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REWARD FOR BRAVERY

Raise voice against those who do wrong in the name of religion, says Miraz, winner of 2016 Faraaz Hossain Courage Award

Staff Correspondent
Miraz Sardar, a college employee in Madaripur, has been honoured with "Faraaz Hossain Courage Award 2016" in recognition of his act of valour.
"I practise religion and believe in religion. But we need to raise our voice against those
who do wrong in the name of religion," he said yesterday after receiving the award, introduced by PepsiCo Global this year.
Miraz, who was selected from around 500 nominees, said he believes the example of bravery set by Faraaz Ayaaz Hossain would encourage the country's youths to help people in danger.
On June 15 afternoon, Miraz, office assistant of Government Nazimuddin University College in Madaripur, was returning to his rented house on the college compound by his motorbike.
As he crossed the college gate, he saw three youths run towards it and quickly board two auto-rickshaws on the main road outside.
When Miraz reached near his place, the house owner, who had just hurried out of the building, told him that the three were fleeing after hacking college lecturer Ripon Chakraborty.
Without wasting time, Miraz took a local on his motorcycle, and started chasing one of the two auto-rickshaws. He finally caught one of the attackers, Colam Faizullah, a suspected militant.
Yesterday, PepsiCo Chairman and CEO Indra K Nooyi gave a crest and prize money of $ 10,000 to Miraz at the award ceremony in the capital's Radisson Blu Water Garden Hotel.
Brae Founder and Chair Sir Fazle Hasan Abed handed over a certificate to the awardee.
The award has been introduced in recognition of the courage and sacrifice of 20-year-old Faraaz Ayaaz Hossain, who refused to desert his friends and was brutally killed by terrorists during the July 1 terror attack at Holey Artisan Bakery in the capital's Gulshan area.
Terrorists specifically targeted foreigners dining at the Gulshan cate. They were looking for "infidels," taking test as to who could recite verses from the holy Quran and who couldn't.
Faraaz, a brilliant student of Economics at Emory University in Atlanta, US, recited from the holy Quran, and was given the chance to walk out of it all.
But he chose to stay with his friends - Abinta Kabir, a Bangladesh-born US citizen and a student at Emory University, and Tarishi Jain, an Indian student at the University of California, Berkeley - with whom he had gone to the cate on that fateful night.
PepsiCo Global decided to launch the annual Faraaz Hossain Courage Award from this year by setting up a fund of $200,000. This will support a $ 10,000 prize to be awarded annually for the next 20 years.
The purpose of the award is to recognise acts of exceptional courage by individuals setting examples of empathy for fellow human beings and
imbue the Bangladeshi youths with the spirit of bravery, the very spirit that Faraaz symbolises.
The jury that selected the winner is comprised of eminent personalities.
They include Brae Founder and Chairperson Sir Fazle Hasan Abed (chairman of the jury), Bishwo Shahitto Kendro Chairman Prof
Abdullah Abu Sayeed, renowned Tagore exponent Rezwana Choudhury Bannya, Standard Chartered Bank CEO Abrar Anwar, Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Syed Nasim Manzur, American International School teacher Sabahat Jahan, PepsiCo Bangladesh Country Manager Manish Muley, and
Transcom Group Chairman and Faraaz's grandfather Latifur Rahman.
Referring to a speech of Martin Luther King, Abed said darkness cannot drive away darkness, only light can do. Also, hate cannot drive away hate, only love can do.
On one of the darkest nights in Bangladesh's history, Faraaz's courage, loyalty, and love was that light, he noted.
Abed hoped this award would help create in young Bangladeshis extraordinary qualities and values that Faraaz demonstrated in his short life.
Indra K Nooyi said Faraaz was known as a gentle boy, but on that night he was extraordinarily brave to fight the evil. He went beyond his identity of Bangalee or a Muslim, and acted as a true friend.
"Faraaz is Bangladesh. He is more than Bangladesh... Now, more than ever, we need people like Faraaz in Bangladesh... in South Asia and around the world," she said.
Faraaz is the son of Simeen Hossain and Muhammad Waquer Bin Hossain, and grandson of Latifur Rahman and Shahnaz Rahman.
Addressing the ceremony, Latifur Rahman said the July 1 attack was a total shock to the psyche of the nation because it doesn't reflect what Bangladesh is.
People of Bangladesh have an open heart to greet foreigners, he said, adding that Faraaz demonstrated his extraordinary courage and humanity on that very night.
He thanked PepsiCo for coming up with the idea of the award, which would inspire the youths of Bangladesh to be imbued with such values.
Sanjeev Chadha, PepsiCo chief executive officer (Asia, the Middle East and Africa), said he is personally inspired by Faraaz, who singlehandedly changed the narrative of the July 1 attack.
"His story must be told to the world. His story has the power of changing the tide," said Sanjeev, who launched the official website of the award and its Facebook page.
Faraaz's elder brother Zaraif Ayaat Hossain, who moderated the programme, said their mother played the most important role in inculcating in Faraaz the values he demonstrated on the July 1 night.
"You [Faraaz] are a role model,” he said, adding that Faraaz represents true Bangladesh.