WC Desk:
” The memory of July 1st will remain one of darkness, a haunting memory of the night we lost Faraaz.
July 1st will also continue to be a remembrance of Faraaz’s lionhearted sacrifice, a sacrifice of immeasurable courage and an unbreakable bond of friendship. On that night of horror, 21 other people, including Abinta, Ishrat, Tarishi, two police officials, nine Italians and seven Japanese, were killed. Every of these deaths bears unbearable pain.”-The Daily Star reported.
Faraaz, a young man with a bright future awaiting him, could have escaped the wrath of the attackers. However, he chose to stay back with his students whom the attackers refused to let go. The young man, before a year, sat an example for his generation-of what it means to stand up for friendship, and for humanity.
It has been 1 year since the Gulshan tragedy took place and threw light on growing extremism in the country.
On the night of 1 July 2016, at 21:20 local time, five militants took hostages and opened fire on the Holey Artisan Bakery in Gulshan.The assailants entered the bakery with crude bombs, machetes, pistols, and took several dozen hostages (foreigners and locals). In the immediate response, while Dhaka Metropolitan Police tried to regain control of the bakery, two police officers were shot dead by the assailants.
29 people were killed, including 20 hostages (18 foreigners and 2 locals), 2 police officers, 5 gunmen, and 2 bakery staff.As the police were unsuccessful in breaching the bakery and securing the hostages, they set up a perimeter along with the Rapid Action Battalion and Border Guards Bangladesh. Very early on 2 July (around 03:00), it was decided that the Bangladesh Armed Forces would launch a counter assault named Operation Thunderbolt. The assault was led by the 1st para-commando Battalion- an elite force in the Bangladesh Army, and began their raid at 07:40. According to Bangladesh’s Inspector General of Police, all of the attackers were Bangladeshi citizens Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ISIL) claimed responsibility for the incident and released photographs of the gunmen, but the home minister of Bangladesh, Asaduzzaman Khan, stated that the perpetrators belonged to Jammat-ul-Mujahideen and were not affiliated with ISIL.
The incident was the worst terrorist attack in Bangladesh’s history. The local media described it as 7/16.
Team Women Chapter expresses condolences for the families of the deceased.
Source:
1.http://www.thedailystar.net/backpage/dhaka-gulshan-cafe-attack-tribute-the-power-bravery-1426582
2. Wikipedia