Shahbag Movement: The Expatriate Perspective

Zahidul Islam, Fahim Hassan, Ishtiaq Rouf, Rumana Reaz Arifin, 
Munawar Hafiz, Shantanu Banik, and Nafis Hasan 

We are expatriate Bangladeshis. Like the ordinary people of Bangladesh, we hold Bangladesh deep inside our hearts. That is exactly why, when we spend sleepless nights watching Bangladesh win in cricket, or the younger generation excelling at the math olympiads, we are as proud as ordinary Bangladeshis. Then again, when we hear of the corruption in Bangladesh through national and foreign media, we are ashamed, just like everybody else. When floods and cyclones ravage our country, we try our best to help those in need in Bangladesh. It's as if our whole existence is painted with red and green, the essence of my, our Bangladesh.

We are the constituents of that generation which didn't see the liberation war. We are the representatives of that generation who grew up reading the wrong and distorted history depicted in our textbooks. We are that unfortunate generation who saw the war criminals representing Bangladesh on both domestic and foreign soil. It is because we are members of such a generation, when we see the war criminals put on trial in our country, we tell others with great pride that even 41 years after our independence, we are going to bring these traitors to justice.