Youths like Faraaz don't give in to fear: Nasim

Ruling Awami League presidium member and Health Minister Mohammed Nasim yesterday lauded Faraaz Ayaaz Hossain, saying the ones like Faraaz never give in to fear.

“Brave Bangalee sons like Faraaz are never scared of anything. The daring ones like him overcame every fear and liberated the country,” he said. 

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Nasim, also the spokesperson for the AL-led 14-party alliance, was speaking at a discussion at the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) in the city.

The programme was organised to mark the 41st death anniversary of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

Faraaz, grandson of Latifur Rahman and Shahnaz Rahman and son of Simeen Hossain and Waquer Hossain, was brutally killed along with 19 other hostages in the terrorist attack on the Holey Artisan Bakery on July 1.

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

The student of Economics at Emory University in Atlanta, US, Faraaz was given the choice of walking free from the café under siege. But he chose to stay on 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 on the dreadful night.

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

"The peace-loving people of this country don't want any terror activity and that's why no one participated in the namaj-e-janaza of the militants. The parents also did not want to receive the bodies,” he said.

He alleged that the evil forces of 1971 and 1975 were still hatching conspiracies against the country at a time when it was making progress.

Speaking at the programme, Emeritus Professor Dr Anisuzzaman said one of the reasons behind the rise of militancy in Bangladesh was moving away from Bangabandhu's dream for a golden Bangladesh.

BSMMU Vice-chancellor Professor Kamrul Hasan Khan chaired the discussion that was attended by, among others, State Minister for Health Zahid Malik.