Sheikh Hasina mourns, hugs martyr's 7-year-old son

As prime minister Sheikh Hasina led the nation in mourning for the 20 people killed in the Gulshan terror attack on Friday, seven-year-old Sami perched on his uncle’s shoulder submitted to a prime ministerial hug, yet to comprehend the enormity of losing his dad, a policeman, to terrorists’ bullets. Sami’s mother couldn’t bring herself to come to the PM’s event, her grief compounded by the fact that she is due to give birth in another fortnight.

The Jains, parents of Tarishi, cannot contain their grief. They left Dhaka with her body in the morning to conduct her last rites in India according to Jain rituals. Tarishi’s mother, yet to come to terms with her death needed medical assistance. The other Indian, Dr SatyaPrakash Ahlawat, a psychiatrist working here for over a decade in drug rehabilitation was sent home after a debriefing by the authorities. He escaped because of fluency in Bengali, but spent the night listening to others being tortured and killed. His family has refused to speak to the media.

The overcast morning added to the somber atmosphere at Army Stadium where envoys from different countries came to pay their respects. The country has observed a two-day national mourning. Mario Palma, Italian ambassador to Bangladesh, had a tough job, having to send back bodies of 9 Italians killed in the attack. More than once he tried to control a quivering lip. “We have seen the dark face of humanity,” he said. Simone Monti, one of the victims was seven months pregnant and wanted to name her son Michaelangelo.

After the ceremony the gates of the stadium opened to large numbers of people, organized as clubs, local Awami League bodies etc who came in to pay their respects. Mohammed Taizuddin, a local AL leader said the party’s cadres were engaged in a grassroots campaign against “jangibaad”. “But you know something? They should not have been scared. Thirty people could have fought back against the terrorists, and turned their weapons against them. That is the spirit we should cultivate.” Pleased with himself, he allowed himself to be photographed with a wreath he went to place.

Japanese vice foreign minister Seiji Kihara arrived here late last night in a special aircraft bringing with him 18 relatives of the seven victims, members of the International Counter-Terrorism Intelligence Collection Unit, emergency response team of the foreign ministry, members of the Consular Affairs Bureau of Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica). Behind the official stoicism hung the words of Fumio Okamura, mother of one of the Japanese victims Makato Okamura: “Why did he have to go before his parents?”