“Pray for me, Ma, I am going on an operation against the criminals tomorrow afternoon.” Soldier Titas Sheikh asked his mother for her prayers and hung up. Nobody knew those words would be the last she heard from her son. Now she clutches his photograph to her chest and wails, his wife has broken down in tears and his father has fallen silent.
On Friday morning (6 November), at the soldier’s home in Laskardia village of Nagarkanda upazila in Faridpur, the whole family was numb with grief. His mother, Rekha Begum, kept breaking down with her son’s photo held to her chest. His wife, Sumaiya Akhter, wept for her husband, and his father, Afzal Sheikh, sat speechless at the loss of his son.
According to the family, Titas joined the army in 2017. He had planned to take his wife to live with him at his posting in December, a hope that will now never be fulfilled. Titas was the eldest of two brothers and a sister, and his death has cast a shadow of grief over his family and relatives.
Rezwana Arfin, the Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) of Nagarkanda, said Titas would be given a guard of honour with state honours by 4pm, after the army’s formalities. He will then be buried in the family graveyard in the village.
His family, relatives and neighbours are grieving the death of Titas Sheikh, who lost his life ensuring the safety of the country’s people. On one side is pride in a brave soldier who gave his life for the country; on the other, the deep pain of losing a son, a husband and a brother. Between the two, his village home has fallen silent.
Shama Obaed Islam Rinku, MP for Faridpur-2 and state minister for foreign affairs, has expressed deep grief and condolences at the death of Titas Sheikh.
Titas Sheikh, 28, of Laskardia village in Nagarkanda upazila, Faridpur, was serving at the army camp in Rangikhali, Teknaf. On Thursday afternoon (5 November) he was shot and wounded by hill-based armed criminals during a joint forces operation against a human trafficking ring. He died at 8:48pm while being treated at the Combined Military Hospital in Ramu.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report