National Mourning Day 2016

Fifteenth August 1975 : The unknown chapter of Bangabhaban and Dhaka Cantonment

At 6 in the morning of August 15, 1975 Pronodit Borua, an artiste of Swadhin Bangla Betar, began to pound the gate of my government quarters at 37/C Azimpur Colony so heavily as if he was going to smash it and was hysterically shouting my name. The banging and screaming were so frightful that my neighbour in the opposite quarters (37/D) an officer of the Directorate of Industry who belonged to Sylhet, opened the door simultaneously with me. The man who was from Sylhet said in an irritated tone, “Why are you shouting at this early hour?” Pronodit Borua wept and said in a still louder tone, “You are sleeping? They have killed Bangabandhu and you people are sleeping? On hearing the news the man collapsed. He was a man of heavy frame. Pronodit Borua, my wife and I cradled him and carried him inside his house. His wife began crying. The radio in their house was by now switched on. The radio was beaming the voice of major Dalim “This is Major Dalim on the air. Sheikh Mujib, the Mir Jafar of Bengal, has been assassinated. Sheikh Mujib the Mir Jafar of Bangla has been assassinated. The government of Sheikh Mujib the Mir Jafar has been ousted. A curfew has been clamped all over the country including the city of Dhaka...”
Just as I heard this, a chill ran down my whole body. Pronodit-Da began crying. I immediately came to my house with Pronodit-Da. I switched the radio on. Just then I again heard a rap on the door. As I opened the door I found Rowshan Ara Chowdhury, a distant relative of the eminent politician Mizanur Rahman Chowdhury crying. She used to live at a farther end of the same building. She worked for the Radio as a Programme Producer. I saw her crying fitfully. After entering my room she was still crying. She said, “Then the killers of Bangabandhu will also kill my Uncle Mizan.”
From my telephone she tried a few times to connect Mizan Chowdhury’s house but only “Engaged” tone was heard. She was very upset and failing to make any telephonic contact she left for her home crying. By that time the same declaration of Dalim was being relayed in the voice of the news reader Sarkar Kabir --- “The Mir Jafar of Bengal Sheikh Mujib Sheikh Mujib has been assassinated, curfew has been clamped all over Bangladesh.” Immediately and in a state of great excitement Pronodit-da and I hurried down from the first floor and ran towards Azimpur Orphanage where we took a rickshaw. We told the rickshaw puller, “Rush towards Dhanmondi. He said, “Whoever goes that way is shot down like a game bird. Don’t you know they have killed Bangabandhu? Saying this the bearded rickshaw puller broke into sobs. Hurriedly we took another rickshaw and told the rickshaw puller, “Drive fast. We will pay you as much as you want.”
After I heard chaste Urdu from the murderers in Bangabandhu’s house at Road 32 early in the morning and suffered the abusive term ‘bastard’ flung at me I was left in no doubt that whoever the assassins be, they acted in liaison with Pak military. They have not acted alone. Then the question arose in my mind whether Pakistani forces have arrived in Dhaka in disguise. One reason for our unease was that the daughter of Shaheed Abdul Gafur MP of Khulna, Hosne Ara Ratna, telephoned me from Shamsunnahar Hall the previous night to say that at 9 at night in front of their Hall someone hoisted the Pakistani flag in a tree and then disappeared. In the darkness of night they could not be seen. After the flag was hoisted its white portion bearing the emblem of the crescent and star despite the darkness was spotted by some. Sheikh Kamal was accordingly informed from the Hall. Sheikh Kamal came with a group of students, had the flag brought down and tore it up. I further recalled half-an-hour earlier Pronodit-Da and I heard the slogan ‘Pakistsan Zindabad’ in front of the Balaka Cinema from men dressed in police and military fatigues. The bloody scenes of 71 flashed to my mind. In those days the valiant sons of Mother Bengal numbering hundreds of thousands, immolated themselves chanting “Joy Bangla”, "Joy Bangabandhu” because the clarion call of Bangabandhu “This time the struggle is for independence” stirred their soul. Now that man who was the fount of inspiration is no more. Then what is surprising about truckloads of men dressed in black and another truckload of men in police fatigues chanting the slogan of “Pakistan Zindabad”. Perhaps they have not seen the battle scene. They have not seen how the intrepid Bangalee youths faced Pakistani fire power and got themselves blown to pieces. We could not even bury their dead bodies. Their fellow fighters collected their severed limbs lying all over the battle front, and interred these wrapped in cloth bags. That man whose face inspired hundreds of thousands Freedom Fighters to fight on, in whose name three million Bangalee brothers and sisters embraced martyrdom---that man is no more. When that man has departed, it appeared that the murderers will turn the country into Pakistan.
Pronodit-Da and I tried to phone the Rokkhi Bahini. We could not get the connection. I was then a bachelor. A young Freedom Fighter officer. I had led many daring operations in the battle fronts of ’71 staking my life. I felt within me an urge to become daring again. Shaking with rage and anguish I, accompanied by Pronodit-Da, again set out for Bangabandhu’s home. I thought at least some would come out into the streets in which case we would join in. Or else how are we valiant Freedom Fighters? It was around quarter-to-eight in the morning. We saw small pockets of men at street corners. This time we did not find any police in front of the Balaka Cinema. No one stopped us. As we reached near the Science Laboratory we saw that in the kitchen market adjoining the New Market a group of about 30 to 40 people displaying remarkable courage were wailing and trying to proceed towards Kalabagan. None of them wanted to believe the news of the killing of Bangabandhu. I heard one shopkeeper say “If they have killed Bangabandhu let them kill me also. Let them kill our brothers and sisters.” From a distance I saw a vegetable seller. He left his vegetable basket under care of a someone undid his shirt and beating his breast with his fist ran towards Kalabagan uttering something. I followed him and asked a man about him. The man said “That man has gone mad. 
Samar Sen, High Commissioner of India was in Kolkatta before 15th August tragedy. He entered Dhaka on August 17 evening from Delhi. On Monday, August 18, Sree Samar Sen, arrived in Bangabhaban on his own. After his arrival whispering started in and around the room of the President. Why he suddenly informed President's office of his coming? And arrive so quickly? This question was in everybody's mind in no time in Bangabhaban. After his arrival, MSP to the President presented him before the President. He posed with a smiling face before BTV cameramen and still cameraman Amir Khosru in front of the President. The moment the media men left the room of the President . Sen changed into a different person and conveyed President Moshtaq with the toughest message of Delhi. The message read, "Any change of the name of the "People's Republic of Bangladesh" and any "Confederation" with any country, the Indian Army shall take appropriate measures in accordance with the legal and valid deed, which India possess. But if you abstain form changing the name of 'Bangladesh' and so called 'Confederation' idea, India will consider what ever had happened since August 15 as your internal matter."
Haresuddin Sarkar, Beer Pratik. Since ’71 I knew him as an intrepid commando fighter. I told him, “If somehow a resistance can be built up in Dhaka, the people will join in. I have had a talk with the young Freedom Fighter officers. They said they are only waiting for a call. They will kick their chair in the Secretariat and plunge into the resistance. They will avenge the murder of the Father of the nation.” The Freedom Fighter Major Fazle Hossain told me, “The killers have Bangabandhu; the Freedom Fighters and conscientious members of the army are not with them.” Haresuddin, Beer Pratik, had said, “as they have broken the chain of command the cantonments in Chittagong, Jessore, Comilla are all against them. Even the BDR in Dhaka is against them. We are now waiting for a command from above to crush them.” 
At the same time he said, “There is no cause for worry. We are trying to take Prime Minister Mansur Ali to north Bengal via Jinjira. The entire north Bengal is liberated. Some senior officers of the armed forces are with us in this scheme. The resistance in Dhaka will begin within one or two days.” Haresuddin at that used to reside at Hotel Dilshad, near Gulistan. Having received from him encouragement and seeing a ray of hope I on 19 August informed the eminent journalist and BBC’s correspondent Mark Tully who had come from New Delhi, at Hotel Intercontinental. I reported to him: “Mukti Bahini and Mujib Bahini are organising in Dhaka against the killers of Bangabandhu. They will attack them anytime in and around Dhaka. The killers of Bangabandhu are Pakistani agents and enemy of Bangladesh. You can please broadcast that the people of Bangladesh shall never accept them. The killers shall be hanged by the people at the race Course very soon. Freedom Fighters are now taking full preparations in and around Dhaka. Resistance will start any moment. Killers will not be able to escape. The people will hang them in the Race Course. You will see it.”
As War Correspondent of Swadhin Bangla Betar I gratuitously provided him with many news-items from the war front and later in independent Bangladesh I rendered him valuable service. He knew me and trusted me. When I am recounting this after 40 years I must salute  Mark Tully on behalf of all the Freedom Fighter officers and employees of the Republic for his kind favour of broadcasting the news over the B.B.C. on that evening. The news inspired all the Freedom-Fighters in resisting the killers all over the country.
This first news-item broadcast by the B.B.C. created great enthusiasm among the countrymen. In all the homes in the 68 thousand villages of Bangladesh the disclosure that in Dhaka Mukti Bahini and Mujib Bahini would catch the killers of Bangabandhu and hang them at the race course. Had an electrifying effect? On that day the BBC quoting Mark Tully broadcast that “Mukti Bahini and Mujib Bahini are getting prepared in all the homes and at any moment they may capture Dhaka through a combing operation and they have vowed to avenge the killing of Bangabandhu.” Just as this news-item was broadcast by the B.B.C, over in Bangabhaban the murderer Moshtaq and his accomplices murderer Dalim-Faruq received a jolt. They had additional force brought in from the BDR to guard the Bangabhaban.

The writer is War Correspondent of Swadhin Bangla Betar, Former Secretary, Government of Bangladesh
Email: [email protected], web: www.musabd.com

This broadcast by the B.B.C. raised the morale of the Freedom Fighters. Everyone began trying in his own way to build up a mighty resistance against Dalim-Faruq in and around Dhaka. On August 19 in Feni Freedom Fighters upturned railway tracks. The next day, 0n August 20 the Khulna Port was set afire. The same day at Mirpur and Asad Gate bomb was hurled on army truck. Tangail was captured by the Freedom Fighters under the celebrated 1971 hero Kader Siddiqui. In Chittagong under the leadership of Juba League leader SM Yusuf resistance started throughout the district. SM Yusuf’s control was so severe that the troops of Chittagong Cantonment retired to their barracks before dark and did not dare to come out till the morning.

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Around this time on August 19 I met Dr Selimuzzaman, a relative of Bangabandhu who was Deputy Secretary in the Ministry of Information, at Hotel Intercontinental. I told him: “Sir don’t worry, we will fight them back Inshallah. Resistance has started in Dhaka and all over the country.” He told me, “Taheruddin Thakur may harm me; try to sound out the other Freedom Fighter officers.” He further told me, “I will file a General diary with the Dhanmondi Thana against the killers of Bangabandhu.” I gave him the telephone number of my office and residence and obtained his phone numbers. He told me of course that he did not live in his own house and had put up in the residence of Hazari Bhai of BSS. I further told him, “We were looking towards CGS Khalid Musharraf Sir. He phoned me from cantonment at the morning of August 15 and told me to ask all the officers to get out of Bangabhaban quickly and none should be present during oath taking ceremony of killer Mostaq so that killers cannot show the world alongwith the killers civil officers also joined with them. Accordingly I told Kumar Shankar Hazra, Abdul Mannan, APS to President and some others of my confident. I also called 2/3 CSP Secretaries, who had been very close to me (due to my mama Ruhul Quddus, Principal Secretary to Bangabandhu). One of them told me later in Bangabhaban during the oath taking ceremony on the same day that after my call, Cabinet Secretary H. T. Imam called him over red telephone. But when he was a beat reluctant H. T. Imam threatened him to face the same consequence of the traitor and his family.
They used the same foul language against the Bangalees that Yahya-Tikka seated in Bangabhaban used to hurl to insult the Bangalees in ’71. There was not the faintest trace of Kader Siddiqui in Dhaka; arrival of only a leaflet led to an earthquake in Bangabhaban and Secretariat and the murderers had to consume casks of wine to blot out their fear. The ignorant ones who do not know the history of 1971 tend to undermine and denigrate Kader Siddiqui, the Napoleon Bonaparte of Bengal. In his presence they take the more prominent seats. This is shameful. Why none among the successors of Tipu Sultan, the Lion of Mysore and Sirajuddoula, the Nawab of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa, could wrest back power from the British even in 200 years? The answer was given to me by the trusted associate and Principal Secretary my mama . Ruhul Quddus. (. Ruhul Quddus told this to me in the presence of his wife and children in the context of Kader Siddiqui’s historic role after the ’75 tragedy). He referred to history and said that the English did not keep alive the successors and scions of Tipu and Nawab Sirajuddoula, or their supporters, sympathisers or followers, or followers of their followers. No scion or successor was left to light a lamp to their memories. Even those who went on the occasion of Eid to exchange greetings with the Lion of Mysore Tipu Sultan or Sirajuddoula in their palaces or taken part in religious or official function, or in the birthday celebrations of their wives or children---all of them with their family-members have been liquidated by the British. That is why none among the successors of Tipu or Sirajuddoula could come to power. The British left none of them alive on the soil of India, whether in any corner of the land, in the forests, hills or caves, to commemorate the ancestors’ names. This is how they removed all threats to their 200 years rule over India. In the same way, in the Lalkuthi of Bengal (Bangabhaban) a decision was taken that just as the British had wiped out all successors, descendants and supporters of Tipu and Sirajuddoula, the Awami League and Freedom Fighters would be eliminated with their children. The murderers were moving ahead with foolproof preparation according to a “blueprint” to annihilate their offspring, be they in Dhaka or in any of the country’s 68,000 villages. But at Haluaghat they were intercepted by the forces of the great Bangalee hero Kader Siddiqui. As the Kader Bahini fought a fierce battle, it sent shockwaves that shook Dhaka. The hearts of the murderers in Bangobhaban also trembled. The murderers in Dhaka and their Generals, in order to get a breathing space held their “blueprint” in abeyance for the time being and tried to reach a modus vivendi with a neighbouring state to neutralise the Kader Bahini. As they had to wait under a “breathing space” their blueprint to liquidate the Freedom Fighters came to a halt and the lives of the Awami Leaguers and their children in towns and villages were saved. Otherwise, what began with the assassination of Bangabandhu along with his family-members and assassination of the four national leaders would have been carried to its logical conclusion. At this turning point of history there appeared on the scene an invincible hero of Mother Bengal who by building up a massive resistance saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of children of this Mother.
At the same time at Chittagong, there was SM Yusuf, the intrepid commando Freedom Fighter who forced a Major to surrender at gunpoint for obstructing the process of forming Mujib Bahini in 1971. (The Sector commanders of ’71 know him as well as the incident). After 15 August it was not possible to print a handbill against the murderers in any printing press in Dhaka. . Ruhul Quddus Principal Secretary to Bangabandhu & my relative to Bangabhaban helped arranged supply of leaflets from Chittagong. He instructed . SM Yusuf of Chittagong from England (during killing of Bangabandhu he was in UK and he sent two varieties of leaflets packed in four sacks from Chittagong. The leaflets calling for ouster of the government of the murderer Moshtaq-Dalim-Faruq and re-establishment of government based on the Liberation War. The leaflets were duly delivered at Kamlapur Station. As it was directed in the name of an officer of Bangabhaban, the Station authorities made delivery without examining the consignment.
In 1994 I toured Chittagong on government business. I stayed in Chittagong Circuit House, nearer to Jamal Khan Road. There I interviewed Bangabandhu’s Former Minister of State for Defence Professor Nurul Islam Chowdhury on Thursday 15 December, 1994 at his 115/B Jamal Khan Road residence. My purpose was to unearth the whole truth about the sowing of the seeds of conspiracy against Bangabandhu and Bangladesh. When he was Minister of State for Defence I often visited his house at 3 Minto Road with his PS Professor Shuranjan Sen, who had been my friend since ’71. During that interview in his Jamal Khan Road residence his doctor son Dr Moinul Islam Chowdhury and some other members of his family were present. Dr Nurul Islam Chowdhury was suffering from cirrhosis of the liver. In the interview which he gave lying in sick bed he uncovered many unknown facts relating to the tragedy of August 15 which to the Bangalee nation was comparable to the tragedy of Karbala. If Musharraf Hossain, author of Bishad Sindhu or Michael Modhusudan Dutta, writer of Meghnadbodh Kavya were alive they could have written an epic on the theme of August 15 and Bangalee brothers and sisters for hundreds of years would beat their chests in mourning as some sects do during Muharram all over the world.
At the beginning of the interview  Chowdhury became very emotional. Tears streamed down from the corners of his eyes. For five minutes or so he remained speechless. Then slowly he began unmasking the true faces of the villains of 15 August, the faces that the people had had no opportunity to see. He began, “Out of bottomless love Bangabandhu assigned to me the portfolio of Defence which is the most important one, as he had great faith in my integrity.” His voice was becoming choked with uncontrollable feelings and he was repeatedly wiping his eyes. Then he resumed, “We could not save Bangabandhu. For this my liability was greater than that of General Shafiullah, the Army and leaders and workers of the Awami League. But I became a victim of one man’s treachery. When we lost Bangabandhu and lost everything and became pauper then I realized that in politics none should be trusted. Bangabandhu had sounded this warning in the first week of August. But I made a serious mistake and my assessment was wrong. Bangabandhu’s assessment was right. Bangabandhu had been informed, and so was I that some isolated intrigues was going on in the army. A few retired army officers and with them some top incumbent army officers were engaged in this conspiracy. A few intelligence sources in friendly countries had also warned us about a possible move to topple the Government and ever kill our father of the nation and others. But Bangabandhu did not want to believe that people whom he regarded as his children would commit parricide. General Ziaur Rahman told me in front of Bangabandhu “Before Bangabandhu suffers a scratch my chest must be sprayed with bullets”. I have seen Bangabandhu pulling him close to himself and showering all his affections on him, as he showered his affections on his sons Jamal and Kamal. And today when I look back I realize what big mistake has been committed! What big traitor has received Bangabandhu’s paternal affection. Let Allah never forgive him. This is my entreaty from sickbed.”
After the massacres of 15 August Professor Islam ingeniously tried his utmost to re-establish the pro-Liberation government. He narrated his efforts in this regard. Without letting General Zia know his real intentions, he bowed before him and tried to win his confidence and pleaded with him to immediately release the four national leaders of the exile government and form a national government. He said, “In such government Zia wanted power sharing by the Army, in the Turkish model. I lent my support to his proposal saying it was based on reason. My objective was that national government should not be delayed even by a day. We would see what followed next.”
When the tragedy of 15 August was enacted he was on an official tour to Vienna. So I asked him, “After returning from Vienna when did you first meet Zia? Where and how?”
Professor Nurul Islam, said, “Colonel Wali took me in his car to the Cantonment residence of Zia Allah blessed him with Jannatul Ferdous.) But I firmly believe that one day the trial of the killers of the Bangabandhu shall be held on this land like the trial of the killers of Gandhijee and they shall be dealt with in the manner prescribed by the law. Only on that day Bangladesh will be rid of its curse; not till then. No country in the world can live with this brand of killers. No nation can bear this curse. Our country must be delivered of this load of guilt or else we shall be listed in the comity of nations as a disgraced and accursed nation. In our religion Islam too nurturing murderers is prohibited. Till the curse of living with the killers is expiated Bangladesh will not see the peace and benevolence of Allah."

 

 

National Mourning Day 2016

Fifteenth August 1975 : The unknown chapter of Bangabhaban and Dhaka Cantonment

At 6 in the morning of August 15, 1975 Pronodit Borua, an artiste of Swadhin Bangla Betar, began to pound the gate of my government quarters at 37/C Azimpur Colony so heavily as if he was going to smash it and was hysterically shouting my name. The banging and screaming were so frightful that my neighbour in the opposite quarters (37/D) an officer of the Directorate of Industry who belonged to Sylhet, opened the door simultaneously with me. The man who was from Sylhet said in an irritated tone, Why are you shouting at this early hour? Pronodit Borua wept and said in a still louder tone, You are sleeping? They have killed Bangabandhu and you people are sleeping? On hearing the news the man collapsed. He was a man of heavy frame. Pronodit Borua, my wife and I cradled him and carried him inside his house. His wife began crying. The radio in their house was by now switched on. The radio was beaming the voice of major Dalim This is Major Dalim on the air. Sheikh Mujib, the Mir Jafar of Bengal, has been assassinated. Sheikh Mujib the Mir Jafar of Bangla has been assassinated. The government of Sheikh Mujib the Mir Jafar has been ousted. A curfew has been clamped all over the country including the city of Dhaka... Just as I heard this, a chill ran down my whole body. Pronodit-Da began crying. I immediately came to my house with Pronodit-Da. I switched the radio on. Just then I again heard a rap on the door. As I opened the door I found Rowshan Ara Chowdhury, a distant relative of the eminent politician Mizanur Rahman Chowdhury crying. She used to live at a farther end of the same building. She worked for the Radio as a Programme Producer. I saw her crying fitfully. After entering my room she was still crying. She said, Then the killers of Bangabandhu will also kill my Uncle Mizan. From my telephone she tried a few times to connect Mizan Chowdhurys house but only Engaged tone was heard. She was very upset and failing to make any telephonic contact she left for her home crying. By that time the same declaration of Dalim was being relayed in the voice of the news reader Sarkar Kabir --- The Mir Jafar of Bengal Sheikh Mujib Sheikh Mujib has been assassinated, curfew has been clamped all over Bangladesh. Immediately and in a state of great excitement Pronodit-da and I hurried down from the first floor and ran towards Azimpur Orphanage where we took a rickshaw. We told the rickshaw puller, Rush towards Dhanmondi. He said, Whoever goes that way is shot down like a game bird. Dont you know they have killed Bangabandhu? Saying this the bearded rickshaw puller broke into sobs. Hurriedly we took another rickshaw and told the rickshaw puller, Drive fast. We will pay you as much as you want. After I heard chaste Urdu from the murderers in Bangabandhus house at Road 32 early in the morning and suffered the abusive term bastard flung at me I was left in no doubt that whoever the assassins be, they acted in liaison with Pak military. They have not acted alone. Then the question arose in my mind whether Pakistani forces have arrived in Dhaka in disguise. One reason for our unease was that the daughter of Shaheed Abdul Gafur MP of Khulna, Hosne Ara Ratna, telephoned me from Shamsunnahar Hall the previous night to say that at 9 at night in front of their Hall someone hoisted the Pakistani flag in a tree and then disappeared. In the darkness of night they could not be seen. After the flag was hoisted its white portion bearing the emblem of the crescent and star despite the darkness was spotted by some. Sheikh Kamal was accordingly informed from the Hall. Sheikh Kamal came with a group of students, had the flag brought down and tore it up. I further recalled half-an-hour earlier Pronodit-Da and I heard the slogan Pakistsan Zindabad in front of the Balaka Cinema from men dressed in police and military fatigues. The bloody scenes of 71 flashed to my mind. In those days the valiant sons of Mother Bengal numbering hundreds of thousands, immolated themselves chanting Joy Bangla, Joy Bangabandhu because the clarion call of Bangabandhu This time the struggle is for independence stirred their soul. Now that man who was the fount of inspiration is no more. Then what is surprising about truckloads of men dressed in black and another truckload of men in police fatigues chanting the slogan of Pakistan Zindabad. Perhaps they have not seen the battle scene. They have not seen how the intrepid Bangalee youths faced Pakistani fire power and got themselves blown to pieces. We could not even bury their dead bodies. Their fellow fighters collected their severed limbs lying all over the battle front, and interred these wrapped in cloth bags. That man whose face inspired hundreds of thousands Freedom Fighters to fight on, in whose name three million Bangalee brothers and sisters embraced martyrdom---that man is no more. When that man has departed, it appeared that the murderers will turn the country into Pakistan. Pronodit-Da and I tried to phone the Rokkhi Bahini. We could not get the connection. I was then a bachelor. A young Freedom Fighter officer. I had led many daring operations in the battle fronts of 71 staking my life. I felt within me an urge to become daring again. Shaking with rage and anguish I, accompanied by Pronodit-Da, again set out for Bangabandhus home. I thought at least some would come out into the streets in which case we would join in. Or else how are we valiant Freedom Fighters? It was around quarter-to-eight in the morning. We saw small pockets of men at street corners. This time we did not find any police in front of the Balaka Cinema. No one stopped us. As we reached near the Science Laboratory we saw that in the kitchen market adjoining the New Market a group of about 30 to 40 people displaying remarkable courage were wailing and trying to proceed towards Kalabagan. None of them wanted to believe the news of the killing of Bangabandhu. I heard one shopkeeper say If they have killed Bangabandhu let them kill me also. Let them kill our brothers and sisters. From a distance I saw a vegetable seller. He left his vegetable basket under care of a someone undid his shirt and beating his breast with his fist ran towards Kalabagan uttering something. I followed him and asked a man about him. The man said That man has gone mad. Samar Sen, High Commissioner of India was in Kolkatta before 15th August tragedy. He entered Dhaka on August 17 evening from Delhi. On Monday, August 18, Sree Samar Sen, arrived in Bangabhaban on his own. After his arrival whispering started in and around the room of the President. Why he suddenly informed Presidents office of his coming? And arrive so quickly? This question was in everybodys mind in no time in Bangabhaban. After his arrival, MSP to the President presented him before the President. He posed with a smiling face before BTV cameramen and still cameraman Amir Khosru in front of the President. The moment the media men left the room of the President . Sen changed into a different person and conveyed President Moshtaq with the toughest message of Delhi. The message read, Any change of the name of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh and any Confederation with any country, the Indian Army shall take appropriate measures in accordance with the legal and valid deed, which India possess. But if you abstain form changing the name of Bangladesh and so called Confederation idea, India will consider what ever had happened since August 15 as your internal matter. Haresuddin Sarkar, Beer Pratik. Since 71 I knew him as an intrepid commando fighter. I told him, If somehow a resistance can be built up in Dhaka, the people will join in. I have had a talk with the young Freedom Fighter officers. They said they are only waiting for a call. They will kick their chair in the Secretariat and plunge into the resistance. They will avenge the murder of the Father of the nation. The Freedom Fighter Major Fazle Hossain told me, The killers have Bangabandhu; the Freedom Fighters and conscientious members of the army are not with them. Haresuddin, Beer Pratik, had said, as they have broken the chain of command the cantonments in Chittagong, Jessore, Comilla are all against them. Even the BDR in Dhaka is against them. We are now waiting for a command from above to crush them. At the same time he said, There is no cause for worry. We are trying to take Prime Minister Mansur Ali to north Bengal via Jinjira. The entire north Bengal is liberated. Some senior officers of the armed forces are with us in this scheme. The resistance in Dhaka will begin within one or two days. Haresuddin at that used to reside at Hotel Dilshad, near Gulistan. Having received from him encouragement and seeing a ray of hope I on 19 August informed the eminent journalist and BBCs correspondent Mark Tully who had come from New Delhi, at Hotel Intercontinental. I reported to him: Mukti Bahini and Mujib Bahini are organising in Dhaka against the killers of Bangabandhu. They will attack them anytime in and around Dhaka. The killers of Bangabandhu are Pakistani agents and enemy of Bangladesh. You can please broadcast that the people of Bangladesh shall never accept them. The killers shall be hanged by the people at the race Course very soon. Freedom Fighters are now taking full preparations in and around Dhaka. Resistance will start any moment. Killers will not be able to escape. The people will hang them in the Race Course. You will see it. As War Correspondent of Swadhin Bangla Betar I gratuitously provided him with many news-items from the war front and later in independent Bangladesh I rendered him valuable service. He knew me and trusted me. When I am recounting this after 40 years I must salute Mark Tully on behalf of all the Freedom Fighter officers and employees of the Republic for his kind favour of broadcasting the news over the B.B.C. on that evening. The news inspired all the Freedom-Fighters in resisting the killers all over the country. This first news-item broadcast by the B.B.C. created great enthusiasm among the countrymen. In all the homes in the 68 thousand villages of Bangladesh the disclosure that in Dhaka Mukti Bahini and Mujib Bahini would catch the killers of Bangabandhu and hang them at the race course. Had an electrifying effect? On that day the BBC quoting Mark Tully broadcast that Mukti Bahini and Mujib Bahini are getting prepared in all the homes and at any moment they may capture Dhaka through a combing operation and they have vowed to avenge the killing of Bangabandhu. Just as this news-item was broadcast by the B.B.C, over in Bangabhaban the murderer Moshtaq and his accomplices murderer Dalim-Faruq received a jolt. They had additional force brought in from the BDR to guard the Bangabhaban. The writer is War Correspondent of Swadhin Bangla Betar, Former Secretary, Government of Bangladesh Email: [email protected], web: www.musabd.com This broadcast by the B.B.C. raised the morale of the Freedom Fighters. Everyone began trying in his own way to build up a mighty resistance against Dalim-Faruq in and around Dhaka. On August 19 in Feni Freedom Fighters upturned railway tracks. The next day, 0n August 20 the Khulna Port was set afire. The same day at Mirpur and Asad Gate bomb was hurled on army truck. Tangail was captured by the Freedom Fighters under the celebrated 1971 hero Kader Siddiqui. In Chittagong under the leadership of Juba League leader SM Yusuf resistance started throughout the district. SM Yusufs control was so severe that the troops of Chittagong Cantonment retired to their barracks before dark and did not dare to come out till the morning. See Page ----- Around this time on August 19 I met Dr Selimuzzaman, a relative of Bangabandhu who was Deputy Secretary in the Ministry of Information, at Hotel Intercontinental. I told him: Sir dont worry, we will fight them back Inshallah. Resistance has started in Dhaka and all over the country. He told me, Taheruddin Thakur may harm me; try to sound out the other Freedom Fighter officers. He further told me, I will file a General diary with the Dhanmondi Thana against the killers of Bangabandhu. I gave him the telephone number of my office and residence and obtained his phone numbers. He told me of course that he did not live in his own house and had put up in the residence of Hazari Bhai of BSS. I further told him, We were looking towards CGS Khalid Musharraf Sir. He phoned me from cantonment at the morning of August 15 and told me to ask all the officers to get out of Bangabhaban quickly and none should be present during oath taking ceremony of killer Mostaq so that killers cannot show the world alongwith the killers civil officers also joined with them. Accordingly I told Kumar Shankar Hazra, Abdul Mannan, APS to President and some others of my confident. I also called 2/3 CSP Secretaries, who had been very close to me (due to my mama Ruhul Quddus, Principal Secretary to Bangabandhu). One of them told me later in Bangabhaban during the oath taking ceremony on the same day that after my call, Cabinet Secretary H. T. Imam called him over red telephone. But when he was a beat reluctant H. T. Imam threatened him to face the same consequence of the traitor and his family. They used the same foul language against the Bangalees that Yahya-Tikka seated in Bangabhaban used to hurl to insult the Bangalees in 71. There was not the faintest trace of Kader Siddiqui in Dhaka; arrival of only a leaflet led to an earthquake in Bangabhaban and Secretariat and the murderers had to consume casks of wine to blot out their fear. The ignorant ones who do not know the history of 1971 tend to undermine and denigrate Kader Siddiqui, the Napoleon Bonaparte of Bengal. In his presence they take the more prominent seats. This is shameful. Why none among the successors of Tipu Sultan, the Lion of Mysore and Sirajuddoula, the Nawab of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa, could wrest back power from the British even in 200 years? The answer was given to me by the trusted associate and Principal Secretary my mama . Ruhul Quddus. (. Ruhul Quddus told this to me in the presence of his wife and children in the context of Kader Siddiquis historic role after the 75 tragedy). He referred to history and said that the English did not keep alive the successors and scions of Tipu and Nawab Sirajuddoula, or their supporters, sympathisers or followers, or followers of their followers. No scion or successor was left to light a lamp to their memories. Even those who went on the occasion of Eid to exchange greetings with the Lion of Mysore Tipu Sultan or Sirajuddoula in their palaces or taken part in religious or official function, or in the birthday celebrations of their wives or children---all of them with their family-members have been liquidated by the British. That is why none among the successors of Tipu or Sirajuddoula could come to power. The British left none of them alive on the soil of India, whether in any corner of the land, in the forests, hills or caves, to commemorate the ancestors names. This is how they removed all threats to their 200 years rule over India. In the same way, in the Lalkuthi of Bengal (Bangabhaban) a decision was taken that just as the British had wiped out all successors, descendants and supporters of Tipu and Sirajuddoula, the Awami League and Freedom Fighters would be eliminated with their children. The murderers were moving ahead with foolproof preparation according to a blueprint to annihilate their offspring, be they in Dhaka or in any of the countrys 68,000 villages. But at Haluaghat they were intercepted by the forces of the great Bangalee hero Kader Siddiqui. As the Kader Bahini fought a fierce battle, it sent shockwaves that shook Dhaka. The hearts of the murderers in Bangobhaban also trembled. The murderers in Dhaka and their Generals, in order to get a breathing space held their blueprint in abeyance for the time being and tried to reach a modus vivendi with a neighbouring state to neutralise the Kader Bahini. As they had to wait under a breathing space their blueprint to liquidate the Freedom Fighters came to a halt and the lives of the Awami Leaguers and their children in towns and villages were saved. Otherwise, what began with the assassination of Bangabandhu along with his family-members and assassination of the four national leaders would have been carried to its logical conclusion. At this turning point of history there appeared on the scene an invincible hero of Mother Bengal who by building up a massive resistance saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of children of this Mother. At the same time at Chittagong, there was SM Yusuf, the intrepid commando Freedom Fighter who forced a Major to surrender at gunpoint for obstructing the process of forming Mujib Bahini in 1971. (The Sector commanders of 71 know him as well as the incident). After 15 August it was not possible to print a handbill against the murderers in any printing press in Dhaka. . Ruhul Quddus Principal Secretary to Bangabandhu my relative to Bangabhaban helped arranged supply of leaflets from Chittagong. He instructed . SM Yusuf of Chittagong from England (during killing of Bangabandhu he was in UK and he sent two varieties of leaflets packed in four sacks from Chittagong. The leaflets calling for ouster of the government of the murderer Moshtaq-Dalim-Faruq and re-establishment of government based on the Liberation War. The leaflets were duly delivered at Kamlapur Station. As it was directed in the name of an officer of Bangabhaban, the Station authorities made delivery without examining the consignment. In 1994 I toured Chittagong on government business. I stayed in Chittagong Circuit House, nearer to Jamal Khan Road. There I interviewed Bangabandhus Former Minister of State for Defence Professor Nurul Islam Chowdhury on Thursday 15 December, 1994 at his 115/B Jamal Khan Road residence. My purpose was to unearth the whole truth about the sowing of the seeds of conspiracy against Bangabandhu and Bangladesh. When he was Minister of State for Defence I often visited his house at 3 Minto Road with his PS Professor Shuranjan Sen, who had been my friend since 71. During that interview in his Jamal Khan Road residence his doctor son Dr Moinul Islam Chowdhury and some other members of his family were present. Dr Nurul Islam Chowdhury was suffering from cirrhosis of the liver. In the interview which he gave lying in sick bed he uncovered many unknown facts relating to the tragedy of August 15 which to the Bangalee nation was comparable to the tragedy of Karbala. If Musharraf Hossain, author of Bishad Sindhu or Michael Modhusudan Dutta, writer of Meghnadbodh Kavya were alive they could have written an epic on the theme of August 15 and Bangalee brothers and sisters for hundreds of years would beat their chests in mourning as some sects do during Muharram all over the world. At the beginning of the interview Chowdhury became very emotional. Tears streamed down from the corners of his eyes. For five minutes or so he remained speechless. Then slowly he began unmasking the true faces of the villains of 15 August, the faces that the people had had no opportunity to see. He began, Out of bottomless love Bangabandhu assigned to me the portfolio of Defence which is the most important one, as he had great faith in my integrity. His voice was becoming choked with uncontrollable feelings and he was repeatedly wiping his eyes. Then he resumed, We could not save Bangabandhu. For this my liability was greater than that of General Shafiullah, the Army and leaders and workers of the Awami League. But I became a victim of one mans treachery. When we lost Bangabandhu and lost everything and became pauper then I realized that in politics none should be trusted. Bangabandhu had sounded this warning in the first week of August. But I made a serious mistake and my assessment was wrong. Bangabandhus assessment was right. Bangabandhu had been informed, and so was I that some isolated intrigues was going on in the army. A few retired army officers and with them some top incumbent army officers were engaged in this conspiracy. A few intelligence sources in friendly countries had also warned us about a possible move to topple the Government and ever kill our father of the nation and others. But Bangabandhu did not want to believe that people whom he regarded as his children would commit parricide. General Ziaur Rahman told me in front of Bangabandhu Before Bangabandhu suffers a scratch my chest must be sprayed with bullets. I have seen Bangabandhu pulling him close to himself and showering all his affections on him, as he showered his affections on his sons Jamal and Kamal. And today when I look back I realize what big mistake has been committed! What big traitor has received Bangabandhus paternal affection. Let Allah never forgive him. This is my entreaty from sickbed. After the massacres of 15 August Professor Islam ingeniously tried his utmost to re-establish the pro-Liberation government. He narrated his efforts in this regard. Without letting General Zia know his real intentions, he bowed before him and tried to win his confidence and pleaded with him to immediately release the four national leaders of the exile government and form a national government. He said, In such government Zia wanted power sharing by the Army, in the Turkish model. I lent my support to his proposal saying it was based on reason. My objective was that national government should not be delayed even by a day. We would see what followed next. When the tragedy of 15 August was enacted he was on an official tour to Vienna. So I asked him, After returning from Vienna when did you first meet Zia? Where and how? Professor Nurul Islam, said, Colonel Wali took me in his car to the Cantonment residence of Zia Allah blessed him with Jannatul Ferdous.) But I firmly believe that one day the trial of the killers of the Bangabandhu shall be held on this land like the trial of the killers of Gandhijee and they shall be dealt with in the manner prescribed by the law. Only on that day Bangladesh will be rid of its curse; not till then. No country in the world can live with this brand of killers. No nation can bear this curse. Our country must be delivered of this load of guilt or else we shall be listed in the comity of nations as a disgraced and accursed nation. In our religion Islam too nurturing murderers is prohibited. Till the curse of living with the killers is expiated Bangladesh will not see the peace and benevolence of Allah.