As Ruba Ahmed took to stage, the audience in a near-packed auditorium held its breath. Someone whispered, “Abinta Kabir was her only daughter.” A book, titled Abinta Kabir: Mulyabodh O Swapner Nam, on the life of Abinta Kabir, the 19-year-old Bangladeshi national killed in the terror attack in Gulshan area of Dhaka on July 1, 2016 , was released on Friday by Bangladesh Deputy High Commissioner Toufique Hasan and Ms. Ahmed in Kolkata.
“She is my only child, she is the reason why I am here to speak to you…” was the opening sentence of Ms. Ahmed. A report published in The Hindu , soon after Ms Kabir was killed in the July attack, quoting Atlanta-based Emory University, where she was studying, said, “Abinta, who was from Miami, was a rising sophomore at Emory’s Oxford College.” She, along with 20 others —including an Indian Tarishi Jain — was killed in the attack. Ms Ahmed called them “real friends.”
“Faraz Hossain [from the same University] and Tarishi Jain…they all were real friends and stood by each other at the most frightening event of their life...I know nothing will ever change…we are just trying to honour their lives and commitment,” said Ms. Ahmed. Her voice was shaking, while many in the audience could be seen crying.
“She wanted to come back to Bangladesh, always, and work for the underprivileged in the country.,” said Ms Ahmed. One of “Abinta’s dreams” was to start an NGO and work for children.
