‘Don’t go to bring dad back without me’

“None of you should go to bring Dad back without me. I want to go and bring him home too.”

Those were the words of 11-year-old Kawsar, the eldest son of Shahed Ahmed Ashik, a Bangladeshi man killed in a bombing in Saudi Arabia.

Kawsar spoke to his relatives on Sunday evening (October 11). He has only been told that something has happened to his father. He still does not know that his father will never call out to him again — and that when he returns home, it will be in a lifeless body. Ashik also leaves behind a six-year-old son, Abdullah.

Ashik was from Madla village in Shajahanpur upazila of Bogura district. His father is Rafiqul Islam and his mother, Shahera Begum.

Ashik left Bogura for Saudi Arabia on Friday evening, August 9. The following day, Saturday, August 10, at around 5pm Bangladesh time, he called his wife, Kohinoor Akter Kakoli, from King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh. It was the last time she spoke to her husband. He was subsequently killed in a bombing at the airport.

Speaking to Views Bangladesh, Ashik’s wife, Kohinoor Akter Kakoli, said her husband had returned to Bangladesh after two years and spent a month on leave. After his leave ended, he arrived in Saudi Arabia on Saturday afternoon and called her. Breaking down in tears, she said that conversation was the last time she would ever hear her husband’s voice.

Ashik’s cousin, Masum Rana, told Views Bangladesh that Ashik had been living in Saudi Arabia since 2013. His father had been working there for more than two decades. About three months ago, Ashik’s mother travelled to Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah. After completing the pilgrimage, she was staying with her husband in Dammam.

Masum Rana said Ashik lived in Jeddah, where he worked as a plumber for a company. He had arrived at Riyadh airport and was waiting to travel onward to Jeddah when the bombing occurred. He was killed in the attack.

Rana said Ashik’s young sons could not understand that their father was dead. Kawsar kept repeating that no one should go to bring his father home without him. The boy had understood only that his father was in danger.

Sub-Inspector Nasir of the Kaigari police outpost in Shajahanpur, Bogura, said he had visited Ashik’s home and made inquiries, confirming the report of his death.

According to the report, the casualties occurred in a missile and drone attack by Houthi rebels on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Ashik was among those killed.