PETRAPOLE/KOLKATA: Shahid Ali, his legs broken, stared at the roof of the ambulance waiting to cross the Petrapole border Tuesday and contemplated if he could have done something different. No, he would — if it came to that — again jump from the second floor of a hotel balcony, just as he did the previous day in Bangladesh’s Jessore to escape what he thought was certain death.
Shahid, 36, from Assam was in his room in the hotel owned by an Awami League functionary when a mob set fire to the building. His leap of faith saved him while 24 of those trapped inside Zabeer International Hotel died.
“The first and ground floors were ablaze,” Shahid said. “I was lucky to land on the tin roof of a shop below. My brother Faizan, who was outside, escaped with a few burns. We are so relieved to be out of Bangladesh,” he said.
At the Petrapole integrated checkpoint near Bongaon in Bengal’s North 24-Parganas, the air was rife with tales of dramatic escapes. Some trekked through the night, others hitch-hiked till the checkpoint, a few spent thousands of rupees for rickety rickshaw rides, and scores slept at a bus terminus across the border in the hope of boarding the first available vehicle home.
In a village tucked away amid the verdant tea gardens in Sylhet, a Hindu family of six taking refuge in the neighbourhood temple since Monday evening got to know that a mob was on its way. A group of Muslim villagers stealthily moved the family to the local mosque and cordoned off the temple to protect it from the vandals. The family was escorted to a border area a few kilometres away, from where they embarked on a trek through hilly terrain to reach India.
“We are safe and back in India. End of story,” said another Indian employed with a company engaged in infrastructure projects in Brahmanbaria. “We decided to pack up and leave after hearing that the house of a Hindu co-worker was set on fire in Khulna,” he said on entering Tripura with 15 colleagues.
A company vehicle had dropped them some distance from the border checkpoint in Akhaura. The group covered the remaining distance on foot. “We switched off our phones to avoid giving away our identities inadvertently through conversations. We were scared and took every precaution not to draw attention,” the man said.
In Petrapole, Ahmedabad resident Ghulam Mohammed Sheikh recounted hopping from one rickshaw to another — eight in all over 60km — and walking another stretch to reach the Benapole border on the Bangladesh side. “Since Sunday, I saw cars and buildings set ablaze and people moving with weapons openly on the streets of Dhaka,” he said.
Piyas Adhikari, a resident of Duttapukur in North 24-Parganas, crossed the border with his mother Shilpi around afternoon. They had reached Bangladesh on tourist visas last week to meet relatives. “Seeing the situation deteriorate rapidly, we decided to head back home. Although our relative’s home wasn’t attacked, others in the neighbourhood received threats,” said Adhikari. They took the first bus out of Jessore to reach Benapole.
Manoranjan Roy, a Bangladeshi Rajbanshi tribal, hid in a pit along with his family at Nilphamari in Rangpur. Roy sent voice messages to his sister Prabhati Barman, a resident of Jalpaiguri in north Bengal, about wanting to come to India. “Armed men attacked houses in Nilphamari and also ransacked my elder brother’s house. He and my other brothers all want to come here,” she said.
Shahid, 36, from Assam was in his room in the hotel owned by an Awami League functionary when a mob set fire to the building. His leap of faith saved him while 24 of those trapped inside Zabeer International Hotel died.
“The first and ground floors were ablaze,” Shahid said. “I was lucky to land on the tin roof of a shop below. My brother Faizan, who was outside, escaped with a few burns. We are so relieved to be out of Bangladesh,” he said.
At the Petrapole integrated checkpoint near Bongaon in Bengal’s North 24-Parganas, the air was rife with tales of dramatic escapes. Some trekked through the night, others hitch-hiked till the checkpoint, a few spent thousands of rupees for rickety rickshaw rides, and scores slept at a bus terminus across the border in the hope of boarding the first available vehicle home.
In a village tucked away amid the verdant tea gardens in Sylhet, a Hindu family of six taking refuge in the neighbourhood temple since Monday evening got to know that a mob was on its way. A group of Muslim villagers stealthily moved the family to the local mosque and cordoned off the temple to protect it from the vandals. The family was escorted to a border area a few kilometres away, from where they embarked on a trek through hilly terrain to reach India.
“We are safe and back in India. End of story,” said another Indian employed with a company engaged in infrastructure projects in Brahmanbaria. “We decided to pack up and leave after hearing that the house of a Hindu co-worker was set on fire in Khulna,” he said on entering Tripura with 15 colleagues.
A company vehicle had dropped them some distance from the border checkpoint in Akhaura. The group covered the remaining distance on foot. “We switched off our phones to avoid giving away our identities inadvertently through conversations. We were scared and took every precaution not to draw attention,” the man said.
In Petrapole, Ahmedabad resident Ghulam Mohammed Sheikh recounted hopping from one rickshaw to another — eight in all over 60km — and walking another stretch to reach the Benapole border on the Bangladesh side. “Since Sunday, I saw cars and buildings set ablaze and people moving with weapons openly on the streets of Dhaka,” he said.
Piyas Adhikari, a resident of Duttapukur in North 24-Parganas, crossed the border with his mother Shilpi around afternoon. They had reached Bangladesh on tourist visas last week to meet relatives. “Seeing the situation deteriorate rapidly, we decided to head back home. Although our relative’s home wasn’t attacked, others in the neighbourhood received threats,” said Adhikari. They took the first bus out of Jessore to reach Benapole.
Manoranjan Roy, a Bangladeshi Rajbanshi tribal, hid in a pit along with his family at Nilphamari in Rangpur. Roy sent voice messages to his sister Prabhati Barman, a resident of Jalpaiguri in north Bengal, about wanting to come to India. “Armed men attacked houses in Nilphamari and also ransacked my elder brother’s house. He and my other brothers all want to come here,” she said.
