Nazrul Islam, Pobitro Chandra, and Aminur Islam hail from different villages in the Gopalpur upazila of Tangail. Hailing from impoverished families, they each sought a livelihood in Russia by either taking out loans or mortgaging their ancestral land. However, trapped by fraudulent syndicates, none of them found legitimate work; instead, they were forced into the Russia-Ukraine warzone to be used as 'bait.' All three of them perished in drone attacks.
They are among the 20 young men who died on the battlefield out of a total of 30 youths who were deceived after traveling to Russia for employment. Mohammad Shihab, the nephew of the deceased Nazrul Islam, told Chitra Post that their last conversation with his uncle took place on July 29. Nazrul had said, 'They are sending us to the war. Please take care of my mother and my children.' Later, the family received the news of his death from individuals who had traveled to Russia with him.
Nazrul Islam leaves behind two brothers and three sisters. While all three sisters are married, the two brothers lived together in a joint family. Their inherited land had not yet been divided. To finance Nazrul's trip to Russia, his elder brother mortgaged this undivided land to a local individual for Tk 9 lakh. Before this, Nazrul had also worked in Saudi Arabia.
Nazrul's nephew mentioned that following the news of his uncle's death on the Russian battlefield reaching the village, the person holding the mortgage is now demanding equivalent land if the family fails to repay the cash. He shared that the 40-year-old Nazrul was married twice and had two sons, aged 15 and 10, from his first marriage. Although he was separated from his first wife, he maintained contact with his children.
