Shahriyar Khan Anas

On August 5, Anas, a 10th-grade student, secretly left his house in Gendaria and joined the movement at Chankhanpul. There, he was shot and died. Before leaving the house secretly, Anas wrote a letter to his parents in his school notebook. In the letter, he said:
"If I do not return alive, then be proud. I seek forgiveness for every mistake in my life."
Shahriyar Khan Anas made a decision in his life that forever changed the course of his life and his country. When the entire country was standing on the brink of disaster, full of bloodshed and death, people were afraid to step outside their homes and were too scared to speak out for their rights. But Anas, despite being just a school student, did not think of the dangers ahead. He was thinking of the future, of justice, and of freedom. He was only a teenager by age, but in his heart, he carried the revolution that his country needed so desperately.
How He Became a Martyr
Sheikh Hasina, through her authoritarian rule from 2008 to 2024, has caused misery to countless families. In her effort to solidify her power, she has mercilessly killed innocent children, adolescents, women, men, and those fighting for their rights. Under her orders, tenth-grade student Anas was brutally murdered by her loyal police force. Before joining the quota reform movement, Anas left behind a letter for his parents.
Reading the heartfelt letter written by Anas to his parents has made thousands of people cry. The way Anas became a martyr, and the description of how he was brutally murdered by Sheikh Hasina's infamous police force, would break anyone's heart. The cruelty through which he was killed is something not even seen in a battlefield. It is a severe violation of human rights!
The quota reform movement deeply troubled Anas from the beginning. But he never shared it with his parents. After his death, his father, while turning over all the notebooks on Anas's reading table, saw that Anas had written down his thoughts on quota reform for 7-8 pages in one notebook. This shows that the various steps taken by the students regarding quota reform deeply affected his mind from the beginning.
When the movement gained momentum. When the police league carried out a massacre on the students indiscriminately, Anas's parents became interested in supporting the students. Then Anas's mother and Anas planned to leave the house and join the movement. But every day his father would say, "Not today, another day. You should not go out today, the situation is not safe today." In this way, they could not go to the movement together.
Meanwhile, Anas began to prepare internally, he would go out alone. After being beaten throughout the month of July, the students and the public finally started resisting on August 4. On this day, a long march was called. Then Anas chose the day of August 5 to join the movement. On the night of August 4, before going to sleep, Anas quietly packed some clothes inside his school bag. Along with it, he took some medicine for fever and pain from the medicine box of the house. The next day, at around 9 o'clock in the morning, he left with the school bag, evading the eyes of his parents. Before leaving the house, he wrote an emotional letter to his parents, which has been circulated on social media later.
Leaving the house, Anas came to Tatibazar. Anas was somewhat simple in nature. According to his mother, he did not know the surrounding roads and streets very well. So, he had collected road map from his private tutor (a student of Jagannath University). Anas's mother came to know this information subsequently.
The private tutor brother was telling him that if he went to Tatibazar, there would be many others there, and they would go to Chandkharpool together. Later they would go to the Shaheed Minar and Shahbagh via Bakshibazar and in front of Dhaka Medical. From there, according to the directions, they would start their journey towards Ganabhaban.
When Anas reached Tatibazar, he met some people who were trying to move forward together but could not go forward due to the police obstruction. There Anas asked one person, "Are you going to the movement?" As Anas revealed his desire to them, the students kept him with them. (Among those from whom his mother received the description of that day, there is one from this group.) Finally, they were able to go towards Chandkharpool bypassing the police. As the day progressed, students began to gather there. There Anas met another brother. (Anas's pre-martyrdom story comes out in his description)
That student tells Anas, "Why did you come out with a bag? Such a big bag! What's inside?"
Anas replies, "If I go back home, my parents will not let me go out of the house again. That's why I came out with clothes. If I meet any brother in the movement, I will stay at his house. I will remain in the movement until it is over." (Here, by saying until it is over, Anas probably meant the fall of Sheikh Hasina.)
That brother became impressed by his words and kept Anas with him. Fellow brother also took the bag from Anas's shoulder and kept it with him. After some time, the police fired tear gas at the gathered students, but the students did not back down. Then they started firing rubber bullets like rain. A rubber bullet also hit Anas. Everyone disappeared here and there into the surrounding alleys. At that moment, the student carrying the bag loses Anas. Anas and a few others ran and entered the 9th Nawab Kata Lane of Nimtoli. A very narrow lane. The police sent a drone and see that a few people are staying in this lane. Later, few policemen come inside the lane. In that situation, the boys around took shelter through the gate gaps of the houses as they can, but Anas got stuck. To save their lives, all the house owners locked their gates, and all the shop shutters were also closed. Helpless Anas stood alone adjacent to a shop shutter trembling in fear.
At that moment, the police fired from close range. The first bullet hit the shop shutter, and the second one struck his chest. After being shot, Anas, holding his chest, took a few steps forward before collapsing onto the road. (The scene where Anas collapsed on the ground was later painted as graffiti on a wall by the locals). When Anas's letter went viral, his parents were informed about this graffiti.
After the police left for the main road, students who had been taking shelter near various house gates rescued Anas and took him to Mitford Hospital. But by that time, Anas had already passed away. The police under the command of the ousted Premier Sheikh Hasina became so cruel that they shot a trembling boy point-blank.
A student carrying Anas’s bag searched for him. Meanwhile, Anas's bullet-ridden body was at the hospital. The people who took him to the hospital checked his pockets and found a button phone. Anas used the phone to play games and had no SIM card. In the contact list, there were 4-5 saved numbers, including his parents’, grandfather’s, and uncle’s. They called his mother’s number from there.
At exactly 1:18, Anas's mother received a call from an unfamiliar number. Upon answering, she heard, “Did anyone from your family go to the protest?” Anas’s mother replied, “My son went out without informing us.” The voice on the other end told her, “You need to come to Mitford Hospital urgently. He has been injured and is in critical condition.” But by that time, Anas had already become a martyr. His mother had not yet been told about his death.
Upon hearing about her son's injury, his anxious parents rushed to Mitford Hospital. There, they saw Anas's lifeless body wrapped in the national flag on a stretcher. Blood kept flowing from his chest, and his white clothes had turned red. His parents, devastated by the sight of their son’s state, were inconsolable. The sounds of his father’s cries gathered everyone around the hospital.
Unable to find an ambulance, the parents, both supporting their son’s body, finally took a rickshaw and headed home. Anas’s funeral prayer was performed alongside another martyr, Sheikh Mehedi, from the same area. He was buried in his grandmother's grave at the Jurain graveyard.
Anas’s mother, Sanjida Khan Dipti, says,
"When I came back home with my son’s body, there was no blood left in him. My son’s blood was scattered all over the streets of the city."
Anas was a tenth-grade student in the science department of Ideal Academy in Jatrabari, Gendaria. His full name was Shahriar Khan Anas. He dreamed to become an engineer when he grew up. He was only 16 years old. At such a young age, he sacrificed his life for us, for this country.
Before going to the movement, Anas wrote a letter to his parents and left it in his books on his study table. The letter was first discovered by Anas's cousin, Anchol, and later went viral on social media. The letter, collected from Anas's mother, is presented here as an archive for the future:
"Mom, I’m going to the rally. I could no longer hold myself back. Sorry, Abbujaan. I disobeyed you and went. I couldn’t stay home like a selfish. Our brothers are going to the streets wearing the shroud for the future of our generations. They are sacrificing their lives without hesitation. If a disabled child, a 7-year-old, or a limping person can join the struggle, then why should I stay home? We all have to die one day. So just because of the fear of death, I cannot stay at home.
It's better to die fighting for the cause. The person who sacrifices their life for others is a true human being. If I do not return, do not feel sad, but be proud. I seek forgiveness for every mistake in my life." – Anas
Anas’s letter carries immense weight in just a few words. None of us have the strength to bear such weight. As long as justice is not served for Anas’s killers, we remain indebted to the blood of Anas.
Anas's father, Shahriar Khan Palash, says: "My son was very polite. He dreamt of becoming an engineer. But he never got to become one. The police's bullet took away his life. May my son receive the honor and recognition from of the state as a martyr.
Personal Information of the Shaheed at a Glance
Name : Shahriar Khan Anas
Occupation : Student, Class: 10th, Gendaria Ideal Academy, Department: Science
Father : Shahriar Khan Palash
Mother : Sanjida Khan Dipti
Date of Birth : 14th October 2007
Address : 12 No. Kabiraj Goli, Patuatol, Gendaria, Dhaka
Date of Injury and Martyrdom : 5th August 2024
Place of Martyrdom : 9 No. Nawab Kater Goli, Nimtili, Chankharpul, Dhaka
Assailant : Police
Buried : Jurain Graveyard, in the grave of his grandmother
Home and Property Status : The family is residing in a rented house in Dhaka
Proposal:
1.Provide monthly and one-time financial assistance