It's too much for a father to bear

Tipu Sultan woke up his son Oyasiqur Rahman around 6:00am yesterday morning and asked him to close the door. He was leaving his Begunbari house in the capital for his Laxmipur village home. Oyasiqur got up, said goodbye to his father and closed the door.

Tipu, however, could not reach Laxmipur. He received a phone call around 9:00am when he was in Chandpur. To his utter shock, he was then told that his son had been attacked and killed.

The father could not think for a while, nor could he believe the caller. The abrupt news of his son's death was too much for him to bear. He fell sick and instead of returning to Dhaka, he decided to head for his ancestral home in Ramganj upazila.

“I am now waiting for the body to come,” Tipu Sultan told this correspondent over the phone, his voice trembling.

Oyasiqur, his only son, lived with his father in the Begunbari house for a long time.

Tipu, who had divorced his wife 20 years ago, looked after Oyasiqur. His only daughter now lives with her husband. He runs a small shop, Rahman Trader, in the capital where he sells tiers and batteries.

“I even cooked for my son every night,” said the father, adding, “He didn't get his mother's affection and so I always tried to make him happy. I never put any pressure on him about anything.”

He said his son was upset about his life and hardly shared anything with him. He used to keep himself busy with his mobile phone but did not talk much, he added.

“But we had a simple life and I never thought of receiving death threats or being attacked for anything,” said Tipu who was left reeling with disbelief.

“I have never done any harm to anybody. Then why should my son be killed in this way?” questioned the father.

Tipu has no clue as to who the killers are and what their motive behind killing his son is. The father is so overpowered with shock that he has refused to make any demand to the government. “My son is dead and none can bring him back.”

Tipu visits his village home every month. He always asked Oyasiqur to accompany him to his village, but Oyasiqur showed little interest and preferred staying in Dhaka.

“I am a pious man but my son did not say his prayers regularly. Occasionally, he said his prayers on Friday,” said the father.

Oyasiqur did his Secondary School Certificate (SSC) from Chandipur High School and completed his Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) and honours from Royal College in Dhaka.

His friends said he was keen on reading books and articles on religion, philosophy and science instead of concentrating on his academic studies.

“He wanted to bring out a book compiling his facebook writings about Islam and fundamentalism,” his friend, Pulak, told The Daily Star at DMCH morgue after his death.