The air at the Rayerbazar graveyard often grows heavy as relatives of those killed in last year’s July–August mass movement—buried as ‘unidentified’ or ‘unclaimed’—plead for the graves to be properly identified.
They are fervently demanding identification of the graves of their loved ones so that they may at least touch them and find a measure of solace.
“Wearing his white punjabi, my father left home for the last time on the morning of 19 July. Later, around half past six in the evening, I spoke to him for the last time on the phone. I will never again hear my father’s voice.”— said an emotional Rayan Islam, son of Rafiqur Islam, who was killed in the July movement.
Rayan told TIMES of Bangladesh that on 10 August last year he went to the Dhaka Medical College morgue and learnt that many unclaimed bodies had been buried by Anjuman-e-Mofidul Islam. “I went to their office and identified my father from a photograph. They then informed me that he had been buried in Rayerbazar.”
When asked about the identification process, Rayan added, “When I first came to Rayerbazar, the graves had been levelled like a cricket pitch. Had the bodies been identified, I could have said: ‘My father sleeps here.’ And I could have come and sat by his side.”
Parvez Bepari, 23, an employee at a wooden furniture shop in Badda, was killed on 19 July. Yet even after sixteen months, his father, Sabuj Bepari, still does not know which grave belongs to his son.
“I heard my son was buried at Rayerbazar. But I don’t know which grave is his. Every Friday I come to visit my son’s grave, but I don’t know where he lies. I look around for a while and then return home,” Sabuj told TIMES.
When asked about identification, Sabuj said, “I will never get my son back, but if I could at least touch his grave, I would find some comfort in knowing: this is my boy’s resting place.”
Similarly, Rafiqur Islam went missing on 18 July. His elder sister told TIMES that despite coming here regularly since 24 July, they still do not know which grave belongs to him. “We search desperately for my brother’s grave, so that I may stand beside him for a moment.”
To identify the unclaimed bodies of those killed during the July movement, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has begun exhuming 114 bodies from the Rayerbazar Intellectuals’ Graveyard. Acting on court orders, the operation began on Sunday, led by CID Chief and Additional Inspector General Md Sibgat Ullah, internationally renowned forensic expert Louis Fondebrider, and CID’s forensic team and specialised units.
Despite the long wait of 16–17 months, the families believe that their loved ones, once marked as “unclaimed bodies”, will finally regain their rightful identity in the eyes of the law and in the hearts of their families.
