Three years after the deadly terror attack at the Holey Artisan café at Gulshan, the family members and friends of the victims gathered at the site yesterday to pay homage and observe a few moments of silence. The chief of Counter-terrorism and Transnational Crime Unit, Monirul Islam, the director general (DG) of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), Benazir Ahmed, and a team of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) officers also placed floral wreaths at the site.
The original two-storey lakeside restaurant used to be an upscale eatery, but today it remains a ghostly locked structure. A statue built in front of the building to commemorate the ghastly attack reminds passers-by and onlookers of the tragedy that took place there.
Yesterday, the Holey Artisan building remained open to visitors for four hours from 10 am to 2 pm.
A dais covered in white will be set up for the anniversary so that people can place flower wreaths to honour the victims.
Agnese Barolo, an Italian citizen and also wife of Gowher Rizvi, international relation affairs adviser to the Prime Minister, told the media that the attack at Holey Artisan did not prove that Bangladesh was a militant country. “The people of
Bangladesh are very peaceful. They do not like these type of activities. A small group of people did this,” she said.
Remembering the night of the attack, she said some of her acquaintances were there. “One of my friends, Claudia, was in the restaurant that night. Somehow she survived. She returned home to Italy, but later came back and again started working here,” she added. “We love Bangladesh,” she asserted. The RAB DG told the media that militancy was a global problem. “The people of our country must be cautious until militancy is fully eradicated worldwide,” he said.
Ahmed said those involved in the Holey Artisan incident were wiped out by the law enforcers. “Terrorist attacks are happening worldwide. In 2018 alone, there were 129 militant attacks in Europe. This shows that militancy has not been completely eradicated,” he added.
On his part, Monirul Islam said all the neo-JMB (Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh) members involved in the incident were killed and others were arrested.
He mentioned that CTTC units were working hard so that such incidents were not repeated in the country. He also expressed hope that the trial process of the incident will be completed soon.
Also yesterday, Maksuda Begum, mother of Zakir Hossain Shaon who used to work at the Holey Artisan Café, came to the site to demand justice. Shaon (19) was picked up by law enforcers right after the attack on suspicion of his involvement in the attack. He later died in police custody two days later.
“Who will answer me why my son was killed?” she asked journalists gathered at the site.
“We didn’t get justice because we are poor,” she added.
Everything changed on the evening of July 1, 2016, when five militants entered the Holy Artisan Café and Bakery armed with guns, grenades, explosives and machetes and took several dozen people hostage, including 18 foreigners. As many as 20 people—nine Italians, seven Japanese, one Indian, one Bangladeshi-born American and two Bangladeshis—were killed in the terror attack.
Also, two senior police officers—Banani Police Station officer-in-charge (OC) Salauddin Ahmed Khan and Detective Branch (DB) assistant commissioner Robiul Islam—were shot dead when police tried to gain control of the bakery.
The attack was so horrific and shocking that the name Holey Artisan itself has come to symbolise horror and tragedy in the country. Six months after the militant attack, Holey Artisan Bakery was reopened on a small scale on the second floor of Gourmet Bazar of the Arcade Ranges at Gulshan Avenue 2. At present, there is a bakery here, similar to the one that was there two years ago.
The staffers of the original café had inspired the owners to reopen the restaurant within six months of the terrorist attack. The owners reopened it on January 10, 2017.