Neighborhood Folks
Mohammed Rashid
Survivor of Indo-Pak war
From Dhaka, Bangladesh to Midwood, Brooklyn, NYC
“We have to kill you.”
Mohammed Rashid is from Dhaka, capitol city of Bangladesh. I met him about ten years ago at the New York Blood Center in Brooklyn, where he works as a blood specialist. Rashid came to New York in 1990. His father and uncle had a large house in the countryside of East Pakistan and gave shelter to freedom fighters against the government soldiers during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 that separated Pakistan from Bangladesh. His brother was a worker in the civil air force. Home on vacation during a furlough, brother and father were shopping at their weekly village market when a couple of government soldiers followed them, tracking down Rashid’s brother.
“Where is your son?” He was behind father.
They said “We have to kill you” & he said “So kill me.”
Rashid was sixteen years old at the time. His Father developed heart problems afterwards and died. His mother became blind after so much crying.
Rashid lives with his family in the Midwood section of Brooklyn in a Pakistani/Bangladesh neighborhood.