The sound of bullets and fear

The highway at Jatrabari was completely filled with people at around 8:45 in the morning. Photo: Syed Zakir Hossain

Jahangir Alam left his office at around 5 in the afternoon on Sunday. For the past three hours, he heard gunshots all around in Karwan Bazar in the capital Dhaka and someone notified him that the police box in Farmgate had been set ablaze. 

"Everyone in the office building decided to close the collapsible gate until the firing stopped," Jahangir said. As Jahangir got out, he couldn't find any transport, hence he decided to avoid the regular route. 

"I went into the alley beside the Bashundhara shopping complex and took a rickshaw, which took me to Farmgate. Seeing the police box on fire there, the rickshaw puller refused to go further. 

Very scared, I crossed the Green Road and took another rickshaw that drove through Raja Bajar," Jahangir said.

After that, he changed another rickshaw from Manik Mia Avenue that took him to Shyamoli, from where Jahangir took another rickshaw to his home in Agargaon. 

Like Jahangir, people of Dhaka as well as other districts all around the country faced gunshots, and bloodshed at around midday. 

A historic and unprecedented death count by the end of Sunday: over 100 lives had been lost. At one point, the government announced an indefinite curfew from 6 pm.                                                                                                                                               

At around 1 pm, Tanvir Hasan, an HSC candidate this year, was at Mirpur 10 with his friends. He lives in Kazipara, near Begum Rokeya Sarani. 

"We saw the students and protesters there and the police force spread till Al Helal. But then suddenly we heard gunshots from the narrow alleys from the two sides of Kazipara, Al Helal and Mirpur 10. They were from the Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL). I started to run towards my home after the gunshots," Tanvir said. 

Half an hour later, Tanvir got down again and saw people taking the dead bodies away. "I didn't know which party they belonged to," he said. 

Md Munna and Mahbub Alam – two friends and business partners – decided to leave their Karwan Bazar office at 6 in the evening, towards their home in Mohammadpur. As they reached Kalabagan, they were confronted by gunshots. 

"We saw military trucks and police vans blocking the road and immediately we entered into a narrow alley and went inside a building. The guard of the building was kind enough to let us stay in his small room," Munna said. 

Munna and Mahbub stayed in that small room till 8 in the evening and got out as they were confirmed that there was no one firing anymore. 

"Mahbub and I took four rickshaws on our way home and it was around 11 the night when we stepped inside home," Munna said.   

Khilgaon has been one of the hotspots on August 4. 

Nipa Begum, who works as a domestic help in apartments and one of the residents of the area who lives near the Ward Commissioner's home, said, "I was returning from one of the homes I work in when I was trapped in Taltola city corporation market. I heard gunshots and immediately I took shelter inside the Taltola market building," Nipa said. 

It took Nipa more than two hours to get out of the situation when she could not hear any more gunshots. 

The capital city Dhaka was not the only place where the mayhem fell. Districts like Munshiganj, Sirajganj (recording the highest death toll in the country on Sunday), Narayanganj, Sylhet and Chattagram also saw bloodshed.  

Rayhan Hasan Ratul (a cousin of one of the writers) just finished his HSC this year from Hareganga College of Munshiganj.

Yesterday, (34th July in the blood calendar), was Ratul's fourth time participating in the protest. 

He joined the protest with his school friends. Around 12 pm, police began firing openly at the students. The local members of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) escalated the chaos by throwing heavy objects indiscriminately at the protesters.

As everyone scattered in fear, Ratul also tried to flee but was struck by a large brick on the back of his head. He fell to the ground, bleeding. His friends rushed him to Munshiganj Sadar Hospital, where the doctors administered first aid – which included four stitches and a bandage.

The hospital was overwhelmed with injured students. 

Despite Ratul's serious injury, no X-ray or CT scan was performed due to the influx of patients. Hearing the news, Rebeka Sultana, Ratul's mother rushed towards the hospital. She was forced to take shelter in a nearby market.

With the hospital inundated with bleeding students, the doctors, unable to provide further care, released Ratul and advised his friends to take him home. They complied and brought him back home.

Rebeka, the mother, is still stuck in a market for more than two hours. They finally reunited at home in the evening. Ratul's condition began to deteriorate.

"He started vomiting with blood. His stitches began to open, bleeding beyond control. I tried to put the bandage together but nothing worked," recounted Rebeka. 

Rebeka took him to Munshiganj Sadar Hospital again, around midnight. The hospital then refused to take him in, saying the condition was too bad to be treated there. Doctors advised to take him to Dhaka.

"No ambulance agreed to take us to Dhaka, as most of the entry points were shut down by police and army. A local leader helped us to get an ambulance and we started at 3 am," said Rebeka.

The commute wasn't easy either. They had to take several detours as the roads were closed. At 5:35 am, they reached Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

The condition of DMCH was far worse than what they saw in Munshiganj. No seats, no bed, and blood everywhere. Ratul was placed on the stairs near Room no 200. Doctors examined him and asked for an emergency operation.

His operation serial was number 5, which indicates a waiting time of six to seven hours at least. As his health condition deteriorated rapidly, the doctors broke the serial and decided to operate on him immediately.

It took three hours to operate, starting from 11 am on Monday. He had to be then transferred to ICU, but no ICU was available within DMCH. And his condition was too delicate to be transferred to the ICU of another hospital.

Still, the family decided to transfer him to the ICU of a private hospital. It was already 2.30 pm and Bangladesh already was rising in jubilation. Hundreds of thousands of pedestrians were on the road. No space for a car or ambulance.

The ambulance could not move. At the moment of writing this (around 6 pm on Monday), Ratul is taken to an HCU of DMC, waiting for an ICU to be vacant so he gets a chance at life. 

"No contact, no money or no power is of help now," she said. 

Celebration is everywhere. But, not in Rebeka's family – and scores of others who face a similar fate as Ratul.