Dhaka, July 01 – Three years after the deadly Holey Artisan tragedy, family members of the deceased in the terrorist attack on Monday gathered in front of the original two storied lakeside restaurant building in Gulshan and observed few moments of silence and remembrance there.
The building that used to be the upscale eatery no longer houses it; rather remains a ghostly locked structure of mortars and brick. A statue—built on to commemorate the terrorist attack—in front of the building reminds a passerby and onlooker what happened here.
Chief of Counter-terrorism and Transnational Crime Unit Monirul Islam, Director General of Rapid Action Battalion Benazir Ahmed and a team of Dhaka Metropolitan Police placed floral wreaths on the premises.
Relatives and friends of the deceased were also seen there as the premises.
The Holey Artisan building complex remained open to visitors for four hours from 10 am to 2 pm yesterday. A dais covered in white will be set up for the anniversary so that people can place flower wreaths to honour the victims.
Agnese Barolo an Italian Citizen also the wife of Gowher Rizvi, International Relation Affairs Adviser to the prime minister told the media that the attack of Holey Artisan does not prove Bangladesh as a militant country. The people of Bangladesh are very peaceful. They do not like this type of activities. A small group of people did this.
She remembered the night of the attack and said that her acquaintances were there that night. One of her friend Claudia was in the Holey Artisan. Some hoe she survived. However, she returned to Italy but came back and works here.
“We love Bangladesh,” she said.
Benazir Ahmed, director general (DG) of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) paid homage and told the media that militancy is a global problem.
People of our country must be cautious until the militancy is fully eradicated worldwide, said the DG.
The RAB boss said that those who were involved in the incident of Holey Artisan are wiped out by law enforcers. Worldwide terrorist attacks are happening. Only in 2018, there were 129 militant attacks happened in Europe. This shows that militants have not been completely eradicated.
After the RAB DG, Monirul Islam, Chief of DMP Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) also paid his homage.
The CTTC chief, however, said that all neo-JMB (Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh) members involved in the incident were killed and others were arrested.
He hoped that the trial process of the incident is expected to be completed soon.
He mentioned that the CTTC units are working so that such incidents do not repeat.
Meanwhile, Maksuda Begum, mother of Zakir Hossain Shaon who used to work at the Holey Artisan Café.
He was picked up by the law enforcing agency right after the attack on suspicion of his involvement and later died in police custody. – Staff Reporter
