Bangladesh Mahila Awami League leader Nasima Ferdousi, who was critically injured in the 21 August, 2004 grenade attack on an Awami League rally, is one of the 39 candidates nominated by the party for the reserved seats for women in Parliament.
Ferdousi, who is from Patharghata Upazila in Barguna district, told bdnews24.com that she collected nomination paper from the party’s central office on Saturday and would submit the paper on Sunday.
“Had I not suddenly stirred inside the car that was carrying the bodies, I would not have seen this world anymore. I would not have been taken to the hospital …. I would have to leave the world untimely,” Ferdousi, a traumatised survivor of the deadly grenade attack recalled the horrific political terror attacks.
She is currently the Acting President of Dhaka City (North) Awami Mahila League.
The horrific grenade attack had fractured her legs, caused irreparable damage to her right ear and placed a few thousands splinters into her body. She is still fighting for life and has become permanently maimed.
After being permanently crippled, she now uses stick or wheelchair to move around the family compound. Even she cannot sleep well at night due to pain caused by the splinters. She will have to endure this pain until her death.
Ferdousi is the daughter of Jalal Uddin of Patharghata Upazila in Barguna district. Her family has been associated with Awami League and she joined active politics after her marriage.
After her marriage, she moved to Dhaka with her husband Harun-or-Rashid, a businessman. She joined politics as an activist of the Mahila Awami League in 1979. She became more active in politics after Sheikh Hasina returned home finally on 17 May 1981 after nearly six years of exile.
Recollecting the 21 August horrific grenade attack, she said that she, along with Ivy Rahman and Matia Chowdhury, had reached in front of the party’s headquarters in the city’s Bangabandhu Avenue to attend a rally in protest against the incidents of bomb attacks and criminal activities during the then BNP-Jamaat coalition government.
“(The then opposition leader) Sheikh Hasina was addressing the rally attended by thousands of party activists. The grenade attacks were launched before she ended her speech. I found no way to escape the attack. It appeared that embers were flying all around.”
She realised that she sustained burnt and that her legs were blown off. She was profusely bleeding. She looked around to see many others injured and maimed like her.
At one moment she lost her consciousness and was kept in a truck carrying the dead bodies presuming she had died.
Finding her stirring inside the truck, police took her to Dhaka Medical College Hospital. She was left unattended at the corridor of the hospital.
She communicated with her son after a person came to her and asked her to provide the mobile number of her relatives. As her son got delayed to come from Dhanmondi to the hospital, she lost almost half of the blood in her body.
The doctors asked for 10 bags of blood to save her life.
After a few days, gangrenes developed on her legs. She was later sent to Delhi for better treatment as per the decision of the central Awami League. She returned home after two and a half months of treatment.
She though went for treatment to Delhi three more times, but she could not be saved from turning crippled.
Despite all these pains and unhappiness, Ferdousi gets satisfaction to some extent at the execution of the killers of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and the trial of the war criminals.
Ferdousi’s dream of becoming a lawmaker is going to be fulfilled, but she wants to witness in her life time the execution of the perpetrators of the gruesome grenade attack.
The heinous grenade attack was carried out to eliminate Awami League leadership at an anti-terrorism rally of the party on August 21, 2004 during the tenure of erstwhile BNP-Jamaat alliance government.
The then opposition leader and incumbent Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and other front ranking leaders of the party escaped the carnage.
At least 24 people, including the then Mahila Awami League President and wife of late President of Bangladesh Zillur Rahman, were killed and over 500 others injured in the attack and many of them became crippled for life.
Source: bdnews24
