Dr Muhamad Mafuz Husain, one of the unsung heroes of the Language Movement, has been passing his days in silence after suffering a brain stroke recently. He had treated injured activists of the Language Movement and himself taken part in the movement. “As a third-year student of the Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH), I was on duty at the emergency department on February 21, 1952, from 2pm to 8pm. I treated both Barkat and Rafiq, who were critically injured. Rafiq later succumbed to his injuries,” Husain told The Independent yesterday.Unsung hero recalls Language Movement
ANISUR RAHMAN KHAN
Dr Muhamad Mafuz Husain, one of the unsung heroes of the Language Movement, has been passing his days in silence after suffering a brain stroke recently. He had treated injured activists of the Language Movement and himself taken part in the movement. As a third-year student of the Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH), I was on duty at the emergency department on February 21, 1952, from 2pm to 8pm. I treated both Barkat and Rafiq, who were critically injured. Rafiq later succumbed to his injuries, Husain told The Independent yesterday.
Hundreds of people had taken part in the Language Movement rally. They were raising the slogan rastra bhasha Bangla chai (we demand Bangla as state language). I saw people coming from different directions to join the rally, he recalled. Many of those activists were later brought to the DMCH emergency department with bullet injuries, he said.
In 1952, at a rally at the then Racecourse maidan, Husain, along with other students, vehemently protested against Mohammad Ali Jinnahs declaration that Urdu would be the state language of both East and West Pakistan. He was sitting only 50 yards from the stage. We shouted in protest and brought out a procession. We shouted that we want Bangla as our state language, Husain said, recalling the incident.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was also present in the procession, he added.
The movement for Bangla as the state language reached its peak on February 21, 1952. At that time, the DMCHs old hostel occupied the present-day outdoor area,
nurses hostel and part of Shaheed Minar areas. After sundown on February 21, 1952, students of the DMCH hostel started construction of Shaheed Minar in the same place where language activists were hit by bullets. The location was between Room No. 6 of Barrack 12 and the eastern gate of the hostel, said Husain. Im one of the heroes of the Language Movement. I dont place any demand before the government. I only want to see Bangla being used everywhere in this country. After all, it was the dream of all the language martyrs and heroes, he added.
Husain was born on October 28, 1926, in Kusair Bagh village under Keraniganj. He joined the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) in 1957. He married Prof. Masuda Mishu in 2001 after his first wife, Khaleda Begum, had died in October 2000 due to old-age complications. He has three sons and one daughter.
