‘Every time he wakes up, he cries out in pain’

Twenty three-year-old Md Yasin, a pickup van helper, was struck by a bullet on July 19, when he went to a nearby grocery store in an alley close to his house.
Fired from a distance, with tremendous force and speed, the bullet first pierced his wallet, then his hip and finally exited through his stomach.
He is now fighting for his life at Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital in the capital.
On that evening, there was a clash going on between quota reform protesters and law enforcement agencies in the Rayerbazar area, near the Martyred Intellectuals Memorial.
Yasin, who lives in Rayerbazar area with his brother Md Mizan, a day labourer, said, “I had no idea there was a clash going on.”
“I was buying vegetables from a shop close to my house, which was far from the main road. Suddenly, I was hit by a bullet.”
“The bullet first went through my wallet which was wrapped inside my lungi, then my hip, and finally exited through my lower abdomen,” he added.
Bystanders quickly took him to Suhrawardy hospital, where doctors performed a two-and-a-half-hour colostomy surgery.
He is now on a colostomy bag to manage his bodily waste, the duty doctor told The Daily Star.
He required four bags of blood during the operation.
Yasin, the youngest of three siblings, is being accompanied by his father, Rouf Shikder, and his brother, Md Mizan.
“My son has been very anxious since the incident and keeps asking when he will recover. Every time he wakes up, he cries out in pain,” said his father, who came all the way from Nazirpur upazila of Pirojpur.
Yasin’s brother Mizan mentioned that despite promises of free treatment, they have already spent Tk 1 lakh, borrowed from others.
“We are very poor, and our family relies on our income, which is currently halted. We don’t know if things will improve,” said Mizan.