Seventh-grader Arifa Khatun had lost her mother in the Rana Plaza collapse at Savar on the outskirts of Dhaka city last April.
Tears rolled down her cheeks on Thursday as she recited the poem ‘Mother’, by Bangladesh’s national poet Kazi Nazrul Islam, at a function marking the first anniversary of one of the world’s worst industrial disasters.
For a while, the audience sat moved and motionless in pin-drop silence, as she finished reciting the last stanza: ‘Nobody is great like mother/nobody, nobody…”
Many in the audience wiped their eyes.
Even Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed, Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) President Rokeya Afzal and Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) President Atiqul Islam could not hold back their tears.
Thirty-six other children, who, like Arifa, are studying with the support of Anjuman-E-Mufidul Islam, Rajshahi Old Cadet College Homes and BGMEA after losing either of their parents in the Rana Plaza crash, attended the programme at the BGMEA building.
Many others who lost their dear ones or were maimed for life also joined the function.
Arifa said her mother Rina Begum was working in a factory on the Rana Plaza’s third floor, when the building collapsed in a deafening crash on Apr 24 last year.
Having seen the rescue operations from close quarters at the site of the tradegy, Arifa feels inspired to do ‘something’ for others.
She was all praise for the military personnel who had tirelessly searched for the missing and the dead for several days after the disaster. “I want to be an officer in the army so that I can serve the country.”
Later, the children sang the famous song ‘We shall overcome’.
Tofail Ahmed said: “A young girl has recited the poem ‘Mother’. It has touched my heart. I had never imagined such an accident like this one would happen in independent Bangladesh.”
He said factory owners and those connected with the industry must vow never to let such an incident happen ever again.
The minister said the government had allowed duty-free import of equipment and devices needed to make the readymade garment sector modern and safe.
“Bangladesh’s position in readymade garment export is second (in the world). If we want to take this sector to the first position, we must make progress towards compliance,” he added.
He cited the slashing of income tax at source to three percent from eight percent in garment exports.
State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam said: “Many have been orphaned by this (Rana Plaza) incident. Many families have been reduced to penury. We must pledge not to let such things happen again.”
Rokeya Afzal said in an emotion-chocked voice: “I’m shocked and ashamed seeing these children.”
Former state minister for home Shamsul Hoque Tuku, BGMEA President Atiqul, its Vice-President SA Mannan Kochi, injured worker Niloy Sarder and Sathi Akter and rescuer Mostafa Kamal also spoke at the function.
A procession mourning the tragedy began from the BGMEA building at around 11:15 am.
A special prayer was held on the ground floor of the building at noon seeking salvation for those killed in the Rana Plaza accident.
The accident claimed over 1,130 lives, mostly of workers of five readymade garment factories housed in the building.
Source: Bd news24