No answer

Nazim Uddin

As the body of Nazim Uddin was lowered to the grave in his village home yesterday, his daughter Nusrat Jahan Moon kept on calling him on his mobile phone.

“Why is Baba doing this? Why is he not receiving my call?” she asked. The relatives of the eight-year-old, however, had no answer.

It seemed the girl was either in a state of disbelief or failed to realise that her father would never come back.

Nazim, senior executive of English daily Dhaka Tribune, was killed as two buses were racing each other on Mayor Hanif flyover in the capital on Thursday.

Third-grader Moon along with her relatives went to Bhola that night for the burial. She was beside her father's body until it was buried at Lalmohon municipality graveyard in the district around 11:00am yesterday.

Back in Dhaka, Nazim's wife Sabrina passed out time and again at a hospital where she gave birth to her second child a few days ago.

Nothing and none could console her.

Talking to her relatives later in the day, she said she was seeing bleak days ahead.

"What will happen to my two daughters? Who will look after my family?" she asked.

Just five days ago, an immeasurable amount of joy and happiness had gripped the family as the couple was blessed with a second baby girl after a long wait.

But their joy suddenly faded on Thursday when Nazim, 38, was killed while heading towards Gulistan from Jatrabari on his motorcycle.

Hailing from Bhola's Lalmohan, Nazim had been living with Sabrina in Shyampur area. Their first daughter Moon, was born eight years ago. The couple named their new born daughter Israt Jahan Noor.

Abdul Alim, Sabrina's brother, filed a case with Jatrabari Police Station on Thursday night accusing three workers of the two buses responsible for the death.

Police arrested two of the accused -- Ohidul, driver of one of the buses, and Kamal, helper of the other.

Law enforcers produced them before a Dhaka court and sought remand, said Azizur Rahman, officer-in-charge of Jatrabari Police Station.

The other accused, driver of the other bus, was on the run, he added.

Alim told The Daily Star that he had gone to Jatrabari Police Station just two and a half hours after the incident and saw the arrested driver in deep sleep.

“How can anyone sleep like that right after killing a man? Everyone tried to wake him up but he was unmoved. He looked so careless,” he said.

Azim's family members demanded exemplary punishment to the culprits and said the government should take immediate steps to check reckless driving for stopping killings on road.