assuming charge as the head of the interim government in Bangladesh, Muhammad Yunus has decided to visit the house of Abu Sayed, a student who was shot dead by the police during last month’s quota reform protest in Bangladesh.
Who is Abu Sayed?
Sayed, a student at Begum Rokeya University in Rangpur, was a leading coordinator of the nationwide protests calling for quota reform. His death, the first of six on July 16, sparked widespread outrage across Bangladesh, transforming the quota reform movement into a broader anti-government protest.
Sayed was leading the way when a confrontation erupted between the police and protesters outside Begum Rokeya University. The police fired rubber bullets, hitting the English student. His fellow protesters quickly took him to Rangpur Medical College Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
A photo of Sayed, taken just moments before he was shot with his arms wide open, went viral and became a symbol of the movement against the Hasina regime.
Sayed was the first one from his family to be enrolled into a university. His family had pinned hopes on him that he would get a government job by making use of his government education.
This ambition fuelled his desire to reform Bangladesh’s quota system, which at the time reserved 30% of government jobs for the family members and descendants of Muktijoddhas, the freedom fighters who fought for Bangladesh's independence from Pakistan.
Yunus, 84, called for peace, urging everyone to refrain from engaging in violence and vandalism. He emphasised that people of all religions and ethnicities must coexist peacefully in Bangladesh.
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On Saturday, Yunus, 84, will reach Sayed’s hometown Rangpur by an army helicopter in the morning. He will visit the protestor's grave in Rangpur’s Pirganj and meet his family. Sayed was the youngest of the family of six brothers and three sisters.
“A Bangladesh Army official informed us that the head of our interim government is coming to meet us,” Abu Hossain, one of Sayed’s six brothers, told THE WEEK from Rangpur. “We will seek justice for my brother from Yunus. We want justice for all who died in the protests.”
Hossain continued, “I hope that my brother will be given state honour and he will be remembered as a martyr who sacrificed his life for Bangladesh.”
Upon his arrival in Bangladesh from Paris on Thursday, Yunus paid tribute to Sayed during a public address at Dhaka's Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport. He became emotional as he vowed that the 25-year-old's sacrifice would not be forgotten.
