Faraaz sacrifices his life for friendship

Desk Report: Faraaz Ayaaz Hossain was among the 20 hostages who were killed by some gunmen during the Gulshan restaurant siege.

Faraaz, a student at Emory University in Atlanta of the US, went to Holey Artisan Bakery and O’ Kitchen Restaurant in the city’s upscale diplomatic heart of Gulshan with two foreign friends-- Abinta Kabir and Tarishi Jain.

Abinta Kabir was a US citizen and also a student of Emory University, and Tarishi Jain was an Indian and a student of the University of California, Berkeley.

The restaurant came under attack on Friday evening by gunmen who shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’ while launching the assault. The gunmen took all the people inside the restaurant hostages.

According to a report of New York Times on Saturday, the gunmen targeted only foreigners. At one stage, they started releasing Bangladeshis.

Faraaz was also offered a release, but he instead chose to remain back with the friends with whom he had gone to the Holey Artisan Bakery on the dreadful July 1.

When the gunmen came to know about the women’s citizenship they refused to release them. They however allowed Faraaz to flee, according to a freed hostage.

Businessman Rezaul Karim, whose son, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren were taken hostage but later freed, told risingbd.com: “My daughter-in-law told me that she heard a Bangladeshi youth refused to leave the restaurant when militants offered to free him.”

“They wouldn’t let two of his friends go,” he said.

Later, Faraaz was found dead inside the restaurant.

News of Faraaz’s courage has earned him respect on the social media as well. Many have flooded Facebook in rich tributes to the 20-year-old youth and his ideology.

Faraaz was the grandson of Latifur Rahman, chairman of Transcom Group, and Shahnaz Rahman. He was the son of Simeen Hossain and Muhammad Waquer Bin Hossain.

risingbd/Dhaka/July 3, 2016/Saif/Amirul