After Fifteenth August : An unknown chapter of Bangabhaban and Dhaka Cantonment

At six 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.”

As the rickshaw driver drove past the gate of Eden College and reached in front of Balaka Cinema we saw a truckload of black-dressed men and another truckload of men dressed in police uniform shouting the ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ slogan. In their thinking “Bangabandhu’s assassination was the same as the “assassination of Bangladesh.” The next moment they started chanting the slogan “Pakistan Zindabad”. In a way their slogan is apt. The aptness is evident from the way post-75 Bangladesh is over the last 43 years slowly reverting to its beleaguered status of 1971 governed by Tikka-Niazi-Rao Farman Ali. They did not allow our rickshaw or any other rickshaw to proceed further from on from Balaka Cinema and these were being turned back. Pronodit-Da said, “Let’s go home and telephone the different sources to ascertain where Awami league leaders and what they are doing.” We returned to our residence at Azimpur Colony by the same rickshaw. On our way back we saw a few mothers coming from Azimpur Colony area had assembled near Eden Women’s College wanting to escort their daughters home. One of them was beating her chest and wailing “O Allah the Protector, consign the oppressors who have killed our beloved Bangabandhu to the basest hell. Make them the worms of hell. O Allah, it’s the Bangabandhu who saved the honour of our sisters and daughters in ’71. He’s the one who drove out the Khan troops. O Allah, what crime the oppressors have committed, O Allah…” By that time a big crowd gathered in the area. Hearing her wailing the eyes of many bystanders were moistened. After hearing the wailings of mothers and sisters in front of Eden College we came home. From home Pronodit-Da tried to talk with a few Awami League leaders. But from every the reply was received that they were not at home.

I then telephoned the residences of different Freedom Fighter officers to decide what to do. Neither my age nor my status at that time was adequate for building up a resistance. Information secretary of the Mujibnagar Government Anwarul Huq used to reside at Gulshan. He had been the signatory in the letter appointing me as War Correspondent of Swadhin Bangla Betar. For professional reasons I had the closest relations with him and during the liberation war he was the inspiration behind many of my very daring ventures. When I talked to him he said, “Try to contact SP Mahbub. If he can build up some resistance from the side of the police, students and the people will join in droves. As you are staying at Azimpur, why not go round the university area to find out whether the students are willing to come out into the streets. See if you can get some professors to persuade the students to this end. Especially, go to Mr Durgadas and tell him what I feel. Let him tell the students that the nation is looking to them for deliverance.” He asked for my residence phone number. In the mean time I saw some students overcome by the grief on hearing about the killing of Bangabandhu were weeping and rushing through Plessey towards our Azimpur Colony for shelter.

Mahbub, SP, Beer Bikram, the officer from the valiant Freedom Fighter list, used to lead guard of honour in the exiled Mujibnagar Government. Failing to contact him despite repeated attempts I was terribly disconcerted. There was nothing I could do to get connected. I learnt by the telephone from another Freedom Fighter police officer that he had been to Uttara the previous night in connection with a wedding and stayed there overnight. Then Pronodit-Da told me he had the number of an unclassified telephone in Sheikh Kamal’s bedroom. He saw me dialling busily all the numbers of Bangabandhu’s residence available in the telephone directory. I then told him, “Why did you not give me this number so long? Just sobbing crazily---will it gain anything?” He replied, “Brother, my head is reeling. I was in the Engineering University Hall. In my sleep I heard someone shout that Bangabandhu has been murdered. On hearing that I rushed to you in a stupefied state.” By then I dialled the “unclassified” number of Sheikh Kamal. (Regrettably I don’t remember that number after all these years). After three ringing I heard someone at the other end say “Hello”. I said “This is a friend of Sheikh Kamal speaking. How is kamal? From the other end came a reply in chaste Urdu “Bohot Achchha. Aap Koun?” I said, “I am a friend of his. Why is the sound of gunshots coming from around their house?” the man said again in chaste Urdu, “Nothing. Crackers are exploding. These people are celebrating. Who are you? From where are you speaking? Give me your telephone number, give me...” At quarter-to-seven in the morning at Bangabandhu’s house at Road 32 voice of a man speaking chaste Urdu! I was fully convinced that whoever might have attacked Bangabandhu’s house, Pak troops must be among them. Pronodit-Da who had pressed his ear to the receiver said “Musa, this is the voice of a Pakistani soldier. By then my tempers rose and I told him in English, “Why are you speaking in Urdu? Are you Pakistani army?” He thundered, “I am your father. What’s your address, bastard?”

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.

On August 16 mid-night being informed by President's Photographer Amir Khashru about some incidents on the first floor of Bangabhaban, myself and Kumar Shankar Hazra an officer of Khondakar Moshtaq went to the 1st floor, where the killers used to live.

All Freedom Fighter officers of the army are with him. Something must turn up. He should be in touch with Khalid Musharraf’s brother Rashed Musharraf at his Kalabagan residence. We Freedom Fighter civil officers of Dhaka are keeping touch with him and moving ahead. We are also mediating to establish his links with the embassies.”

Selimuzzaman said with moistened eyes, "We have nothing more to lose. After losing Bangabandhu we have been made orphans." On 19 or 20 August I met Hares Uddin Sarkar, Beer Pratik. After hearing Hares Uddin, the valiant ’71 Freedom Fighter of the Meghna Bank, I was saddened. He said that their mission was foiled. Their plan to take Prime Minister Mansur Ali to north Bengal from Jinjira and to form a government there did not materialise. After touching the Holy Quran and making a solemn vow they had set out under the leadership of the valiant Freedom Fighters in the army---Lt. Col. Delwar Hossain, Lt.-Col Nawazesh, Lt. Col. Yazdani and others. Sitting in the Banani residence of Lt. Col Nawazesh they had taken a decision that with the involvement of Awami Leaguers, students and the people they would form a parallel government in north Bengal in opposition of the government of the murderer Moshtaq under Prime Minister Mansur Ali. But unfortunately for these great Freedom Fighters, at that historic moment Awami League leaders did not live up to expectation and some of them retreated. “Those who killed Bangabandhu will also kill us”---this was their plea for withdrawing like cowards. ‘Cowards die many times before their death; the valiant never taste of death but once.’ This immortal saying of Shakespeare was proved by them through their behaviour. The reality of Dhaka city was different, though. The city dwellers of Dhaka, the students, rickshaw drivers, workers, day labourers, the common people were seething in anger. If the followers of Bangabandhu had not shown timidity the murderers faced with the fury of residents of Dhaka would have evaporated like camphor. Even the corpses of these murderers would have been irretrievably lost, denied a decent burial.

After scattering the leaflets containing a call for toppling the government of the murderers Moshtaq-Dalim-Faruq I was able to escape through the Officers Quarters gate to the north of Cantonment. (That gate was closed when General Mahbubur Rahman became army chief). Within the Cantonment he faced no obstacle (alhumdulillah), which was fortunate. But the reality of those days was that its streets became deserted after 10 at night. The army too was too afraid to move out. All security activities then centred on Bangabhaban and the four leaders held at Nazimuddin Road.

The Armed Forces who were against the killers stood behind General Khaled Mosharraf to stage a counter-coup on 3rd November 1975. Those leaflets which were distributed on August 29 was the main spark of fire, which culminated in the counter-coup. The counter-coup though did not succeed it however brought the final defeat of the killer Moshtaq-Rashid-Faruk-Dalim gang and destroyed their dream to rule the country timelessly.

The government intelligence agencies and General Zia’s DFI could not figure out how hundreds of leaflets calling for resistance of the murderers landed, how they were distributed and where were they printed? Of course the intelligence people got the information after two-and-half years that the leaflets were printed in Chittagong. Taking up this doubtful thread a daring Freedom Fighter officer in the Secretariat was made a target. The DFI wanted to pick him up. To provide a proof they, in 1977, when a Japanese plane was hijacked in Dhaka and rumour was rife about a coup by the Air Force, got the Education Adviser of the then government Syed Ali Ahsan to write a report that “Mr. Musa, a senior officer has said ‘Zia is killed. It is good news. Let us celebrate it'.”

As soon as the report was sent to the Ministry of Information the DGFI told the Information Adviser Akbar Kabir said the officer may be interrogated by the DGFI for subversive and anti-state activities. Akbar Kabir’s PS (later Secretary) Khan Amir Ali and the investigating officer retired Deputy Secretary Sultan Ahmed that day played a heroic role in defending me. The two met the Information Adviser and apprised him of the numerous instances of my service carrier and uncompromising stand against corruption and obtained the Information Adviser’s tacit approval for saving my life in the interest of the Republic. The Freedom Fighter officers of the Secretariat and administration are greatly indebted to these two persons.

The writer is War Correspondent of Swadhin Bangla Betar,

Former Secretary, Government

of Bangladesh

Email: [email protected]

 

 

After Fifteenth August : An unknown chapter of Bangabhaban and Dhaka Cantonment

At six 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. As the rickshaw driver drove past the gate of Eden College and reached in front of Balaka Cinema we saw a truckload of black-dressed men and another truckload of men dressed in police uniform shouting the Pakistan Zindabad slogan. In their thinking Bangabandhus assassination was the same as the assassination of Bangladesh. The next moment they started chanting the slogan Pakistan Zindabad. In a way their slogan is apt. The aptness is evident from the way post-75 Bangladesh is over the last 43 years slowly reverting to its beleaguered status of 1971 governed by Tikka-Niazi-Rao Farman Ali. They did not allow our rickshaw or any other rickshaw to proceed further from on from Balaka Cinema and these were being turned back. Pronodit-Da said, Lets go home and telephone the different sources to ascertain where Awami league leaders and what they are doing. We returned to our residence at Azimpur Colony by the same rickshaw. On our way back we saw a few mothers coming from Azimpur Colony area had assembled near Eden Womens College wanting to escort their daughters home. One of them was beating her chest and wailing O Allah the Protector, consign the oppressors who have killed our beloved Bangabandhu to the basest hell. Make them the worms of hell. O Allah, its the Bangabandhu who saved the honour of our sisters and daughters in 71. Hes the one who drove out the Khan troops. O Allah, what crime the oppressors have committed, O Allah By that time a big crowd gathered in the area. Hearing her wailing the eyes of many bystanders were moistened. After hearing the wailings of mothers and sisters in front of Eden College we came home. From home Pronodit-Da tried to talk with a few Awami League leaders. But from every the reply was received that they were not at home. I then telephoned the residences of different Freedom Fighter officers to decide what to do. Neither my age nor my status at that time was adequate for building up a resistance. Information secretary of the Mujibnagar Government Anwarul Huq used to reside at Gulshan. He had been the signatory in the letter appointing me as War Correspondent of Swadhin Bangla Betar. For professional reasons I had the closest relations with him and during the liberation war he was the inspiration behind many of my very daring ventures. When I talked to him he said, Try to contact SP Mahbub. If he can build up some resistance from the side of the police, students and the people will join in droves. As you are staying at Azimpur, why not go round the university area to find out whether the students are willing to come out into the streets. See if you can get some professors to persuade the students to this end. Especially, go to Mr Durgadas and tell him what I feel. Let him tell the students that the nation is looking to them for deliverance. He asked for my residence phone number. In the mean time I saw some students overcome by the grief on hearing about the killing of Bangabandhu were weeping and rushing through Plessey towards our Azimpur Colony for shelter. Mahbub, SP, Beer Bikram, the officer from the valiant Freedom Fighter list, used to lead guard of honour in the exiled Mujibnagar Government. Failing to contact him despite repeated attempts I was terribly disconcerted. There was nothing I could do to get connected. I learnt by the telephone from another Freedom Fighter police officer that he had been to Uttara the previous night in connection with a wedding and stayed there overnight. Then Pronodit-Da told me he had the number of an unclassified telephone in Sheikh Kamals bedroom. He saw me dialling busily all the numbers of Bangabandhus residence available in the telephone directory. I then told him, Why did you not give me this number so long? Just sobbing crazily---will it gain anything? He replied, Brother, my head is reeling. I was in the Engineering University Hall. In my sleep I heard someone shout that Bangabandhu has been murdered. On hearing that I rushed to you in a stupefied state. By then I dialled the unclassified number of Sheikh Kamal. (Regrettably I dont remember that number after all these years). After three ringing I heard someone at the other end say Hello. I said This is a friend of Sheikh Kamal speaking. How is kamal? From the other end came a reply in chaste Urdu Bohot Achchha. Aap Koun? I said, I am a friend of his. Why is the sound of gunshots coming from around their house? the man said again in chaste Urdu, Nothing. Crackers are exploding. These people are celebrating. Who are you? From where are you speaking? Give me your telephone number, give me... At quarter-to-seven in the morning at Bangabandhus house at Road 32 voice of a man speaking chaste Urdu! I was fully convinced that whoever might have attacked Bangabandhus house, Pak troops must be among them. Pronodit-Da who had pressed his ear to the receiver said Musa, this is the voice of a Pakistani soldier. By then my tempers rose and I told him in English, Why are you speaking in Urdu? Are you Pakistani army? He thundered, I am your father. Whats your address, bastard? 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. On August 16 mid-night being informed by Presidents Photographer Amir Khashru about some incidents on the first floor of Bangabhaban, myself and Kumar Shankar Hazra an officer of Khondakar Moshtaq went to the 1st floor, where the killers used to live. All Freedom Fighter officers of the army are with him. Something must turn up. He should be in touch with Khalid Musharrafs brother Rashed Musharraf at his Kalabagan residence. We Freedom Fighter civil officers of Dhaka are keeping touch with him and moving ahead. We are also mediating to establish his links with the embassies. Selimuzzaman said with moistened eyes, We have nothing more to lose. After losing Bangabandhu we have been made orphans. On 19 or 20 August I met Hares Uddin Sarkar, Beer Pratik. After hearing Hares Uddin, the valiant 71 Freedom Fighter of the Meghna Bank, I was saddened. He said that their mission was foiled. Their plan to take Prime Minister Mansur Ali to north Bengal from Jinjira and to form a government there did not materialise. After touching the Holy Quran and making a solemn vow they had set out under the leadership of the valiant Freedom Fighters in the army---Lt. Col. Delwar Hossain, Lt.-Col Nawazesh, Lt. Col. Yazdani and others. Sitting in the Banani residence of Lt. Col Nawazesh they had taken a decision that with the involvement of Awami Leaguers, students and the people they would form a parallel government in north Bengal in opposition of the government of the murderer Moshtaq under Prime Minister Mansur Ali. But unfortunately for these great Freedom Fighters, at that historic moment Awami League leaders did not live up to expectation and some of them retreated. Those who killed Bangabandhu will also kill us---this was their plea for withdrawing like cowards. Cowards die many times before their death; the valiant never taste of death but once. This immortal saying of Shakespeare was proved by them through their behaviour. The reality of Dhaka city was different, though. The city dwellers of Dhaka, the students, rickshaw drivers, workers, day labourers, the common people were seething in anger. If the followers of Bangabandhu had not shown timidity the murderers faced with the fury of residents of Dhaka would have evaporated like camphor. Even the corpses of these murderers would have been irretrievably lost, denied a decent burial. After scattering the leaflets containing a call for toppling the government of the murderers Moshtaq-Dalim-Faruq I was able to escape through the Officers Quarters gate to the north of Cantonment. (That gate was closed when General Mahbubur Rahman became army chief). Within the Cantonment he faced no obstacle (alhumdulillah), which was fortunate. But the reality of those days was that its streets became deserted after 10 at night. The army too was too afraid to move out. All security activities then centred on Bangabhaban and the four leaders held at Nazimuddin Road. The Armed Forces who were against the killers stood behind General Khaled Mosharraf to stage a counter-coup on 3rd November 1975. Those leaflets which were distributed on August 29 was the main spark of fire, which culminated in the counter-coup. The counter-coup though did not succeed it however brought the final defeat of the killer Moshtaq-Rashid-Faruk-Dalim gang and destroyed their dream to rule the country timelessly. The government intelligence agencies and General Zias DFI could not figure out how hundreds of leaflets calling for resistance of the murderers landed, how they were distributed and where were they printed? Of course the intelligence people got the information after two-and-half years that the leaflets were printed in Chittagong. Taking up this doubtful thread a daring Freedom Fighter officer in the Secretariat was made a target. The DFI wanted to pick him up. To provide a proof they, in 1977, when a Japanese plane was hijacked in Dhaka and rumour was rife about a coup by the Air Force, got the Education Adviser of the then government Syed Ali Ahsan to write a report that Mr. Musa, a senior officer has said Zia is killed. It is good news. Let us celebrate it. As soon as the report was sent to the Ministry of Information the DGFI told the Information Adviser Akbar Kabir said the officer may be interrogated by the DGFI for subversive and anti-state activities. Akbar Kabirs PS (later Secretary) Khan Amir Ali and the investigating officer retired Deputy Secretary Sultan Ahmed that day played a heroic role in defending me. The two met the Information Adviser and apprised him of the numerous instances of my service carrier and uncompromising stand against corruption and obtained the Information Advisers tacit approval for saving my life in the interest of the Republic. The Freedom Fighter officers of the Secretariat and administration are greatly indebted to these two persons. The writer is War Correspondent of Swadhin Bangla Betar, Former Secretary, Government of Bangladesh Email: [email protected]