After surviving the Holey Bakery attack and spending two days in police custody for debriefing, university students Fairooz Maliha and Tahana Tasmia are still not discussing their ordeal with the press.
“Maliha and her friend Tahana were handed over to their families on Sunday,” Maliha’s father AK Borhan Uddin said. He was not able to disclose Tahana’s whereabouts.
Asked about Maliha’s experience, Borhan explained his daughter was refusing to speak to anyone because she was still in shock.
Fairooz Maliha and Tahana Tasmia were among the hostages of the terror attack at Holey Artisan Bakery in Gulshan on July 1.
They were rescued in Operation Thunderbolt and held in police custody before being released on July 3, family members confirmed.
Maliha, a student of Environmental Science and Management at North South Universtiy, and her friend Tahana had gone to Holey Artisan Bakery to meet with Tahmid Hasib Khan, a senior at the University of Toronto who had arrived in Dhaka on the day of the attack.
Maliha, who lives in Uttara, went to Tahana’s house in Gulshan 2 to have Iftar before going to Holey Bakery, where they were held hostage during an 11-hour siege of the restaurant by law enforcement personnel.
The hostage taking resulted in 20 people, mostly foreign nationals, being brutally killed by the attackers.
After being freed by joint forces on July 2, they were taken to the Detective Branch office on Mintoo Road.
Maliha and Tahana were released but Tahmid Hasib Khan remains in detention.
Tahmid’s father Fazle Rahim Khan Shahriar and cousin Rasheek Irtisam said they do not have any updates on his situation.
“He came to Dhaka on July 1 and fell victim to the hostage takers. After the rescue operation, he was taken into custody and remains there. His family members are not being allowed to meet him,” said father Fazle Rahim, managing director of Aftab Bahumukhi Firms Limited.
“Please help us free our son,” he said.
Source: Dhaka Tribune
