Holey Artisan Attack: The victims remembered with love

Every year on July 1, Dutch national Mack visits the place where the Holey Artisan café once stood. He lost his two Italian friends in the horrific carnage that took place there six years ago.

Mack still cannot get over the incident.

"It was a very sad moment for the Bangladeshis because this is not the real Bangladesh," Mack told reporters on the then premises of the cafe, which has since changed location, yesterday morning after paying tribute to the victims.

The brutal militant attack claimed 22 lives, including nine Italians, seven Japanese, three Bangladeshis and an Indian.

Foreign envoys of several countries also paid homage to the victims at the Gulshan café yesterday.

Japanese Ambassador to Bangladesh Ito Naoki said, "Seven Japanese nationals, who were working for the metro rail line-1 project, were killed in the attack six years back. We will never forget them. Japan has important bilateral and friendly ties with Bangladesh. The work on the rail line-1 project will begin in September. It is very important for us to continue and finish the work."

US Ambassador Peter D Haas said, "I would like to give credit to Bangladesh for taking steps to prevent terrorism and keep the people of the country safe since the Holy Artisan Bakery attack."

He said he was glad that the United States had been able to stand by Bangladesh with capacity building, training and equipment for all these.

The US Embassy in Dhaka in a statement yesterday said, "We remember Abinta Kabir, a US-Bangladeshi dual citizen and student at Emory University, as well as her Emory classmate Faraaz Hossain, who even when given the chance to save himself chose to remain with his friends."

The mission also remembered Tarishi Jain, a sophomore at Berkeley and graduate of the American International School in Dhaka, who had returned to Dhaka for a summer internship.

Indian High Commissioner Vikram K Doraiswami remembered all victims, including the Bangladeshi and Indian citizens.

"As a friend of Bangladesh, we feel very sad. We need to ensure stopping recurrence of such incidents through collaborative efforts," he said.

DMP Commissioner Shafiqul Islam said projects like the Padma Bridge and metro rail could not have been implemented if Bangladesh had not made a turnaround after the Holey Artisan attack.

"Then the picture of the country might have been different. For security reasons, foreign engineers had expressed unwillingness to visit Bangladesh," he said after placing wreaths at the foot of the "Dipta Shapath" memorial sculpture in Gulshan-1.

The sculpture has been built to commemorate the sacrifice of two police officers who laid down their lives during the militant attack.

The commissioner said, "Militants are still active on social media. But our counter-terrorism officials have been thwarting their networks from the beginning."

Rab Director General Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun said the elite force has so far arrested 3,000 militants. Of them, at least 1,500 were picked up since the café attack.

Deceased Banani OC Salauddin Khan's wife Remkim Khan, son SM Ryan and sister-in-law Irene also paid tributes to the victims.

Speaking to The Daily Star, Remkim said, "Children remember their father every day. They are growing up without the care and protection of their father."