Honouring a fallen son
It was around noon. The rotors of a special helicopter churned through the heavy gloom at Shaheed Miraj-Tapan Stadium in Manikganj.
Squadron Leader Asim Jawwad, a sword of honour winning pilot in Bangladesh Air Force, landed in his hometown from Chattogram in his favorite chopper.
But he was not on the pilot’s seat.
Instead, his lifeless body arrived in a coffin, draped in the national flag, where a sea of grief-stricken family members and locals were waiting. Many were seen shedding tears.
Immediately after the landing, his father Mohammad Amanullah, wife Antara Akhtar and two children — six year old daughter and one-year-old son — descended from the aircraft with the help of BAF members.
Jawwad’s mother Nilufar Khanum was not in any state to make a journey to Chattogram in order to receive the remains of her beloved son and bring him home.
She has been in an inconsolable state since the news of the tragedy reached her home in Manikganj on Thursday. She could not even walk. Jawwad’s relatives carried her on their shoulders. She kept on crying, “My son, my son”.
She was taken inside the chopper before BAF officials brought out the body on their shoulders to keep in a freezing van kept outside.
Jawwad died after a YAK130 trainer fighter jet of BAF crashed into the Karnaphuli river in Chattogram’s Patenga on Thursday morning when it was returning to base post-training.
He along with another pilot Wing Commander Sohan Hasan Khan ejected from the plane and landed in the river with emergency parachutes. Pilot Sohan survived but he could not.
A 35-second video clip of the incident showed that fire broke out in the tail of the fighter jet. Within seconds, the two pilots ejected with parachutes. The damaged aircraft sank in the river.
“Never did I imagine he [Jawad] would leave me and his mother so soon…,” Jawad’s father Amanullah said while speaking over the loudspeaker before the third namaz-e-janaja held at the stadium.
“As a doctor, I’ve seen many bodies, performed countless operations… Yet, when I heard Asim ejected from the plane, I clung to hope. I rushed to Chattogram the moment I learned of the incident, but realised [after going there] what awaited us,” he said, his voice shaking.
Amanullah took a breath and started saying again, “Despite knowing the dangers, I supported him dream of joining the air force as he would fly for his country.”
“His mother, however, always opposed it. But I honoured his passion and dream,” he said.
Asim’s relatives said his parents wanted him to become a doctor or engineer. However, from a young age, he wanted to reach the stars by becoming a pilot.
Despite getting chances at institutions like BUET and government medical colleges, he chose to take to the skies, joining the BAF to fulfill his lifelong dream.
Following the third janaza prayers at the stadium, the distinguished officer was laid to rest at a district town graveyard with state honours.
Before that, the body was taken to the parade ground of Bangladesh Air Force Base Bashar. He was given a guard of honour after the second janaza there. Top officials of the three forces were present there to pay respect.
He joined the BAF on January 10, 2010, and was commissioned in the GD (P) branch on December 1, 2011.
He was awarded the “Chief of Air Staff’s Trophy for Best in Flying” during a course conducted by the Indian Air Force.
LondonGBDESK//
Comments are closed.