The mass uprising of 5 August 2024 succeeded, toppling the government led by Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League, which had completed three consecutive terms in power. Amid the jubilation of millions, hell descended upon the five-star Hotel Zabeer International at Chitra Mor in Jashore town. A fire there claimed 24 lives.
Among the dead was a foreign national, and many were people who had gone inside to rescue those trapped in the flames. But there were also opportunists out for looting. The families of the victims lament that even two years later, they are hearing slander against their loved ones.
Two years on, no one has been brought to justice for the incident.
Asked about the progress of the investigation into the case filed against 200 unidentified individuals, Additional Superintendent of Police (Crime and Operations) of Jashore Mirazul Islam told TIMES of Bangladesh, “Six top terrorists have already been arrested. We are thoroughly investigating whether the fire was a premeditated act of sabotage or carried out by infiltrators.”
What happened that day
The hotel, located at Chitra Mor, was owned by Shahin Chakladar, general secretary of the district Awami League. With the fall of the government, pent-up anger erupted against the hotel. Protesters vandalised the hotel and eventually set it on fire.
Many people were trapped inside the burning building. They died one by one from burns and suffocation from toxic smoke.
Parash Ahmed, a former member of the anti-discrimination student movement in Jashore, told TIMES, “When we were coming from Chachra with a victory procession and reached the post office, we heard that the Zabeer Hotel was on fire. We rushed there. When we arrived, we saw the fire service spraying water from below, but people were trapped upstairs. Some of our brothers who went in to rescue others also got trapped and died in the fire.”
The ‘miscreant’ slur
The families have expressed deep anguish over what they call an ongoing effort to brand those who died at the Zabeer Hotel as “miscreants”.
Sahidur Rahman Sayeed, father of the deceased Mahir, said, “My son was a ninth-grader at Zila School. He died trying to rescue people trapped in the hotel. The July Foundation honoured us. Yet some people today want to turn my son into a thief.”
Mahir’s mother, Ireen Sultana, said, ” The state stood by us after I lost my son. But when society says dirty things about my innocent child, I feel like I want to die.”
She has called for a neutral investigation into the Zabeer incident, free from any bias.
18-year-old Riyad died saving lives
Riyad Sheikh, 18, was the younger son of Kabil Sheikh and Shahinur Begum from Chachra Raipara in the city. He was an HSC candidate at Jashore Government College. He had taken five exams but never got to finish them.
On 5 August, after watching the news of Sheikh Hasina’s departure on television, he left mid-lunch and ran off to join the victory procession at Manihar Mor. On his way back, he saw flames at the Zabeer Hotel and people trapped inside.
Without caring for his own life, Riyad and his companions entered through the smoke and brought out three or four people unharmed. Then he went back inside to save others. But large gas cylinders inside began to explode, intensifying the fire. Riyad and his companions were burnt to death.
Riyad’s mother Shahinur Begum told TIMES, “My son saved people’s lives, and he himself was burnt. The July Foundation gave us Tk5 lakh, and the DC office gave us Tk2 lakh. They took his watch and jersey to a museum. But why hasn’t my son yet been given the status of a martyr?”
Riyad’s elder brother Hridoy Sheikh had gone inside the hotel to save his younger brother. But as he was climbing to the third floor with a pipe, a gas cylinder exploded. A long, sharp piece of glass pierced his right leg.
Hridoy said, “It’s not hard for investigators to find out who went there to loot and who went to rescue. Those who died trying to save lives are now being slandered as thieves.”
Speaking of his own experience, he said, “Was I there to steal? The unnecessary delay in publishing the gazette is an insult to our martyrs.”
A one-legged rickshaw-puller
Md Alamgir Hossain and Momtaz Begum live in a dilapidated house in Sutalpur Hatthapara, Jashore Sadar upazila. On 11 May 2019, Alamgir lost his right leg in a road accident.
Their only son, Al-Amin Biswas, was the family’s hope. After his father’s accident, he started working at a motorcycle garage. Later, when his father began driving a rickshaw using one leg, Al-Amin was enrolled in college. He had just started his undergraduate (honours) programme.
On the afternoon of 5 August, the young man left home. He had told his grandmother, Rokeya Begum, “I’m going to make Bangladesh free.”
But Al-Amin never returned. He, too, died at the Zabeer International.
Momtaz Begum said, “I had only one son. Who do we have left to live for?”
Al-Amin’s name appears at number 266 in the official gazette of the martyrs of the July uprising.
Alamgir Hossain said, “The fire at the Zabeer Hotel destroyed everything for me. Yet today, society wants to call my son a thief.”
Endless heartbreaks
Another heartbreaking story is that of eight-year-old Abrar Mashrun Neel. He had joined the march with his elder brother Jeel on 5 August. Jeel returned home, but Neel was lost.
Neel’s mother, Jesmin Akhter, said, “The fire at the Zabeer Hotel vacuumed out my heart. Who do I have left to live for?”
The mother of deceased Alif, Mim Akhter, said, “Even now, I can’t sleep at night when I remember that day.”
Yusuf’s mother, Shahina Akhter, said, “When I found my 15-year-old son Yusuf’s body in the hospital morgue, a half-burnt national flag was still wrapped around his head. Even after dying for the country, he is being called a thief. What greater pain could there be?”
Rashed Khan, a former coordinator of the anti-discrimination student movement, said, “The movement in Jashore was completely disciplined and peaceful. We never encouraged vandalism or violence. But after the afternoon of 5 August, the entire equation was altered through the instigation of a certain quarter, and the burden of that responsibility is still being borne by students.”
The administration has said steps have been taken to unravel the complexities of the Zabeer tragedy and to confirm the true identities of the deceased.
Jashore Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Ashek Hasan said that the names of 20 people, including three students from Jashore who died in Dhaka and Ashulia, and those killed in the Zabeer tragedy, have already been submitted to the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs, and they have been given martyr status in the preliminary list.
