"After the killing of Sharif Osman Hadi in December and the funeral that drew hundreds of thousands of people into the heart of Dhaka, the nation briefly convulsed with grief. Then, as it almost always does, the emotion receded. Even martyrdom has a shelf life in public memory. Ordinary people, burdened by survival, do not grieve indefinitely. Mourning fades and life intrudes. Bangladesh has seen this before."
"Take Abu Sayeed, the first martyr of the July uprising of 2024 that led to then-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's ouster. The image of him standing with outstretched arms, absorbing police [rubber] bullets as if to arrest history itself, has already entered the country's visual canon. It is painted on walls, reproduced in murals, stylised in art and embalmed in textbooks. Sayeed's image is immortal. His grief is not."
"There is also a harsher truth. Abu Sayeed's death, in every grimly practical sense, achieved closure. His martyrdom sparked the mass uprising that eventually toppled Hasina's dictatorial regime, which had ruled for more than a decade and a half through force, and the systematic stripping of political and human agency. Sayeed's sacrifice served a utilitarian purpose. History moved. His chapter, however tragic, is complete. Hadi's death is not."
Sharif Osman Hadi's killing in December produced a funeral that drew hundreds of thousands to Dhaka and provoked intense national grief. Public mourning typically recedes because ordinary people, burdened by survival, cannot grieve indefinitely amid inflation, insecurity, and daily demands. Abu Sayeed became an iconic martyr after the July 2024 uprising; his image is immortalized in murals and textbooks, but his personal sorrow has faded for most. Sayeed's death achieved closure by sparking a mass uprising that toppled Sheikh Hasina's regime. Hadi's martyrdom remains unresolved more than a month later, fueling sustained, emotionally charged public response.
Read at www.aljazeera.com
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