Tapu left many things undone

After finishing his day's work at the checkpoint near Sholakia Eidgah, he was supposed to come home in the afternoon to celebrate Eid. But militants struck in the morning.

Jahirul Haque Tapu, 24, was one of the two police constables killed in the attack.

Young and unmarried, he had a long to-do list this Eid.

Since joining the police force in 2011, Tapu had saved up and spent the money building a semi-concrete house. He invited relatives to his new house the day after the Eid day.

He was also preparing to attend the wedding ceremony of his cousin on the occasion and planned to sit for the HSC examinations the next year.

"He came home on June 30, bought me necessities and returned to duty. He told me he would come on Thursday," said Jubeda Khatun, the mother of Tapu.

"I want my son return to my bosom," she cried.

Tapu was the youngest of six siblings and son of late freedom fighter Abdul Mazid of village Bhatipara Balaswar in Phulbaria upazila of Mymensingh.

Along with other policemen, Tapu was guarding a checkpoint in Sabujbagh area of Char Sholakia, half a kilometere from Sholakia Eidgah where the country's largest Eid gathering was held, with three lakh people attending the prayers.

“On the eve of Eid, Tapu talked to his mother about many things including the inauguration of his new house and cousin's marriage," said Mohammad Shamim, Tapu's brother-in-law.

"The fresh memories are haunting us,” he added.

“I cannot bear to see him dead," said Siddiqur Rahman, an uncle of Tapu.

"When I talked to him the last time, he said he would spend the whole day at my house because of my daughter's wedding," he said between sobs.

VILLAGERS PROUD OF TAPU

When police were guarding the checkpoint, about seven to eight youths attacked the team with knives, explosives and firearms. Tapu died on the spot.

But the efforts of the policemen saved the gatherers at Sholakia.

“We are proud of Tapu as his courage saved hundreds of lives,” said Jalal Uddin Fakir, a freedom fighter of Tapu's locality.

“If Tapu and his colleagues did not face the militants, the casualties would have been higher,” said Shams Uddin, another elderly man of the same area.

Tapu's body was taken to his village home on Thursday night and was buried at a village graveyard around 11:30pm on the same night with a guard of honour.

Villagers said they would remember him as a well-mannered youth.

After Juma prayers at a local mosque Friday, people in their hundreds joined a special prayer seeking eternal peace of the departed soul.

Meanwhile, Ansarul Haque, another police constable killed in Thursday's terror attack, was buried at his village home in Daulatpur in Madan upazila of Netrakona the same night, Hatem Ali, sub-inspector of Madan Police Station told The Daily Star.