video courtesy: YouTube

The video above is extracted from a war documantary named as Muktir Gaan (Song of Freedom). It shows us some of the guerrillas having themselves trained before going to accomplish their missions.

As I was going to a friend’s place today, with my windows rolled down, I was reading a book my dad presented me. It is named as Ekattorer Chithi, meaning the Letters from 1971. One of the letters catched my eye, even if all of them were very touchy. It was written by Shafi Imam Rumi, the guerrilla I mentioned earlier in one of my posts. Here I mention this below.

Agartala, June 16, ’71

Dearest Pasha Mama,

Don’t be surprised! It was written and has come to pass. And after you read this letter, destroy it. Don’t try to write to Amma about this letter. It will put them in danger.

This is a hurried letter. I don’t have much time. I have to leave tomorrow for my base camp.

We are fighting a just war. We shall win. Pray for us all. I don’t know what to write…there is so much to write about. But every tale of atrocity you hear, every picture of terrible destruction you see is true. They have torn into us with a savagery unparalleled in human history. And sure as Newton was right, so shall we too tear into them with like ferocity. Already our war is far advanced. When the monsoons come we shall intensify our operation.

I don’t know when shall I write again. Please don’t write to me. And do your best for SHONAR BANGLA.

Bye for now. With love and regards.

Rumi

“This was an incident which always reverberates my memory when I pause and try to recapitulate the events of liberation war. This incident took place in the month of April, when I went back to my village home about 25 km from Sylhet town, following air strikes killing by the Pakistan Armed Forces in Sylhet town. Few days back on 25 March, 1971, my father had undergone an operation at the Sylhet Medical College Hospital by a reknown surgeon Prof. Dr. Shamsuddin Ahmed, who was later on brutally killed by the Pakistan millitarry. The Army entered the hospital premises and shoot him, he was then burried in the hospital campus.

What haunts me is the traumatic days in Sylhet town……”  -To be continued.

   “Before the sun rose in the morning of 26 March, the soldiers submitted their final report of successful massacre ‘Operation Searchlight’. At noon Bhutto was taken out and escorted towards the Airport. Before leaving, he gave a short speech appreciating the work of Pakistan Army, thanking God that they could save Pakistan. When Bhutto gave such a positive remark I went to catch a glimpse of Dhaka University area and witnessed the mass graves made to bury hundreds of dead bodies. None of the officers agreed to reveal the exact death statistics…….”

“…After coming out of that area, I drove in the streets of Dhaka on my own, and massive dead bodies of civilians of every age came into my sight……..I returned to the Cantonment early for lunch. But I saw the situation over there was completely different! They were quite normal after the tragic massacre they performed in town. They were gossiping about the fact that the Bangalees were taught a perfect lesson, and that they can only recognise the language of coarseness…….but during the war of 9 months long, the Bangalees proved that they can fight back harshness in a pretty meaningful way.”

Source: Prothom Alo

   Eventually the night of 25th March crept along, and Pakistan Army initiated their massive genocide in the name of “Operation Searchlight”. The whole country got devastated, thousands of young guys ran away from home in the middle of the night leaving a note behind, assuring that they left to join Mukti-bahini in order to fight back the massacre. Rumi was not one of them. He constantly attempted to convince his mother to give him the permission to attend the war. When she finally agreed on 19 April 1971, he crossed the border to receive guerrilla trainings in Melaghar, Agartala under sector-2, whose incharge was Khaled Mosharraf and Rashid Haider.

   After his training, strongly influenced by books of Mao Se Tung and Che Guevara, he returned to Dhaka and joined the Crack Platoon, a guerrilla group that conducts major operations in Dhaka against Pakistan Army. Only the best guerrillas got opportunities in the Crack Platoon, and Rumi was one of them. His bravery and succesful missions made him an icon to his fellow warriors.

On the night of 29 August 1971, the night Pakistan Army caught most of the guerrillas in Dhaka, he was staying at home with a few fellow guerrillas when they were caught by the Pakistan Army. He was brutally tortured to reveal the valuable information he knew about the Crack Platoon. After that, he and his fellow guerrillas Bodi, Chullu and lot others were never seen.

   On 5 September, Yahya Khan announced mass mercy. Rumi’s relatives had insisted hi parents to ask a mercy petition for him from the Government, but his parents refused from doing so because it would dishonour Rumi’s ideology. Rest in peace Rumi, we will remember you.

photo source: Internet

General Muhammad Ataul Gani Osmani, born on 1st September 1918 in Sunamganj, Sylhet, British India(present Bangladesh), and died on 16th February 1984, was a true hero of our Liberation War. He presided over Bangladesh Sector Commanders Conference during 1971 to authorise and create the entire Bangladesh Force. A brave General who contributed in our Liberation War, whose strong voice and determination inspired millions to chose the path of a freedom fighter in order to free this nation.

His picture has always flashed in my mind whenever I think of a true leader who is also a warrior during the Liberation War. The picture above shows M.A.G. Osmani receiving Guard of Honour from some fellow soldiers.

video courtesy: probashibarta (You Tube)

This is the video clip of the legendary speech of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman which I have been watching in television since childhood. It was held on 7Th March, 1971. It shows the final declaration of Liberation War by him when he announced his requisition of fighting back the military rulers when they attack.

In his words, it was to earn the civil rights of Bangalees including democracy. Thousands of people were gathered on that day  in Race-course Maidan to hear this speech, and they were all asked by him to fight back using whatever they have. This was a bold decision that had been taken according to me, as the poverty-struck Bangalees did not have any weapons to face the highly equipped Pakistani Military.

video courtesy: Baundulle (YouTube)

This video shows an interview of  Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the man who is behind the inspirational speeches and directing the Bangalees towards freedom via the Liberation War. I believe the informations given in the video are pretty important for today’s young generation to know.

The people of Bangladesh denied to follow military rulers from West Pakistan wing. They elected a leader for themselves from within their own wing, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. This was not acceptable by the West-Pakistan military personnel. They had been enforcing martial law on public since many years…but it was the time for a change in 1971. A change for democracy. A change for people’s rights. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was a leader for all the Bangalees at that time, although at present times his name is being used in the slogan of a political party.

None of us was willing to continue the class after hearing all these, at which point an attendant came and announced that all classes have been cancelled due to an unavoidable circumstance and the students were requested to travel safely to home. Many of the students rushed outside with cellphones held in their ears. The tensed situation grew creepier by time, and most of the students dashed home with fear and anxiety. On my way home I listened to a radio station which informed with my slight relief that one person had been killed by then. One was less tragic than twenty two, I felt. I ran upstairs and turned on the TV, where live telecasts of the crossfire were being shown by the TV channels. The whole day went like this, open fires in roads of Dhaka at Dhanmondi, one rickshaw puller dead, though the death toll increased later on, hundreds of unarmed civilians injured, a war situation in Dhanmondi.

Video courtesy: BBC, shantanuBD

The next day, no class until further notice from the university, so sat in front of the TV for almost the whole day. Every hour several breath taking news started coming in. The HQ area was in full control of the mutineers. In the meantime 21 dead bodies were found in that area, with many other hostages including the BDR Director General with unknown fates. Since the first day of mutiny, the Army officers had been requesting the Government to grant permission to ambush in the HQ, and rescue the hostages inside. The government did not approve that, and tried to solve this conflict rather politically. The PM announced a casual forgiveness to all the mutineers and requested them to return to their barracks by handing over the arms and the armoury key, and sent some ministers & MPs inside the HQ after midnight to negotiate with the mutineers’ disputes peacefully, and they came out safely along with some of the hostages and their families. Since it did not improve the situation, the Army took position surrounding the HQ area along with a formation of tanks on Satmasjid Road near Jigatala. After some hours the 33 hour mutiny by the rebellious border guards ended in their surrender at the BDR HQ. After their surrender all the hostages were sat free. Scared, they rushed out of HQ and spoke out of their horror experiences, confirming the death of  chief of Bangladesh Rifles Mr. Shakil Ahmed, his wife, and many more officials. Finally the country calmed down after 33 hours of chaotic situation.

photo courtesy: mediabangladesh.net

As soon as the revolt was over, the police, army and RAB searched for the injured or dead officials across the HQ, and one by one spine chilling acts of the mutineers were being revealed. Before the night of their surrender, massive number of mutineers escaped from the HQ, leaving behind their uniforms and ammunition. Many of the army officers working in BDR were still missing, until the Army explored mass graves of officials along with the body of BDR chief’s wife. By then the death toll from BDR mutiny stood 72. The nation was shocked. I was shocked. A mutiny and massacre by a disciplined force in its own country can never be justified, whatever the reasons are. The mutineers justified their acts by saying that they had been financially deprived and ignored by the ‘corrupted’ army officers. If they had acted against deprivation then they could have revolted peacefully, why the massive killings of the officials and their family. The city was in panic and finally relieved from confusion, anxiety and uncertainty after the surrender.

photo courtesy: media bangladesh.net

A 3-day National Mourning had been announced by the Government in remembrance of the dead officials and their family members who lost their lives in the mutiny. This has been declared as the National Tragedy by the loss of this country’s talented officials who worked hard to protect our borders. The Government’s role played here would bring huge dissatisfaction and unreliability on them by the civilians and army officers. On the first day of mutiny, the Army wanted to break through and ambush inside the HQ to rescue the hostages, but received a stubborn ‘No’ from the ministry. If they were allowed to act on their accord, the massacre would not have been occurred and many lives could have been saved. It was a wrong decision from my point of view, and it can create many barriers for the newly elected Government to gain positiveness from Bangladeshi people.

38 years have passed after we earned our independence by blood in the Liberation War. History has repeated itself on 25th February 2009 with the massacre of army officials by the BDR mutineers. They were killed brutally, first shot with hail of bullets to death, then stabbed and slashed by bayonets so that they cannot be identified. This was the same act which Bangladeshi people witnessed 38 years back in our Liberation War by the Pakistani military…which sometimes makes us feel why our ancestors shed their blood to free this country, when our enemies are still in Bangladesh, proudly announcing their existence. This is not over yet. We should fight this, we will fight this.

photo by: Miftahul Jannat

After the language movement in 1952, the political affluence between the two wings were like a glowing splint. The dissatisfaction between the political parties were sky-high. In this turmoil, many protestation of the Bangalees occurred due to many unsolved issues of that time which were education, independence of the judiciary, etc. 

On 1970-1971, an election took place and East Pakistan won many seats in the Pakistan’s National Assembly. That time West Pakistan raised questions on the constitution of division of power between the provinces and played a fishy role. In the mean time, during the period of 1954-1970, many revolting people were killed by the orders of Pakistan Government. The painting in the picture above is dedicated to those people who lost their lives during these circumstances.

Video courtesy: bluearmyfr

The video shows the legendary song “Bangladesh” sang by George Harrison in his charity concert “The Concert for Bangladesh”. This was the first concert for world humanity, which raised more than $25000 to help the Bangalee refugees who took shelter in India during the Liberation War, 1971.

It all started when pandit Ravi Shankar went to George Harrison with an idea to raise fund to buy medicine, food and clothes for the Bangalee refugees, later on superstars like Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr, Billy Preston, Leon Russell, and Bob Dylan also joined them…and the rest is history which occurred on 1st August 1971 at Madison Square Garden. The message of the song is simple, and only talked of the common people’s plight. It did not say anything relevant with politics, or war between two nations. It did not say a word about the Liberation War or justify the Bangalees’ cause to fight back.