The tale of a ‘collaterally damaged’ people

When death came for Samia Afran Prity - the young student who was shot near Shahjahanpur Amtala Mosque on Thursday night - it was fierce and quick. Even her friend sitting on the same rickshaw did not immediately realise that Prity was gone.

In a blink of an eye, Prity was shot and killed. But she was not a target.

Did the assassin, while indiscriminately firing at AL leader Jahidul Islam Tipu, notice that one of his bullets had struck a girl who he, perhaps, did not intend to kill? Did he inadvertently say, "ouch! what a waste of a bullet!"

We will never know.

But in an increasingly polarised world where bullets settle bilateral issues, score geopolitical goals, or where bullets and muscle power determine winners in the field of politics in so-called democracies around the world, perhaps the 'wastage' of a bullet is more of a legitimate concern than the killing of a person. 

And sorry Prity. Your memories will remain a gaping wound in your parents' heart, but the state and the people will, within the next news cycle, forget you.

Even her father understood how, and to what extent, justice would prove to be elusive. He is so convinced that nobody cares about his daughter's killing that he did not even bother to even file a case.

"Whose punishment will I want? There is no justice. From whom will I seek justice," said the father, also a freedom fighter. 

The murder of Prity was just collateral damage that the city does not have enough time to focus on.

It was perhaps a distraction, or rather an addition to the numbness of a city where millions of people's lives are in a quagmire of soaring inflation that has not only extended the lines before the TCB trucks, it has also robbed the middle class of its 'prestige and status,' made the poor poorer and made life and livelihood uncertain for people in all sectors.

And thanks to what is going on in Eastern Europe, our food inflation today is another 'collateral damage' of the Ukrainian invasion by Russia.

Is your food too pricey? Is soybean oil pricier after continuously rising for over a year? Your transportation too expensive? It is all the fault of the 'evil' Ukraine invasion! You have something safer to blame now.

Also, if you have not considered the domino effect of this crisis, especially that of hiking food prices unfolding in a myriad of other ways, let us talk about the escalating number of mugging, thefts, robberies and snatching in the city, to begin with.

Sketch of Masum Billah

I have personally come across three incidents in the last week. In one case, the snatcher beat one of the victims, whom I personally know, with a rod, before robbing her. She had to be taken to the hospital for treatment.

In fact, early Sunday, a dentist was stabbed to death, allegedly by unidentified muggers in the capital's Shewrapara area.

With food prices rising, theft and snatching are also likely to soar further in the city.

Do you take the bus on your way to the office? Dhaka's buses were always overcrowded. People run after crowded buses to wiggle through with just enough space to place one foot inside the bus, and hold on to something with one hand. The rest of the body simply hangs outside by the door. Yes, the bus conundrum was always there.

But if you take a moment to carefully notice the recent rush and chaos among people to get on a bus, the madness seems to be unmatched. This is because, for many, the days of pleasant rides with Uber and Pathao are gone. Because today, for the middle-class of this city, a paisa saved is a paisa earned.

And why not? The TCB line, even a few months ago, was considered a thing for the poor. Today, queuing up for the TCB lines is the middle class, or those who thought they belong to the middle class but the latest food inflation struck a blow to their preconceived notions of their own social status. They realise now that they are, in fact, just poor people.

And like them, thousands have woken up with their assumptions of their social and financial status robbed all of a sudden.

The universal Ostrich Syndrome (contrary to popular belief, no, the ostrich does not bury their head to hide from predators, they stick their heads into the nest to rotate the eggs) is commonplace in Bangladesh when it comes to asking the right questions of the right person.

The very basic question of why essential commodities' prices kept skyrocketing even long before the Ukraine war was hardly asked of the people in charge.

The people, collaterally damaged in so many ways, chase after the TCB trucks instead of asking the basic questions of why their earning is so little that they cannot even afford a proper education for their children, how the government could plan to double the gas bill, increase water bill again, while living a mediocre life under the existing conditions in Dhaka city has become complicated and extremely difficult.

Unless someone faces a similar fate as Prity's in their own family, people hardly seek answers to why a bereaved father does not seek justice for the killing of her daughter. What happened to our system and what about its accountability? And who would you blame for all that is going on?