Open letter to Badhan

Badhon,

If you were hurt by being hit by water, I express my condolences and strong condemnation. If you were hurt by being scolded for being a July fighter, I express my regret.

Badhon,

Please don’t mind.

Maybe the boys who threw water at you and hurt you by scolding you have wives and children in the country. They had to leave them and go abroad for fear of assassination attempts by Yunus-BNP-Jamaat. Maybe their house was occupied, maybe a terrorist burned down the grocery store. Maybe they had to wander from one district to another without eating for months before fleeing abroad.

Maybe his brother was killed for joining the Chhatra League. Maybe his father was paraded around the streets wearing a garland of shoes because he was a freedom fighter. Maybe the Chhatra Dal-Shibir terrorists didn’t let him take the honors exam. Maybe his sister still has to go to the Jubo Dal leader’s office every month and be raped just to keep her parents alive.

Maybe he saw the police station being burned down in front of his eyes. He saw the pregnant police officer who did not get forgiveness from the July fighters despite folding his hands. He saw the pregnant police officer and her child being burned to death. Maybe someone he knew worked at Gazi Tires, one of the most successful companies in Bangladesh. The July fighters burned to death 200 people inside the factory, including that acquaintance, because the owner was the Awami League.

Please don’t mind, Bandhan.

Maybe the sisters of his organization were tortured in front of the cameras by tearing their clothes on the street for going to give flower garlands to Dhanmondi 32. Maybe a former Chhatra League leader whose baby was snatched from her lap and kept in the police station for months; some of them were sisters, some were wives. Maybe when Masud of Rajshahi went to buy medicine for his child, the Shibir workers cut his veins and killed him – the boy who threw water on you could not bear that.

Maybe they all cried and cried when they saw the broken brick and stone ruins of Dhanmondi 32 on TV abroad. Maybe one of their children died of asthma, without treatment. Maybe their elderly mother can’t sleep at night due to lack of electricity. Their elder brother lost his job because of his Chhatra League membership. Maybe they couldn’t be normal anymore after seeing the picture of the leader’s body handcuffed in the hospital.

Badhon,

I protest against the water being thrown at you. I express my regret that you were reprimanded for being dishonest with the country.

– But did you protest the burning of Bangabandhu’s house?

– Did you protest the burning of a pregnant policewoman?

– Did you take to the streets when thousands of police and Awami League leaders and activists were killed?

– Did you go to Shahbagh when the heinous Indemnity Act was passed and the accused of all the murders of July-August 2024 were given protection?

– Did you object to the release of all the militants from prison in the dark of night?

– Your colleague Arifin Shuvo was ostracized by the media for playing the role of Bangabandhu?

– Protested against the deportation of the country’s best cricketer Shakib?

– Because Mashrafe’s house was burned down?

– Barrister Sumon was imprisoned without any reason?

You took all the benefits during the Awami League, Badhon. I studied with the scholarship money of the Canadian government at that time. In minus 20 degree temperature, I changed the bus and train and went to a shop 1 hour away to buy halal chicken. We have always been in the queue of the deprived, we still write for the deprived. Forgive us. You took the benefits of the Awami League. You committed treason in July. Your life is yours.

Still, you are a heroic person. You will look with forgiveness on the terrible crime of throwing water at the Chhatra League brother.

Please don’t mind, Bandhan. Don’t mind…

On behalf of the oppressed and 180 million Bangladeshis,

Sincerely,

Shamim Ahmed

Canada.

September 7, 2026