Day 11 in Dhaka

Jan 22, 2012

During this trip I met an extra ordinary, inspiring and energetic young man named Khalid Hussain. He was introduced to me by my friend, Hannah Sholder of UC Berkeley. Khalid is an Urdu speaking youth, who was born and brought up in the Geneva camp of Mohammadpur, Dhaka, Bangladesh. His life story is the story of partition. Here is Khalid's story in his words.

Khalid Hussain in Italy at the UNESCO Leadership Training

My name is Khalid. I was born on Aug 21, 1981 in the Geneva camp in Dhaka, Bangladesh. My father's name is Mohammad Siraj. He was a waitor at a hotel. My mother's name is Amena Khatun. My father was 10 years old in 1947. He was from the village Hilsa in Patna, Bihar. My grandfather was a well off man who had grocery stores in Patna and Calcutta. He died at a young age in 1946 of liver sclerosis leaving 3 young children (10, 6 and 9 months) and a young wife behind. 1946 was a scary time in Bihar. Riots broke out frequently, many muslims were killed, women were raped and tortured. When all the male of my family were killed, my grandmother gave my father, Siraj his little bother's hand and asked him to take him to Calcutta to save themselves. And then she jumped into a well with her 9 month old daughter to avoid being raped by the mobs. It was a huge shock for little Siraj to witness such an event. One of the Hindu servants of the family came and hid the two boys in a rice drum for two days and supplied them food and water. Later, he dressed the boys in dhoti (typical Hindu attire) and put them on a train headed for E. Paksitan. The man himself could not accompnay the boys as he was a Hindu and was afraid that the Muslim mobs might kill him.

The train came to Jessore, E. Pakistan. Little Siraj and his brother Riyaj stayed at a refugee camp for a few days. Here, Siraj lost his brother and did not find him for almost a month and half. While looking for his brother, he found a few men that he knew from Bihar. They too looked for Riyaj and found him in an orphanage. The friends from Bihar headed for Naogaon and took the brothers with them. Siraj worked at grocery stores to earn his living. His schooling eneded right there. Later, he moved to Dhaka to earn better wages and found a job at the Jenny Kabab in Dhaka. Mohammad Siraj settled in Dhaka and started his family. He had 2 kids when the liberation war of 1971 broke down. The family sufferred great trauma one more time. My maternal grandmother and her family lived in Naogaon. During the war, everyone except my grandmother and one uncle were killed. One of my aunts who was married 4 days ago, was picked up from her house. She never came home. My father was also picked up and put in the central jail in Dhaka. My mother went to the jail everyday looking for him. Bihari men were tortured and killed in brush fire every night. We were very fortunate that we found him alive with the help of a Bhojpuri officer. But he had deep wounds all over his body. He was severely tortured. After the war, Bangladesh government put all of the Urdu speaking people in various camps all over Bangladesh. My father was given a 8x10 room in the Geneva camp in Mohammadpur in 1972.

My father had 8 children. He promised himself that he would send atleast one of his children to school. I was the youngest and was fortunate enough to go to school. In the beginning, I went to the camp school, later when I went to High School. I was ridiculed by my classmates. We were 10 boys from the camp who attended high school. We were often called, Biharis, Pakistanis and other names. We were made fun of our Bangla and often asked to go back to our country, Pakistan. Yes, it is true that the previous generation opted for Pakistan. But we are born in Bangladesh. We are Bangladeshi by birth. This is our country. This is my home.
After HSC, me and 9 of my friends organized an association called the Association of the Young Generation of the Urdu Speaking Community (AYGUSC). I was the founder president. Many prominent people, such as Ahmed Ilias, Professor C.R. Abrar, Advocate M. I Faruqi helped us. We were becoming aware of our rights ascitizens of Bangladesh. On May 5, 2003 the High Court gave 10 of us the right to vote. It was a historical moment for us, the Urdu Speakign community. Later, the High court ruled that all camp dwellers in Bangladesh are bangladeshis and can vote.

Farhana Afroz meets Khalid Hussain at the Geneva camp in Mohammadpur, Dhaka

One thing we have realized very well and that is, we have to work ourselves to improve our future. No government will come and change things for us. We are encouraging the Urdu speaking Youth of the camps to get education. If we don't get education, we will not be able to leave the camps, if we don't leave the camps, we will not be able to change our future. It has been 40 years since our families started living in these camps. It's time we change out fate.

Farhana's comments:
Khalid Hussain graduated with two degrees in BComm and Law. He is an advocate at the Dhaka Bar Council. Khalid works relentlessly to improve the future of the Urdu speaking community, specially the youth. He represents the Urdu speaking linguistic minority of Bangladesh. He has been awarded many times for his leadership roles. He has been chosen by UNESCO for leadership. Khalid has been to many countries, such as, Italy, Switzerland, USA, Nepal, India.