Nasim hails Faraaz’s bravery in Dhaka cafe attack

Awami League presidium member Mohammed Nasim today said that some misguided youths carried out attacks at a Gulshan café and Sholakia Eidgah while youth like Faraaz did not scare away.

"Some courageous youth like Faraaz don't get frightened, just like the brave Banglaees who achieved victory in the Liberation War by overcoming the fear," Nasim, also the health minister, said.

Nasim was addressing a discussion marking the 41st death anniversary of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University.

Faraaz Ayaaz Hossain, grandson of Latifur Rahman and Shahnaz Rahman and son of Simeen Hossain and Waquer Hossain, was brutally killed along with 19 other hostages in a militant attack at Holly Artisan Bakery on July 1.

Terrorists specifically targeted foreigners dining at the café. They were looking for "infidels," taking test as to who could recite verses from the holy Quran and who couldn't.

Faraaz, however, could recite from the Quran, said freed hostages.

The brilliant student of Economics at Emory University in Atlanta, US, was given the choice of walking free. But he chose to stay with his friends -- Abinta Kabir, a Bangladesh-born US citizen and also a student at Emory University, and Tarishi Jain, an Indian student of the University of California, Berkeley -- with whom he had gone to the café.

As consequence, he paid with his life.

Nasim, in his address, said the parents of militants expressed their solidarity with the national unity against terrorism.

"The peace-loving people don't like the acts of terrorism that is why none took part in the namaz-e-janaza of the dead militants. Parents of militates do not want to receive the bodies of their sons."

He also alleged, "The evil forces of 1971 and 1975 are still hatching conspiracy and carrying out terror attacks when the country is heading towards progress."