The continuing violence in Bangladesh and the fall of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Government have raised concern among the families residing on this side of the border. Hundreds of families have lost sleep worrying about the fate of their relatives and other loved ones in the strife-torn neighbouring country.
“I don’t know how they are … though from different communities their neighbours are good and understanding but given the scale and magnitude of the violence I wonder how they are now… more than 20 of them,” said 80-year-old Chintamani Kar of Behala in South Kolkata expressing concern for his cousin brothers’ families at Magura off Jessore.
A Bengali film actor, requesting anonymity, said she was worried about her grand uncle who was in Kolkata last year and was scheduled to visit again during the Durga Puja. “Their family was attacked twice at Satkhira… we asked them to migrate but they would not… they had unflinching faith in the governance of Sheikh Hasina ... but now what will happen to them… we have not been able to speak to them for the past fortnight or so,” she said.
Sheikh Qamran, a businessman from central Kolkata, said he too had not received any news of his relatives from Dhaka. “Traditionally, they are supporters of the ruling party there… it is obvious… that helps in business… but now after the fall of this Government I don’t know what will happen to them… particularly because the way the establishments are being attacked and torched,” said the trader about his relatives who live near Banani area of Dhaka. He said he had even tried to get in touch with them via relatives in Dubai but in vain.
However the condition of Arindam (name changed) is more pathetic. His uncle is a member of the ruling party and had been a panchayat member somewhere in Pabna district owning several acres of land and fisheries.
“He had connection till any level in the political and bureaucratic hierarchy… but now his phone has fallen silent for the past several days… he is not taking calls… We have heard some people have been killed in Pabna… We had asked them shift to India early last month but he would not listen to us… I am told by other relatives at Chittagong — but presently in Agartala — that there will be a revenge campaign launched by the hardliners… my 90-year-old grandmother who lives with us is very tensed.”
With the train and bus services temporarily stopped medical tourists from Bangladesh too find themselves stranded in Kolkata.
“I had come to get my mother treated for heart ailments… I have been here for the past fortnight … I keep coming for treatment but this time I am stuck here… my wallet is getting lighter by the day whereas there is no way I can contact my relatives there in Dhaka to fill the account … I am in great distress,” said a Dhaka resident and a college teacher.
Shahriyar Joel Bulbul another resident of Bangladesh who had come to Kolkata for treatment in a private hospital near Ruby More in South Kolkata said his father is a heart patient and is alone in Jessore. “We are progressive people and have never backed the fundamentalists … so some people are angry on us … my father is a retired professor and alone now … I have no information of him … my relatives are there living nearby but I cannot connect them … I am very worried,” he said.
