A Bangladeshi politician spoke on Tuesday of his horror to learn that his son was among the suspects who murdered foreigners at a Dhaka cafe, and said many young men from wealthy, educated families we
A Bangladeshi politician spoke on Tuesday of his horror to learn that his son was among the suspects who murdered foreigners at a Dhaka cafe, and said many young men from wealthy, educated families were going missing.
Imtiaz Khan Babul said his 22-year-old son Rohan Imtiaz, who was killed when commandos stormed the cafe on Saturday, had been a top-scoring student whose behaviour gave no hint he was radicalised before he disappeared in December.
“I was stunned and speechless to learn that my son had done such a heinous thing,” a tearful Mr Babul said.
“I don’t know what changed him. There was nothing that would suggest that he was getting radicalised. He hardly read any religious books.”
Mr Babul, an official with the ruling Awami League party, said he had not seen his Rohan since he travelled to India in December with his wife, leaving the couple’s three children in Dhaka.
In the months that followed Rohan’s disappearance, Mr Babul lobbied senior party officials to help find his only son and even scoured the city’s morgues. As he searched, he met other families who had suffered the same fate.
“I met so many parents whose boys had gone missing,” he said. “Even yesterday, one of them was saying that I was lucky that I got the body of my boy. Some of them are not so lucky.” Mr Babul said he believed his son may have been “brainwashed” on the Internet.
