Mamunur Rashid, 45 is a resident of Atiatali village of Laharkandi Union of Laxmipur Sadar Upazila. He is a son of a poor family. He used to work as a driver of Dhaka Metropolitan Police. The family of the physically challenged mother, wife and child is dependent on his income.
Today, he is paralyzed after being the victim of a barbaric grenade attack on the Awami League rally on August 21, 2004 on Bangabandhu Avenue in Dhaka. Mamunur Rashid was present at the meeting as the driver of a team of Dhaka Metropolitan Police. He lost two legs in a sudden grenade attack. With that he lost the dream of life. Then some more complex diseases settled permanently in his body.
He had to quit his job after the accident. He has lost the ability to work due to various diseases. But he has to run the expenses of his sick mother and three children. So Mamun, a crippled with a paralyzed body, came down with a stick to beg. For the past few years, Mamun, who has been crippled by the cruelty of fate, has been fighting hard to meet all the expenses of the family by begging in the markets of his area.
The families of those killed and injured in the incident received a grant of Tk. 2 to Tk. 10 lakh promised by the current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, but Mamun did not get the grant. No one came forward to help him to get the grant. No one takes his news.
In need of his own medical expenses, on February 1, 2009, Laxmipur Awami League general secretary and now Laxmipur-2 MP Advocate Nur Uddin Chowdhury Nayan appealed to the Prime Minister for financial help Mamun but of no result.
Even though 17 years have passed, the painful memories of that day still burn him terribly.
Mamunur Rashid said he had been driving the Dhaka Metropolitan Police since January 1, 2002. He added that on August 21, 2004, he was standing near the meeting place in a police car. At that time, the man fell on the ground with a sudden grenade attack and was crushed under the feet of the man and was seriously injured. He was seriously injured in different parts of the body including his waist, legs and urethra. The bones of both legs are broken. At that time some people rescued him and admitted him to Rajarbagh Police Line Hospital. But he had to return home as he was unable to get advanced treatment there. Mamun accepted the permanent paralysis in line with the reality.
According to his neighbors, Mamunur Rashid is now crippled due to bad luck. He is living an inhuman life with his mother, wife and three children. Helpless and begging, he is trying to pay for the education of his three children, his own and his crippled mother's treatment and to run the family. He is also having trouble with that. He would have benefited if it had been possible for him and his family to get a place to live with a grant from the Prime Minister.
In this regard, Laharkandi UP Chairman (Acting) of Sadar Upazila Abdus Shahid said that Mamunur Rashid and his mother, who were seriously injured during the grenade attack on August 21, were being given government allowance after every six months. He assured him and his family of further support if needed.