A father lost forever

Two-year-old Masura Islam Taskia, daughter of slain lawyer Saiful Islam Alif, remains oblivious to the tragedy that has shaken her family.

Unaware that her father is gone forever, the little girl clings to her mother, Ishrat Jahan Tarin, who is four months pregnant and too devastated to speak.

Saiful, a former student of law at International Islamic University Chittagong and a practicing lawyer since 2018, was from Lohagara upazila. He married Tarin in 2021, and the couple resided with their daughter in the family's village home.

But later, Saiful moved to a rented house in Chawkbazar's DC Road area where he lived with friends.

Saiful was murdered during a violent clash between police, lawyers, and followers of former ISKCON leader Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari near the Rangam Convention Hall, adjacent to the Chattogram Court Building yesterday.

Tasnimul Hasan Jaki, Saiful's nephew said, "We didn't know anything about the incident until we received a call from Chittagong Medical College Hospital around 3:45pm. By the time we reached the hospital, he was already dead."

Saiful was the fourth of seven siblings. He got married a few years ago, said his elder sister, Jannat Ara Begum.

"My brother was honest and always stood against injustice," she said.

"His two-year-old daughter has lost her father, and his unborn child will never meet him. This pain is unbearable," she said, demanding justice for his murder.

Saiful's father, Jamal Uddin, was seen repeatedly collapsing in grief outside the CMCH morgue.

"I want justice for my son. I demand punishment for his killers," he cried.

As his family mourns the loss of a husband, father, and brother, they continue to demand accountability for the brutal killing.