Kolkata: Biswajit Saha, an Awami League functionary, who narrowly survived a violent attack at his residence in Bangladesh’s Kachua Bagerhat on Monday night, managed to flee to India on Tuesday and take shelter at a cousin’s house in Duttapukur. “I found out that many Awami League functionaries, including myself, were on BNP’s hit list. My family members fled and took shelter elsewhere,” he said.On Monday evening, a mob attacked his house.
“Around 6 pm, they first started ransacking shops, looting valuables and setting them ablaze. My grocery store adjacent to my house was completely gutted. I fled the house and hid in a nearby litchi orchard the whole night. In the wee hours of Tuesday, I managed to reach Petrapole and cross over to India. But I don’t know the whereabouts of my family members,” Saha said, breaking down in tears.
Unlike Roy or Saha, who left their homeland recently, Ananya Azad has been living in an undisclosed location in Europe for several years now. She had fled to Germany in 2015, after her name came up on the hit list of Ansarullah Banga Team, an outfit that was behind the attack on atheist bloggers in Bangladesh.
Ananya’s father, litterateur Humayun Azad, survived an attack on his life on the Bangla Academy premises on February 27, 2004.
“My father fled to Germany on Aug 7 and was found dead on Aug 12, 2004. I never visited Bangladesh after I left my country in 2015. After Monday’s incident, my family is scared. People have no idea what Jamaat-e-Islami and Hefazat-e-Islam can do with this country and its peop’le. It is scary. If it happens, I'll never ever see my homeland,” she said.