Mohan Mukti Juddho [ekattur er noi mash]

[pirate_of_da_caribbean]

1971 shaler mohan Mukti juddger kotha........bir Mukti joddhader kotha......soto soto kotha....juddher golpo........gan........poster........mukti juddho bishoyok boi er kotha......from Bongobondhu Sheikh Mujibar rahman to Birangona Sokhina... thoughts and opinions about 1971......anything.........me fellow NSUers........pls share ur thoughts and feelings.........or any questions / anythin regarding the Liberation war........

aami ekta kobita diye shuru kori.......

Sabash Bangladesh
Shara prithibi obak takiye roi
Jole pure more sarkhar
tobu matha noabar noi.........

[priencess_fiona]

this topic is really nice . I hope i get to learn so many things from here . Thanx pirate for posting this topic.:)

[Son Of Bangla]

Eyewitness account of the massacre at Dhaka University

Nights and Days of Pakistani Butchers

Reminiscing this bloody day after three decades!

By Abul Kasem

In 1971, I was a final year civil engineering student at EPUET (now BUET). We were about to graduate when the political turmoil in East Pakistan just got started. As we were preparing for our final examination, when suddenly, the university was closed due to the unrest all around us. This recount I am about to tell, would bring into the fore one more time the inhuman butchery and atrocities committed by the Pakistan army as I witnessed with my own eyes. This had been the most horrific experiences of my life and to put it mildly this had a profound impact on my views on religion and politics.

On the eve of 25th March, 1971, I was staying at Shere-e- Bangla Hall of EPUET. Just a few days before that the political problems engulfed East Pakistan as General Yahya steadfastly refused to accept the mandate of the people of East Pakistan for full autonomy. The students were on strike. Actually, it was the exam time and I was preparing for my final year examination as I said it before. However, due to the political unrest, the examination was withheld and many students had left the residential halls and went back home. I was, though, actively involved in student politics. Therefore, I decided to stay put in the hall so that should a need arises I shall be available to join the movement. A few days before the 25th March there were persistent rumours in the air that the talk between Mujib and General Yahya was not progressing well and that there was that possibility of a military crackdown looming over the horizon. However, the government media cleverly played down this rumour by insisting that the talks were fruitful. Some newspapers even suggested that General Yahya was prepared to hand over the power to a civilian government where both Bhutto and Mujib will have major roles. With those types of misleading information many people thought that at last the Bangalees will have a chance to taste their freedom after a sojourn of about thirteen years. But that did not happen. On the fateful night of 25th March,1971, the Pakistan army came out from the cantonment with fury to teach the Bangalees a lesson of their lifetime that they will never forget. And surely they did.

This is my very personal recount of the nights and days on and immediately after March 25,1971.

I went to bed a bit early at around 9.00 at night. I was quite tired for the whole day and quickly I fell into my sleep. Suddenly at around 11.00 P.M, my deep slumber was disturbed by a the noise of a constant barrage of gunfire. At first, I thought that it must be the firecracker's by Bangalees to celebrate the victory. But soon I realised my mistake. I opened the window. It was very dark. Not even the dim streetlights were burning. But there I could barely see numerous military vehicles moving around with soldiers with theirs automatic rifles. Occasionally, I could see very bright searchlights mounted on some of the military trucks and jeeps. Many soldiers were running and shooting in the street. I saw a large convoy of military vehicles had surrounded the whole of the EPUET area. As far as my eyes could go, I could see military men all around the campus. I could even hear the army people talking loud in Urdu downstairs in our hall. I immediately knew what was going on. I thanked my lucky star that I switched off the room light before I went to bed. There was deafening noise from the machine gun and automatic rifles, which were not too far from where I stood. I just could not believe what was going on. I was alone in the room; there was nobody to comfort me on that fateful night. Being panic-struck, I started trembling and fell down on my bed.

Then, all on a sudden a hail of bullet shattered the nearby window. The bullets hit the ceiling and walls and then hit the floor. A thought passed through my mind. I knew I was going to die. Without thinking much I went under my bed as a protection against hitting by stray bullets. I lied on my chest and grabbed the floor as if that was my life. The firing continued incessantly for almost the whole night. Then suddenly there was a lull. No machine gun or rifle sound. I thought it was over. So I slowly came out from my hiding place and sat on my bed. I looked at my wristwatch. I could not see very well. It was 3.00 A.M or so, I guessed. Suddenly, there was an extremely loud noise and the whole area was brightly lit. I could not resist the curiosity. Through the shattered window pane what I saw was utterly unbelievable. I saw a military tank throwing fire on the slums (Bastee). The slum was just next to our halls and along the old railway track. I saw people running out of their hovels. As the slum dwellers came out to escape the fire, the Pakistani soldiers started to shoot them with a machine-gun that was mounted on a military truck. I could see only one truck with the machine gun near our hall. But I am sure there were many more on other sides as I could see the fires from these machine-guns dropping like August showers in the darkness of the spring night. It was a seen I have watched only in TV and movies on Vietnam wars. I could hear the desperate cry for help from those hapless victims. I closed the window as I thought that one of those bullets would be enough for me. I sat on the floor and suddenly realised that this is it. There was no escape for me.

Time passed and slowly the morning broke the silence of the eerie night. I could still see the military people from my window. I switched on my transistor radio on a very low volume to hear what was going on. The Dhaka Radio Station was dead. I switched to Calcutta . There was no mention of East Pakistan except that General Yahya Khan had left Dhaka after the final talks with Mujib. So I switched to Karachi. Now I got the news that I wanted to hear so desperately. There was a special announcement that General Yahya was going to speak to the nation. I heard him speaking. It was the voice of a heavily drunken person that one can tell. I cannot recall all that he said. But there were few words that I still remember to the letters. These words were "Mujib's act is an act of treason. He will not go unpunished." Yahya Khan ended by saying that Mujib will be tried by a special military tribunal. The news announced that Sheik Mujibur Rahman along with Dr. Kamal Hussain had been arrested and taken to West Pakistan for the trial. I also heard Bhutto saying that "Thank God. Pakistan was saved."

In the meanwhile the fire in the slum continued and I noticed a strange odor in the air. It took me sometime to figure out that it was indeed the smell of burning flesh. I did not hear any fire brigade siren or anything like that although there was a fire brigade office just next to our hall in Palashi. It was almost 8 o’clock in the morning and the fire slowly started to diminish after devouring the nearby shantytown. From my window I could see the tank moving out from our area. I again lied on my bed and started to search other radio stations for news. Suddenly, I heard mild knocking on my door. I froze. I felt that my blood circulation had suddenly stopped. In front of my eyes I saw nothing but white colour. I could not move from my bed. I just lay still. After a while there was another knock. Now it stroke my mind that if it was the army they will not wait for my response. They would simply burst open my door and start shooting. There must be some one else, I guessed. So, I went near the window close to the door and looked. I saw Monju, my next door neighbour crawling on his chest near my door. I gingerly opened a little of the door and asked him what was wrong. He whispered to me that something was wrong with his roommate, Ashraf. Monju asked me to follow him to his room. I opened the door silently and slowly crawled on my chest to Monju's room. I found Ashraf lying on the floor with eyes wide open but his mouth shut and he was vigorously shivering. There was water all over. I asked Monju why was there so much of water on the floor. Monju replied that it was not water. It was Ashraf's urine. He told me that Ashraf had urinated several times and now he (Ashraf) cannot talk. I called Ashraf very softly. He just stared at me but could not say anything. I knew what had happened. Ashraf had a nervous breakdown. I told Monju that we keep whispering to him that the military is gone and we are safe. Surprisingly, after whispering for about 15 to 20 minutes Ashraf started to murmur a few words. After a while he simply whispered, "Please, please, do not leave me." I told Ashraf that what ever happens the three of us will remain together. If we die we shall die together. This assurance from us made Ashraf slowly come back to normal. All of us were very hungry and thirsty. So we ate the stale bread and some water. Then we talked how each of us passed the dreaded night.

It was around midday and we found that all the military personnel had left our area. There was no sound of gunfire, no sound of military trucks or vehicles. In fact, there was an eerie unbearable silence all around the campus. No bus, no rickshaw, no car, hardly any people on the streets. We thought that it was our best opportunity to escape from the hall. We tuned to AIR and heard about the indefinite curfew in Dhaka. But we decided to escape no matter what happens even if that meant breaking the curfew and being shot at by the military. We decided that I shall go to Monju’s apartment at Azimpur Government quarters. Both Monju and Ashraf used to live at Azimpur quarters. I crawled back to my room, put on my shoes and grab my transistor radio. The three of us then slowly started to climb down the stairs hiding ourselves as much as we could.

We went to the ground floor. To our disappointment we found the entry/exit gate was locked. The guards had locked the gate and fled. Later on, we realised that that action by the hall guards actually had saved our lives. In frustration, we came back to our room on the second floor. Then we decided to go to 1st floor and jump from the balcony/verandah. At first, we thought of leaving the radios behind. Then we realised that the radio was the only means by which we could know what was going on in East Pakistan. The three of us then jumped in the garden. Luckily, the jump was a success. Then we quickly ran. While running across the hall compound we saw the gruesome scenes of killing by the Pakistani army. In Liaquat Hall (I suppose it is Titumeer Hall now, but I’m not sure) we saw plenty of blood and a dead body possibly the guard's. (Later, I learnt that four students were killed at Liaquat Hall.) We quickly ran to the Fire Brigade Centre in Palashi. The Centre was very close to our residential Hall. We thought of taking temporary refuge in Fire Brigade building before proceeding to Azimpur colony. There was a small mosque inside the Fire Brigade compound. I saw four dead bodies there. All were riddled with numerous bullet holes. The floor of the mosque was flooded with blood. I thought that some Fire Brigade people tried to take shelter in the mosque hoping that Pakistanis will not commit murder in a place of worship. But how wrong they were! We saw many other dead bodies on the compound of the Fire Brigade. Some dead bodies were inside the Fire Brigade trucks and ambulance. They took shelter inside these vehicles hoping to escape the onslaught. Most likely none of the Fire Brigade people survived. Then we arrived at the road that separates the Azimpur Colony from the Palashi. On the road we found many dead bodies scattered everywhere mainly of rickshaw pullers.

There was a high wall at the entry of the Azimpur Colony. We did not know what to do at that point. The curfew was on and if any army people saw us they surely will kill us. We had no choice but to jump over the wall. To our utter surprise we could jump over the wall and fell on the other side of the wall. I still do not know how I did that. May be our adrenaline was running high after all that happened to us. I am sure that if I have to jump that wall again, I shall surely fail.

After jumping inside the Azimpur colony we felt a little safer and we all heaved a great sigh of relief. Monju suggested that I go and stay with him. Ashraf was too nervous to say anything. So, firstly we escorted Ashraf to his quarter and then Monju and I headed towards Monju's quarter. When Monju’s father and mother saw us they simply hold us tight and started crying. We quickly went inside the bedroom and told our story. Monju’s father said that they were certain that Pakistani army had killed us as he had witnessed the army operation from the window. We realised how lucky we really were to be alive that fateful night. Monju’s mother prepared some food for us. We were extremely hungry. I finished all the food served to me. During this time we did not hear much gun shots in the local area of Azimpur. But we could hear the non-stop machine gun firing in the distance. We carefully opened a little bit of the window. All we saw was smoke and fire all around, a little away from Azimpur. We guessed that it was old Dhaka area possibly near the Buriganga river and Sadarghat. After the liberation, it was found that the killing and destruction done by the Pak military was one of the worst in the old Dhaka area. They have killed virtually each and every person in the Hindu dominated Shankari Patti in the Old Dhaka. The fire and smoke was so terrible that at night the whole sky was red. In the evening we ate some food and we tried to sleep. But none of us could hardly shut our eyelids. The whole night we searched the world on radio. At last we got the news from BBC of what was going on in East Pakistan. The Dhaka radio station was working again only playing mainly Urdu patriotic songs and Islamic verses. We were now sure that our dream of a free nation had suddenly vanished. The Pakistani army had captured us as slaves. The whole night we mostly talked about what would happen to the Bangalees since all our struggle was in vain. Finally, the morning came. At around 9 o’clock we heard in Dhaka radio that the curfew had been relaxed for six hours only. We found many people on the street. I suggested to Monju that I better go home and see if my family members were alive. As our house was in Nakhalpara (very close to cantonment and the airport), Monju, his father and mother were very reluctant that I should take the risk. However, after my constant insistence they let me go, but reminded me to return immediately to them if I had problem. Until today, I can never repay their debt. You can tell they were really so concerned about me.

So, I came open in the street. I found people and people all around me. No bus, no truck. Hardly any rickshaw plying the street. There were occasional cars and military vehicles with fierce looking soldiers and machine gun mounted trucks and jeeps. I asked some people where were they headed to. Most of them replied that they did not know. They simply wanted to leave the city and go to villages where they felt they would be safe. Many of them headed towards Sadarghat hoping that they could catch a steamer or a launch to go to villages. I also did not know what to do. Since there were no transport it would be very difficult for me to walk all the way to Nakhalpara. I thought of going back to Monju's place. Then I changed my mind when I found that thousands of people are walking, many of them bare footed and with nothing but their clothes on. So, I also started walking. Whatever happens to these people will also happen to me, I thought. The first place I came was Iqbal Hall (now Sergeant Zahurul Hall?). The scene I saw in Iqbal Hall was beyond any description, I swear! The whole area was like a battlefield. I knew that DUCSU VP Tofail Ahmed used to live there. There were holes on the walls created by mortar shells. Those holes were visible from afar. When I arrived at the playground of the Hall, I saw about 30 dead bodies all lined up for display to the public. Many of the dead bodies were beyond any recognition due to innumerable bullet holes on their faces. That was a gruesome sight. Many people started crying. My friend Jafar used to live in Iqbal hall. I did not see his dead body. Later, I learnt that his dead body was found in his bed. Needless to say, the displayed corpses were merely a small fraction of the students that Pak army had murdered in Iqbal Hall on that dreadful night. They simply displayed a few corpses to frighten and to break the morale of all Bangalees.

Anyway, I had to hurry along. I started to walk again and came to the central Shaheed Minar. I saw the entire Shaheed Minar was nothing but a heap of rubble. Many people could not believe what they saw. The army had totally destroyed the Shaheed Minar by using powerful explosives, I guessed. Amongst all the cruelties inflicted on the Bangalees that night, I think the destruction of the central Shaheed Minar was the cruelest of all. I noticed some blood on the smooth and shiny floor of Shaheed Minar. But I did not see any dead body. May be the Pak army decided to remove the corpses from the street area so that their movement won’t be affected. I really cried when I saw the Shaheed Minar. Even the displayed corpses at Iqbal Hall could not bring tears to my eyes and make me cry. But I could not hold my tears when I saw the corpse of the Shaheed Minar. The shock was much too much for me.

I started to walk again and came to Jagannath Hall. The entire Jagannath Hall compound was like another battlefield. I saw the footprints of tractor vehicles. There were huge holes on the walls of the Jagannath Hall. I guessed that the army had used tanks in Jagannath Hall. In front of the Jagannath Hall lawn I saw a huge mass grave. The grave was so fresh and shallow that we could see some half buried corpse. Some hands and feet protruding from under the soil due to the consolidation of soil, I guess. It was a grotesque scene, to put it mildly. I do not know how many people were buried there. Judging from the size of the grave, my guess was at least a few hundreds. After the liberation of Bangladesh many of us have seen the video footage of this brutality of the Pak army. The video was taken secretly by a brave EPUET (now BUET) professor from the window of his apartment

By the side of Jagannath hall there was a small narrow road. On the side of this road and on behind the back of Rokeya Hall there were a large number of washermen (dhopa) who used to live in small quarters with their families. Their number could be around 50 or more. I found that Pak army had burnt down the entire area. I could see the charred bodies of children and adults still in the burnt bed. On the side of the dhopa quarter and by the side of the road, I saw another freshly dug shallow mass grave. I could see the feet and hands of children and adults sticking out from the grave trying to tell the entire world what did happen to them. All people who passed by saw this terrible sight and shook their heads in utter disbelief.

After a long and tiring walk, I came to Shahbag Hotel (now IPGMR). The building (hotel) was intact. I looked at Dhaka Radio Station. No sign of devastation. Although, there was heavy military guards including tanks and armoured vehicles around the radio station. There was no damage to Inter-Continental Hotel (now Sheraton Dhaka). Then I came to the office of the daily newspaper 'The People.’ My friend Obaid was a sub-editor with the 'People.’ Naturally I went to find his whereabouts. What I saw was disbelieving. The entire office of the 'People' along with a few more shop houses was burnt to ashes. The place was still smoldering. When I went a little closer. I saw many dead bodies burnt like charcoal. They were absolutely unrecognisable. Only the shape says that they were human. The area was filled with the smell of burnt flesh (like barbecue smell). I do not know the fate of Obaid. But until today I never heard anything about him. So I assume that he was burnt alive in that inferno.

I came out from the ruins of the 'People.’ As I was walking past the fashionable Sakura Restaurant (I am not sure if the restaurant is still in business or not) a car suddenly stopped near me. I was astonished to see my father, mother, and sisters all inside the car. My mother and sisters were weeping. My father asked me to get inside the car. My mother simply hugged me and started to cry loudly. I asked my father what had happened. My father said they were simply fortunate to be alive. Then he told me that we were all going to Dhanmondi to stay with our grandfather. My mother told me that she never expected to see me again as they heard that the army had killed each and every student in the residential halls.

Soon we arrived at my grand father's house. My grandfather was simply happy to see us alive. We ate some food. Then my mother narrated their fateful night of the 25th March.

So this was how it happened at our home on March 25, 1971. The recount was based on what I did hear from my mother.

Round about midnight everyone in our house woke up with noises of heavy vehicles, people marching on boots, loud shouting, bright lights and some more gunfire. At first they erroneously believed that it must be a victory celebration. That was because just before every one went to sleep, there were rumours that Yahya Khan had agreed to transfer power to Mujib. However, when my folks opened the window they couldn’t believe what they saw. It was shocking to see that the entire Nakhalpara area had been cordoned off by armoured military trucks. The soldiers with rifles and machine guns were running all over the place. Also, there were very bright searchlights all around. My family also noticed jeeps mounted with machine guns very close to our house. Naturally everyone was frightened. Being nervous my mother started praying without loosing any time. A few minutes later they heard a loud banging in our front door. They were at loss not knowing what to do. My father picked up the courage and opened the entrance door. Four soldiers with pointed rifle immediately entered our lounge. They asked everyone to line up in the lounge. So, my father, my younger brother, my brother in-law, my four sisters, nephew and niece and my mother all obliged by lining up in the crammed space. All of them were shivering in hot March night. Then one of the soldiers separated the males from the females. The males were ordered to remain in the lounge. All the females including my mother were ordered in the bedroom nearby. At that stage my mother started crying and fell down on the knees of the soldiers for their mercy. The soldiers simply dragged her to the bedroom. One soldier guarded the males while the other guarded the female quarter. The two other soldiers then started ransacking each and every item in every room including the food in the kitchen. They even examined the newspapers and other documents even though they did not understand a single word of Bangla.

One of the soldiers then found the shotgun that my father had always had with him. I have seen that shot gun since my birth. It was licensed and completely legal. I have seen my father going for hunting with his favourite shotgun every once in a while when time permits. The soldier who found the shotgun came immediately to the male captives. He demanded to know whose shotgun was that. My father calmly replied in broken Urdu that he was the lawful owner of the gun. The soldier then pointed his automatic rifle at my father and ordered him to follow him downstairs. My father knew that he had only a few minutes to live. At that stage my younger brother stood between the rifle and my father and requested the soldier that he wants to accompany my father. The soldier became furious at the insolence shown by my brother. The soldier threw my brother on the floor and started pushing my father with his rifle towards the exit door. My father then requested the soldier to look at the license of the shotgun. But alas, the soldier could neither read nor understand the English language. So the soldier said that he had to call his officer. Another army man was called to guard while he went outside looking the for the officer.

After about fifteen minutes the soldier returned with the officer. My father was not sure what was the rank of the officer. Thank God! The officer was not as brute as the lower ranking jawan. The officer showed little bit of courtesy for my elderly father. He asked my father to take a seat so that he could examine the document. After a thorough examination the officer then asked my father why he had not surrendered his weapon to police station. My father replied that there was no directive to that effect. The officer then rebuked my father for being so stupid to keep the weapon in the house when there were so many miscreants in the area. My father agreed with him and asked for his forgiveness. The officer then said that my father's life will be spared but they will have to confiscate the shotgun. Then he started interrogating every one on various matters including our religion and political affiliation. My father became the spokesman. He answered what the army men wanted to hear. That we are all Muslims and we have no connection with the Awami League or any pro-freedom party etc., etc.

The officer then asked my father how many sons he had. My father replied two. He inquired about the whereabouts of his sons. My younger brother identified himself. He told the officer that he had finished his HSC and waiting to go to EPUET (now BUET). The officer then asked my father about me. My father replied that I was about to graduate from EPUET. The army officer then demanded to know why I was not at home. At that point my father could guess the real reason these army people are barging into our home. He carefully said that I was very studious and I preferred to study with my friends. So I did not come home for a few days. The army officer then started to note down all the details about me and told my father that as soon as I returned home he (my father) must contact him through telephone. I was simply lucky that my father did not disclose the University residential hall that I was staying. The officer then warned my father not to leave our house as they may come to investigate again. My father said no problem. Throughout this ordeal, my brother-in-law did not talk much because he was actively involved in NAP politics!

When the interrogation of the male members was complete the officer then entered the bedroom to view his female captives. Needless to say, my mother feared what might happen to her daughters. My eldest sister was a schoolteacher. My next two sisters were college going and only my youngest sister was still in her childhood. My mother was so hysterical that she kneeled down to the two soldiers and begged them that whatever they wanted to do let them take her daughters out of her sight. The soldiers were simply laughing and taunting my mother and sister with abusive language and accusing them of being pro Awami League. They told my sisters that very soon they would take them to cantonment. At that stage my eldest sister picked up some courage and told them in pidgin (in broken) Urdu that they cannot simply do that without a warrant of arrest.

The soldiers laughed heartily hearing the response from my sister and said that they were not police. They were army and they could do whatever they wanted. Luckily, at that point the army officer entered the bedroom. My sister asked the army officer why they were being harassed. The officer told my sister that he had information that there were many miscreants in our area. Their duty was to catch these miscreants and take them to cantonment for punishment. He then told my sister that he had found us very gentle, polite and cooperative and so he will let all of us go free this time. But he wanted to let everyone know that they will come again. At last he showed some respect to my mother by apologising to her and saying good bye to her in chost Urdu. But before the officer departed he whispered something to his recruits. The two soldiers then forced my elder sister to open the steel Almirah (Safety box) . They took all the money and the jewelry that were there for safekeeping. Thus, in a hurry we lost most of our valuables.

After almost 36 hours the curfew was lifted for 6 hours. My family members heard the wailing sound of bereavement all around the area. The Pakistan army had taken many people from Nakhalpara area to cantonment that night. Most of those taken were young students. It was a sheer miracle that my family members were spared. None were taken to the cantonment. It is not known how many of those unfortunate people lost their lives because until today their whereabouts are not known. Be that as it may, most of them never returned home. All the residents of Nakhalpara realised that the area was absolutely unsafe to stay. Therefore, most residents left Nakhalpara almost barefooted with only the clothes they were wearing. My family also followed the suit. They also left Nakhalpara immediately after the curfew was lifted. From grapevine we heard that Dhanmondi was a safe area. So we went to our grandpa's house over there in to seek refuge and secrecy. A few days later we heard the dreadful news from Chittagong. Two of my uncles were killed in Agrabad Railway colony in a military operation similar to the one the army did in Nakhalpara operation. The army call those "Mop Up Operation." To us, the Bangalees those operation was akin to serving the death notice or something similar to that.

After few weeks my younger brother secretly ventured to Nakhalpara to see in his own eyes the condition of our homestead. To his horror he found that everything including a bag of rice had been removed or stolen. So we became destitute right away. But that did hardly dampened our spirit. We knew we were not alone in this struggle. Life became Durbishoho (I can’t find an appropriate synonym in English). It was an struggle every day for the rest of the nine-month period.

For the last 29 years I have always wondered why the army had targeted our house and our family. It had always been a mystery to me. Now I have some clue to that question after such a long period of time. Ashrafuzzaman Khan (the then member of the central committee of the Islami Chatra Sangha ) used to live at Nakhalpara. This piece of information I got from the Internet.

As I write this re-count, I learnt that 100 new 'killing fields' have been discovered all around Bangladesh. Was I surprised? No, not at all! However, what surprised me the most was why did it take so long? Why did we have to wait almost 30 years to know that innocent folks were butchered just as cattle? Rest assured that many more killing fields will be found. The killing fields of Cambodia, Kosovo, Bosnia, Afghanistan, etc., will be nothing when compared to the killing fields in Bangladesh. Let us not forget these killing fields. Let us not forget the sacrifice of 3 million people who shed enough blood to change the verdure of monsoon drenched land of Bengal. They certainly gave their lives so that we can enjoy the fruits of freedom. Freedom from the tyranny of Punjabi masters and Pakistani Oligarchy. I would ask every Bangalees not to forget the butchers of those nights and days when we remember the fallen angels of our land. The crime should never go unpunished.

[Son Of Bangla]

http://img182.imageshack.us/img182/4830/decofindep01uf8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img182.imageshack.us/img182/8430/decofindepen02ov3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

From "Ami Bijoy Dekhechchi" by M.R. Akthar Mukul, 1st print, pp 15-16.

[pirate_of_da_caribbean]

SoB vai........i just cant explain how good these posts are.....thanks man....pls post more .......

[sidewinder]

yeah....very informative indeed...keep em coming!! :)

[priencess_fiona]

i haavnt finished reading the whole write up.......i will inshallh :) thanx for the post son of bangla .

[Son Of Bangla]

thx Princess, Windie and Pirate. Good to get some feedback. I'll try Inshallah.

[Son Of Bangla]

Eyewitness Accounts: Genocide in Bangladesh
by Rounaq Jahan
in Samuel Totten, et al.
Century of Genocide: Eyewitness Accounts and Critical Views
New York: Garland Publishing, 1997
Chapter 10, pp. 291-316
___________________________________________

The following eyewitness accounts of the 1971 genocide depict different incidents. The first two eyewitness accounts describe the mass murders committed on March 25 night on Dhaka University campus. The first account is by a survivor of the killings in one of the student dormitories (Jagannath Hall) where Hindu students lived. The second account is by a university professor who witnessed and videotaped the massacres on Dhaka University campus. The third and fourth eyewitness testimonies describe the mass **** of women by the Pakistanis. The fifth testimony describes the killings in the village of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the leader of the nationalist movement. The last account describes the atrocities of the non-Bengali Biharis who collaborated with the Pakistan army. The testimonies are taken from two sources; one is a Bengali book entitled 1971: Terrible Experiences (Dhaka: Jatiya Shahitya Prakasheni, 1989), which was edited by Rashid Haider and is a collection of eyewitness accounts. Sohela Nazneen translated the accounts from Bengali to English. The other source, The Year of the Vulture (New Delhi: Orient Longmans, 1972), is an Indian journalist's (Arnita Malik) account of the genocide. In the Malik book Dhaka is spelled as Dacca, which was the spelling used in 1972.

Massacre at Jagannath Hall

This testimony is from Kali Ranjansheel's, "Jagannath Hall e-Chilam" ["I was at Jagannath Hall"], in Rashid Haider (ed.), 1971: Vayabaha Ovigayata [1971: Terrible Experiences] Dhaka: Jatiya Shahitya Prakasheni, 1989, p. 5. It was translated by Sohela Nazneen. Reprinted with permission.

I was a student at the Dhaka University. I used to live in room number 235 (South Block) in Jagannath Hall. On the night of 25th of March I woke up from sleep by the terrifying sound of gunfire. Sometimes the sound of gunfire would be suppressed by the sound of bomb explosions and shell-fire. I was so terrified that I could not even think of what I should do! After a while I thought about going to Shusil, assistant general secretary of the student's union. I crawled up the stairs very slowly to the third floor. I found out that some students had already taken refuge in Shusil's room, but he was not there. The students told me to go to the roof of the building where many other students had taken shelter but I decided (rather selfishly) to stay by myself I crawled to the rest rooms at the northern end of the third floor and took refuge in there. I could see the East, the South and the West from the window. I could see that the soldiers were searching for students with flashlights from room to room, were taking them near the Shahid Minar (Martyr's memorial) and then shooting them. Only the sound of gunfire and pleas of mercy filled the air. Sometimes the Pakistanis used mortars and were shelling the building. The tin sheds in front of assembly and some of the rooms in North Block were set on fire. ...

After some time about forty to fifty Pakistani soldiers came to the South Block and broke down the door of the dining room. The lights were turned on and they were firing at the students who took shelter in that room. ...When the soldiers came out they had Priyanath (the caretaker of the student dormitory) at gunpoint, and forced him to show the way through all the floors of the dormitory. During this time I was not able to see them as I left the restroom by climbing up the open window and took shelter on the sunshed of the third floor. But I could hear the cracking sounds of bullets, the students pleading for mercy and the sound of the soldiers rummaging and throwing things about in search of valuables. The soldiers did not see me on the sunshed.

...After they left I again took refuge in the washroom. I peeked through the window and saw that the other students' dormitory, Salimullah Hall, was on fire. The Northern and the Eastern parts of the city was on fire too as the North and East horizon had turned red. The whole night the Pakistani soldiers continued their massacre and destruction. ...Finally I heard the call for the morning prayer. ...

...The curfew was announced at dawn and I thought that this merciless killing would stop. But it continued. The soldiers started killing those who had escaped their notice during the night before.

...It was morning and I heard the voices of some students. I came out of the washroom, and saw that the students were carrying a body downstairs while soldiers with machine guns were accompanying them. It was the dead body of Priyanath. I was ordered to help the students and I complied. We carried bodies from the dormitory rooms and piled them up in the field outside.

There were a few of us there-students, gardeners, two sons of the gates-keeper and the rest were janitors. The janitors requested the Pakistanis to let them go since they were not Bengalis. After a while the army separated the janitors from us.

...All the time the soldiers were cursing and swearing at us. The soldiers said "We will see how you get free Bangladesh! Why don't you shout Joy Bangla (Victory to Bengal)!" The soldiers also kicked us around. After we had finished carrying the bodies, we were divided into groups. They then took my group to one of the university quarters and searched almost every room on the fourth floor and looted the valuables. Downstairs we saw dead bodies piled up, obviously victims from the night before. They also brought down the flag of Bangladesh.

...After we came back, we were again ordered to carry the dead bodies to the Shahid Minar. The soldiers had already piled up the bodies of their victims and we added others bodies to the piles. If we felt tired and slowed down, the soldiers threatened to kill us-

...As my companion and I were carrying the body of Sunil (our dormitory guard), we heard screams in female voices. We found that the women from the nearby slums were screaming as the soldiers were shooting at the janitors (the husbands of the women). I realized that our turn would come too as the Pakistanis started lining up those students who were before us, and were firing at them. My companion and I barely carried the dead body of Sunil toward a pile where I saw the dead body of Dr. Dev [Professor of Philosophy]. I cannot explain why I did what I did next. Maybe from pure fatigue or maybe from a desperate hope to survive!

I lay down beside the dead body of Dr. Dev while still holding onto the corpse of Sunil. I kept waiting for the soldiers to shoot me. I even thought that I had died. After a long time I heard women and children crying. I opened my eyes and saw that the army had left and the dead bodies were still lying about and women were crying. Some of the people were still alive but wounded. All I wanted to do was to get away from the field and survive.

I crawled towards the slums. First I went to the house of the electrician. I asked for water but when I asked for shelter, his wife started crying aloud and I then left and took refuge in a restroom. ...Suddenly I heard the voice of Idu who used to sell old books. He said,

"Don't be afraid. I heard you are alive, I shall escort you to safety." I went to old Dhaka city. Then I crossed the river. The boatman did not take any money. From there, I first went to Shimulia, then, Nawabganj and finally I reached my village in Barishal in the middle of April.


Horror Documentary

This testimony is from Amita Malik's The Year of the Vulture (New Delhi: Orient Longmans, 1972, pp. 79-83).

At the professors' funeral, Professor Rafiq-ul-Islam of the Bengali Department whispered to me, "At the television station you will find that there is a film record of the massacre of professors and students at Jagannath Hall. Ask them to show it to you."

This sounded so incredible that I did not really believe it. However, I wasted no time in asking Mr. Jamil Chowdhury, the station manager of TV, whether he did, indeed, have such a film with him. "Oh yes," he said, "but we have not shown it yet because it might have dreadful repercussions." He was, of course, referring to the fact that the

Pakistani army was still very much in Dacca in prisoner-of-war camps in the Cantonment, and it would have been dangerous to show them gunning down professors and students at Dacca University. The people of Dacca had shown tremendous restraint so far, but this would have been going a bit too far. However, I had it confirmed that N.B.C. VISNEWS and other international networks had already obtained and projected the film.

"But who shot the film?" I asked in wonder. "A professor at the University of Engineering, who had a video tape-recorder and whose flat overlooks the grounds of Jagannath Hall," said Mr. Chowdhury. It was therefore by kind courtesy of Dacca TV that I sat in their small projection room on January 5 and saw for the first time what must be a unique actuality film, something for the permanent archives of world history.

The film, lasting about 20 minutes, first shows small distant figures emerging from the hall carrying the corpses of what must be the students and professors massacred in Jagannath Hall. These are clearly civilian figures in lighter clothes and, at their back, seen strutting arrogantly even at that distance, are darker clad figures, the hoodlums of the Pakistan army. The bodies are laid down in neat, orderly rows by those forced to carry them at gun-point. Then the same procession troops back to the Hall. All this time, with no other sound, one hears innocent bird-song and a lazy cow is seen grazing on the university lawns. The same civilians come out again and the pile of bodies grows.

But after the third grisly trip, the action changes. After the corpses are laid on the ground, the people carrying them are lined up. One of them probably has a pathetic inkling of what is going to happen. He falls on his knees and clings to the legs of the nearest soldier, obviously pleading for mercy. But there is no mercy. One sees guns being pointed, one hears the crackle of gunfire and the lined up figures fall one by one, like the proverbial house of cards or, if you prefer, puppets in a children's film. At this stage, the bird-song suddenly stops. The lazy cow, with calf, careers wildly across the lawn and is joined by a whale herd of cows fleeing in panic.

But the last man is still clinging pathetically to the jack-boot of the soldier at the end of the row. The solider then lifts his shoulder at an angle, so that the gun points almost perpendicularly downwards to the man at his feet, and shoots him. The pleading hands unlink from the soldier's legs and another corpse joins the slumped bodies in a row, some piled on top of the very corpses they had to carry out at gunpoint, their own colleagues and friends. The soldiers prod each body with their rifles or bayonets to make sure that they are dead. A few who are still wriggling in their death agony are shot twice until they also stop wriggling.

At this stage, there is a gap, because Professor Nurul Ullah's film probably ran out and he had to load a new one. But by the time he starts filming again, nothing much has changed except that there is a fresh pile of bodies on the left. No doubt some other students and professors had been forced at gun-point to carry them out and then were executed in turn. In so far as one can count the bodies, or guess roughly at their number in what is really a continuous long-shot amateur film, there are about 50 bodies by this time. And enough, one should think.

Professor Nurul Ullah's world scoop indicated that he was a remarkable individual who through his presence of mind, the instinctive reaction of a man of science, had succeeded in shooting a film with invaluable documentary evidence regardless of the risk to his life.

I immediately arranged to trace him down and he very kindly asked me to come round to his flat. Professor Nurul Ullah is a Professor of Electricity at the University of Engineering in Dacca. I found him to be a quiet, scholarly, soft-spoken, and surprisingly young man with a charming wife. He is normally engrossed in his teaching and students. But he happened to be the proud possessor of a video tape-recorder which he bought in Japan on his way back from a year at an American university. He is perhaps the only man alive who saw the massacre on the lawns of Dacca University on the first day of the Pakistani army crack-down. He took his film at great risk to his personal life. It was fascinating to sit down in Professor Nurul Ullah's sitting room and see the film twice with him, the second time after he had shown me the bedroom window at the back of his flat which overlooked both the street along which the soldiers drove to the university and the university campus. When he realized what was happening, he slipped his microphone outside [through] the window to record the sounds of firing. The film was shot from a long distance and under impossible conditions. Professor Nurul Ullah's description of how he shot the film was as dramatic and stirring as the film itself:

"On March 25, 1971, the day of the Pakistani crack-down, although I knew nothing about it at the time, my wife and I had just had breakfast and I was looking out of my back windows in the professors' block of flats in which I and my colleagues from the Engineering University live with our families. Our back windows overlook a street across which are the grounds of Jagannath Hall, one of the most famous halls of Dacca University. I saw an unusual sight, soldiers driving past my flat and going along the street which overlooks it, towards the entrance to the University. As curfew was on, they made announcements on loudspeakers from a jeep that people coming out on the streets would be shot. After a few minutes, I saw some people carrying out what were obviously dead bodies from Jagannath Hall. I immediately took out my loaded video tape recorder and decided to shoot a film through the glass of the window. It was not an ideal way to do it, but I was not sure what it was all about, and what with the curfew and all the tension, we were all being very cautious. As I started shooting the film, the people carrying out the dead bodies laid them down on the grass under the supervision of Pakistani soldiers who are distinguishable in the film, because of their dark clothes, the weapons they are carrying and the way they are strutting about contrasted with the civilians in lighter clothes who are equally obviously drooping with fright. “As soon as firing started, I carefully opened the bedroom window wide enough for me to slip my small microphone just outside the window so that I could record the sound as well. But it was not very satisfactorily done, as it was very risky. My wife now tells me that she warned me at the time: ~re you mad, do you want to get shot too? One flash from your camera and they will kill us too.' But I don't remember her telling me, I must have been very absorbed in my shooting, and she says I took no notice of what she said.

"It so happened that a few days earlier, from the same window I had shot some footage of student demonstrators on their way to the university. I little thought it would end this way.

"Anyway, this macabre procession of students carrying out bodies and laying them down on the ground was repeated until we realized with horror that the same students were themselves being lined up to be shot. After recording this dreadful sight on my video tape-recorder, I shut it off thinking it was all over only to realize that a fresh batch of university people were again carrying out bodies from inside. By the time I got my video tape-recorder going again, I had missed this new grisly procession but you will notice in the film that the pile of bodies is higher.

"I now want to show my film all over the world, because although their faces are not identifiable from that distance in what is my amateur film, one can certainly see the difference between the soldiers and their victims, one can see the shooting and hear it, one can see on film what my wife and I actually saw with our own eyes. And that is documentary evidence of the brutality of the Pak army and their massacre of the intellectuals."


Our Mothers and Sisters
The following testimony is from M. Akhtaurzzaman Mondol's "Amader-Ma Bon" ("Our Mother and Sisters") which appears in Rashid Haider (Ed.) 1971: Terrible Experiences, p. 197. It was translated by Sohela Nazneen. Reprinted with permission.

We started our fight to liberate Vurungamari from the Pakistani occupation forces on November 11. 1971. We started attacking from West, North and East simultaneously. The Indian air forces bombed the Pakistani stronghold on November 11 morning. On November 13 we came near the outskirts of Vurungamari, and the Indian air force intensified their air attack. On November 14 morning the guns from the Pakistani side fell silent and we entered Vurungamari with shouts of "Joy Bangla" (victory to Bangladesh). The whole town was quiet. We captured fifty to sixty Pakistani soldiers. They had no ammunition left. We found the captain of the Pakistan forces, captain Ataullah Khan, dead in the bunker. He still had his arms around a woman-both died in the bomb attack in the bunker. The woman had marks of torture all over her body. We put her in a grave.

But I still did not anticipate the terrible scene I was going to witness and we were heading toward east of Vurungamari to take up our positions. I was informed by wireless to go to the Circle Officer's office. After we reached the office, we caught glimpses of several young women through the windows of the second floor. The doors were locked. so we had to break them down. After breaking down the door of the room, where the women were kept, we were dumbfounded. We found four naked young women, who had been physically tortured, ****, and battered by the Pakistani soldiers. We immediately came out of the room and threw in four lungis [dresses] and four bedsheets for them to cover themselves. We tried to talk to them, but all of them were still in shock. One of them was six to seven months pregnant. One was a college student from Mymensingh. They were taken to India for medical treatment in a car owned by the Indian army. We found many dead bodies and skeletons in the bushes along the road. Many of the skeletons had long hair and had on torn saris and bangles on their hands. We found sixteen other women locked up in a room at Vurungamari High School. These women were brought in for the Pakistani soldiers from nearby villages. We found evidence in the rooms of the Circle Officers office which showed that these women were tied to the windowbars and were repeatedly **** by the Pakistani soldiers. The whole floor was covered with blood, torn pieces of clothing, and strands of long hair. ...


The Officer's Wife

This testimony is from Amita Malik's The Year of the Vulture, pp. 141-42.

Another pathetic case is that of a woman of about 25. Her husband was a government officer in a subdivision and she has three children. They first took away the husband, although she cried and pleaded with them. Then they returned him half-dead, after brutal torture. Then another lot of soldiers came in at 8 or 9 A.M. and **** her in front of her husband and children. They tied up the husband and hit the children when they cried.

Then another lot of soldiers came at 2.30 P.M. and took her away. They kept her in a bunker and used to **** her every night until she became senseless. When she returned after three months, she was pregnant. The villagers were very sympathetic about her but the husband refused to take her back. When the villagers kept on pressing him to take her back, he hanged himself. She is now in an advanced stage of pregnancy and we are doing all that we can do to help her. But she is inconsolable. She keeps on asking, "But why, why did they do it? It would have been better if we had both died."


The Maulvi's Story

This testimony appears in Arnica Malik's The Year of the Vulture, pp. 102-104.

On April 19, 1971, about 35 soldiers came to our village in a launch at about 8 A.M. A couple of days earlier, I had asked the Sheikh's father and mother to leave the village, but they refused. They said. "This is our home and we shall not go away." Soon after I heard the sound of the launch, a soldier came running and said, "Here Maulvi, stop, in which house are the father and mother of the Sheikh?" So first I brought out his father. We placed a chair for him but they made him sit on the ground. Then Sheikh Sahib's amma [mother] was brought out. She took hold of my hand and I made her sit on the chair. The soldiers then held a sten-gun against the back of the Sheikh's abba [father] and a rifle against mine. "We will kill you in 10 minutes," said a soldier looking at his watch.

Then they picked up a diary from the Sheikh's house and some medicine bottles and asked me for the keys of the house. I gave them the bunch of keys but they were so rough in trying to open the locks that the keys would not turn. So they kicked open the trunks. There was nothing much inside except five teaspoons, which they took. They saw a framed photograph and asked me whose it was. When I said it was Sheikh Sahib's, they took it down. I tried to get up at this stage but they hit me with their rifle butts and I fell down against the chair. Finally, they picked up a very old suitcase and a small wooden box and made a servant carry them to the launch.

Then they dragged me up to where the Sheikh's father was sitting and repeated, "We shall shoot you in 10 minutes." Pointing to the Sheikh's father, I asked: "What's the point of shooting him? He's an old man and a government pensioner." The soldiers replied, "Is lire, keonki wohne shaitan paida kira hai" ["Because he has produced a devil."]. "Why shoot me, the imam of the mosque?" I asked. “Aap kiska imam hai? Aap vote dehtehain" ["What sort of an imam are you? You vote."], they replied. I said: "The party was not banned, we were allowed to vote for it. We are not leaders, we are janasadharan [the masses]. Why don't you ask the leaders?" The captain intervened to say that eight minutes were over and we would be shot in another two minutes. Just then a major came running from the launch and said we were to be let alone and not shot.

I immediately went towards the masjid (mosque) and saw about 50 villagers inside. Three boys had already been dragged out and shot. The soldiers asked me about a boy who, I said, was a krishak (cultivator). They looked at the mud on his legs and hands and let him go. Khan Sahib, the Sheikh's uncle, had a boy servant called Ershad. They asked me about him. I said he was a servant. But a Razakar maulvi, who had come with them from another village, said he was the Sheikh's relative, which was a lie. The boy Ershad was taken to the lineup. He asked for water but it was refused.

Another young boy had come from Dacca, where he was employed in a mill, to enquire about his father. He produced his identity card but they shot him all the same. They shot Ershad right in front of his mother. Ershad moved a little after falling down so they shot him again. Finally, the boy who had carried the boxes to the launch was shot. With the three shot earlier, a total of six innocent boys were shot by the Pakistani army without any provocation. They were all good-looking and therefore suspected to be relatives of the Sheikh.

After this, the Sheikh's father and mother were brought out of the house. Amma was almost fainting. And the house was set on fire and burnt down in front of our eyes until all that remained was the frame of the doorway which you can still see. Altonissa, the lady with the blood- stained clothes of her son, is the mother of Torab Yad Ali who was shot. They did not allow her to remove her son's body for burial, because they wanted the bodies to be exposed to public view to terrorize the villagers. They also shot Mithu, the 10-year old son of this widowed lady. She had brought him up with the greatest difficulty-they never had anything to eat except saag-bhaat (spinach and rice). They shot little Mithu because he had helped the Mukti Bahini. You can now ask the ladies about their narrow escape.

Shaheeda Sheikh, Sheikh Mujib's niece, then added that fortunately all the women were taken away to safety across the river to a neighbouring village three days before the Pakistani soldiers came. For months they had lived in constant terror of Razakars pouncing on them from bushes by the village pond. Beli Begum, Mujib's niece, a strikingly lovely woman, told me how she had fled from the village when seven months pregnant and walked 25 miles to safety. Pari, a girl cousin, escaped with a temperature of 104 degrees. Otherwise they would all have been killed.


Massacre at Faiz Lake

This testimony is from Abdul Gofran's "Faiz Lake-Gonohataya" ("Massacreat Faiz Lake"), which first appeared in Rashid Haider (ed.), 1971: Terrible Experiences. It was translated by Sohela Nazneen.

I own a shop near Akbar Shah mosque in Pahartali. On November lOth, 1971, at 6. A.M. about forty to fifty Biharis came to my shop and forced me to accompany them. I had to comply as any form of resistance would have been useless against such a large number of people. They took me to Faiz Lake. As we passed through the gates of Faiz Lake I saw that hundreds of non-Bengalis had assembled near the Pump house and wireless colony. The Bengalis who had been brought in were tied up. They were huddled by the side of the lake which was at the north side of the Pump-house. Many of the Biharis were carrying knives, swords and other sharp instruments. The Biharis were first kicking and beating up the Bengalis brutally and then were shoving their victims towards towards those carrying weapons. These other group of armed Biharis were then jabbing their victims in the stomach and then severing their heads with the swords. I witnessed several groups of Bengalis being killed in such a manner. ...When the Biharis came for me one of them took away my sweater. I hen punched him and jumped into the lake. ...I swam to the other side and hid among the bushes. .. The Biharis came to look for me but I was fortunate and barely escaped their notice. From my hiding place I witnessed the mass murder that was taking place. Many Bengalis were killed in the manner which had been described earlier.

The massacre went on till about two o'clock in the afternoon. After they had disposed off the last Bengal victim, the Biharis brought in a group of ten to twelve Bengali men. It was evident from their gestures that they were asking the Bengalis to dig a grave for the bodies lying about. I also understood from their gestures that the Biharis were promising the group that if they completed the task they would be allowed to go free. The group complied to their wish. After the group had finished burying the bodies, they were also killed, and the Biharis went away rejoicing. There were still many dead bodies thrown around the place.

In the afternoon many Biharis and [the] Pakistani army went along that road. But the Pakistani soldiers showed no sign of remorse. They seemed rather happy and did nothing to bury the dead.

When night fell I came back to my shop but left Chittagong the next day.

[Son Of Bangla]

THE LEADING COLLABORATORS OF 1971 AND THEIR PRESENT WHEREABOUTS
I. Members of the Central Peace Committee
1. Khwaja Khairuddin Leader of the Pakistan Muslim League.
2. A. G. M. Shafiqul Islam Advocate, Lahore High Court. Has business in Bangladesh.
3. Gholam Azam Residing illegally in Bangladesh; Ameer of the Jamaat?e?Islami.
4. Moulana Syed Mohammad Leading member of the Central Majlis of the Bangladesh Ittehadul Ummah.
5. Mahmud Ali State Minister for Social Welfare, Government of Pakistan.
6. M. A. K. Rafiqul Islam No information.
7. Abdul Jabbar Khaddar Died of natural causes after liberation.
8. Yusuf Ali Chowdhury
(Mohan Miah) Died of natural causes during the Liberation War.
9. Abut Kashem Died of natural causes after liberation.
10. Ghulam Sarwar Leader of the Jamaati organization in London, the Dawatul Islam: Director
of the London-based Islamic Institute.
11. Syed Azizul Huq
(Nanna Miah) Leader of the Jatiyo Party, and member of Parliament.
12. A. S. M. Solaiman Chairman, Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Party.
13. Pir Mohsenuddin
(Dudu Miah) Vice-Chairman, Bangladesh Democratic League
14. Sharq Rahman Chairman, Islamic Democratic League
15. Major (Rtd) Afsaruddin Convenor, Bangladesh Ganatantra Bastabayan Parishad; Chairman,
National Democratic Party; former presidential candidate.
16. Syed Mohsin Ali Industrialist; former Chairman Stock Exchange; former Director,
I. F. I. C. Bank.
17. Fazlul Huq Chowdhury Died of natural causes after liberation.
18. Mohd. Sirajuddin Industrialist; Chairman of the Dhaka City Muslim League.
19. Advocate A. T. Sadi Retired advocate of the Bangladesh Supreme Court.
20. Advocate Ataul Huq Khan Vice?Chairman, Bangladesh Muslim League.
21. Maqbulur Rahman Industrialist.
22. Al-Hajj Mohammad Aqil Acting Chairman, Bangladesh Nezam-e-Islami.
23. Principal Ruhul Quddus Member of the Central Working Committee, Jamaat-e-Islami.
24. Nuruzzaman Industrialist; Director Islamic Development Bank.
25. Moulana Miah Mafizul Huq Member, Central Majlis, Bangladesh Ittehadul Ummah.
26. Advocate Abu Salek Senior Advocate, Bangladesh Supreme Court.
27. Advocate Abdun Naim Died of natural causes after liberation.
28. Moulana Siddique Ahmed Member, Central Majlis, Bangladesh Ittehadul Ummah.
29. Abdul Matin Secretary-General,Bangladesh Muslim League.
30. Banister Akhtaruddin Ahmed Resident in Saudi Arabia; Adviser Saudia International Law
31. Toaha Bin Habib Industrialist; member Central Majlis-e-Shuca,
Bangladesh Khelafat Andolan.
32. Hakim Irtezaur Rahman
Akhunzada Died of natural causes after liberation.
33. Raja Tridev Roy Doing business at Karachi.
34. Faiz Bakhsh Chairman, Bangladesh Muslim League
II. Leaders of the Central Peace and WelfareCouncil
1. Moulana Farid Ahmed Disappeared immediately after liberation.
2. Nuruzzaman Former Director Imam Training Course, Islamic Foundation.
3. Moulana Abdul Mahnan Former Minister for Religious Affairs.
4. Julmat Ali Khan Vice-Chairman, B. N. P.
5. A. K. M. Mujibul Huq Industrialist.
6. Firoz Ahmed No information.
III. Members of the Malek Cabinet
1. Abul Kashem Died of natural causes after liberation.
2. Nawazish Ahmed Chairman, Bangladesh Muslim League.

[pirate_of_da_caribbean]

BangaBandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
(1920-1975)

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was born on 17 March 1920 in the village Tungipara under the gopalganj Sub-division (currently district) in the district of Faridpur
Bangabandhu, the architect of Bangladesh, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman(1920-1975) is a charismatic leader, President and Prime Minister of Bangladesh.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's father, Sheikh Lutfar Rahman, was a serestadar in the civil court of Gopalganj. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman passed his matriculation from Gopalganj Missionary School in 1942, IA (Twelfth Grade) from Islamia College, Calcutta in 1944 and BA from the same College in 1947. After partition (1947), he got himself admitted into the university of dhaka to study law but was unable to complete it, because, he was expelled from the University in early 1949 on charge of "inciting the fourth-class employees" in their agitation against the University's indifference towards their legitimate demands.
Sheikh Mujib's active political career began with his election to one of the posts of joint secretaries of the East Pakistan Awami Muslim League (1949). As a political prisoner, he was then interned in Faridpur jail. In 1953, Sheikh Mujib was elected general secretary of the East Pakistan Awami Muslim League, a post that he held until 1966 when he became president of the party.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman entered parliamentary politics first in 1954 through his election as a member of the East Bengal Legislative Assembly on the united front ticket. He was also a member of the Pakistan Second Constituent Assembly-cum-Legislature (1955-1958).
Disturbed by the radical political views of Sheikh Mujib, the Ayub regime put him behind bars. A sedition case, known as agartala conspiracy case, was brought against him. It may be noted that during most of the period of the Ayub regime Mujib was in jail, first from 1958 to 1961 and then from 1966 to early 1969. During the second term in jail, Mujib's charisma grew so much that a mass uprising took place in his favour in early 1969 and Ayub administration was compelled to release him on 22 February 1969 unconditionally.
On the following day of his release, the Sarbadaliya Chhatra Sangram Parishad (All Parties Students Action Committee) organised a mass reception to him at Ramna racecourse (now, Suhrawardy Uddyan) and accorded him the title 'Bangabandhu' (Friend of the Bengalis). In him they saw a true leader who suffered jail terms for about twelve years during the 23 years of Pakistani rule. Twelve years in jail and ten years under close surveillance, Pakistan, to Sheikh Mujib, indeed proved to be more a prison than a free homeland.
The general elections of December 1970 made Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman the sole spokesman of East Pakistan. Mujib was so serious about the six-point that on 3 January 1971, he held a solemn ceremony at Ramna Race Course with all the East Pakistan representatives and took an oath never to deviate from the six-point idea when framing the constitution for Pakistan.
During the course of non-cooperation (2-25 March 1971) the entire civil authorities in East Pakistan came under the control and directives of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, himself becoming the de facto head of government of the province.
During this time, on 7 March Mujib made a historic address at a mammoth gathering at the Race Course which marked a turning point in the history of the Bengali nation. At the end of his speech, he made a clarion call, saying: "Build forts in each homestead. You must resist the Pakistani enemy with whatever you have in hand….Remember, we have given a lot of blood, a lot more blood we shall give if need be, but we shall liberate the people of this country, Insha Allah [ie, if God blessed]….The struggle this time is the struggle for our emancipation; the struggle this time is the struggle for independence”.
At mid-night of 25 March 1971, the Pakistan army launched its brutal crackdown in Dhaka. Sheikh Mujib was arrested and kept confined at Dhaka Cantonment until he was lifted to West Pakistan for facing trial for sedition and inciting insurrection.
Although during the war of liberation was begun in the wake of the 25 March army crackdown Bangabandhu had been a prisoner in the hands of Pakistan, he was made, in absentia, the President of the provisional government, called the mujibnagar government, formed on 10 April 1971 by the people's representatives to head the Liberation War. He was also made the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces. Throughout the period of the War of Liberation, Sheikh Mujib's charisma worked as the source of national unity and strength. After the liberation of Bangladesh on 16 December 1971 from Pakistani occupation, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was released from Pakistan jail and via London he arrived in Dhaka on 10 January 1972.
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman headed the first government of the post-liberation Bangladesh for a period of three years and a half. By that time, the country was in a shambles, the result of a nine-month war for independence. Sheikh Mujib attempted to remedy the situation by ruling through executive decree, Sheikh Mujib declared a state of emergency, declaring himself president and disbanding all political parties except for the newly formed Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Awami League (BAKSAL) which raised a paramilitary force to annihilate anyone opposing his decisions and ideals and to keep his family in power for eternity. His popularity reached the lowest of the low.

Achievement:

* A founding member of the East Pakistan Muslim Students League (est. 1948)
* One of the founding joint secretaries of the East Pakistan Awami Muslim League (est. 1949)
* General secretary of the Awami League (1953-1966)
* President of the Awami League (1966-1974)
* President of Bangladesh (in absentia from 26 March 1971 to 11 January 1972)
* Prime minister of Bangladesh (1972-24 January1975), president of Bangladesh (25 January 1975-15 August 1975)

A group of army adventurers assassinated him along with most of his other family members on 15 August 1975.

[ocean]

very nice topic n nice posts.......... thanx @ pirate n SoB

[pirate_of_da_caribbean]

Thanks everybody........everybody's contribution is needed....so pls............share sumthing....

[Son Of Bangla]

Mohammad Ataul Ghani Osmani
(1918-1984)
(General) Mohammad Ataul Ghani Osmani, commander-in-chief of the Liberation Forces and of the Bangladesh Armed Forces. Ataul Ghani Osmani was born at Sunamganj on 1 September 1918. He passed the matriculation examination in 1934 from Sylhet Government High School, and obtained his graduation from the Aligarh Muslim University in 1938. In 1939, he joined the Royal Armed Forces as Gentleman Cadet. But instead of joining the Indian Civil Service he completed the military course from the British Indian Military Academy in Deradun, and joined the Royal Army as a commissioned officer (1940). He was promoted to the rank of major in 1942 and was appointed commander of a battalion. He was engaged in war at the Burma sector in the Second World War as a commander of the British army. On completion of senior army officers' course in 1947 he was selected for appointment as lieutenant colonel.

After the partition of India Osmani joined the Pakistan army on 7 October 1947, and was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel on the day following. He obtained P.S.C degree in 1948 from the Quetta Staff College. He was then appointed a deputy to the Chief of General Staff of the army (1949). Between 1950 and 1955 Osmani held the positions of the director of rifle company in the nineth battalion of the Fourteenth Punjab Regiment, additional commandant of the East Pakistan Rifles, and general staff officer of the army. He was promoted to the post of colonel in 1956 and was appointed deputy director of general staff and military operations in the army headquarters, a position which he held for ten years till his retirement on 16 February 1967.

Ataul Ghani Osmani joined the awami league in 1970. He was elected a member of the Pakistan National Assembly in 1970 as a nominee of Awami League. With the formation of mujibnagar government on 17 April 1971, Osmani was appointed commander in chief of the Bangladesh Armed Forces and of the Liberation Forces. After liberation of the country Osmani was elevated to the rank of General of the Bangladesh Armed Forces with effect from the date 16 December 1971. With the abolition of the post of Commander in Chief on 7 April 1972, Osmani retired from the service. He was then included in the cabinet of Bangabandhu sheikh mujibur rahman as Minister in charge of Shipping, Inland Water Transport and Aviation. Osmani was elected a member of the jatiya sangsad in 1973, and was included in the new cabinet with charge of the Ministries of Post, Telegraph and Telephone, Communication, Shipping, Inland Water Transport and Aviation. He resigned from the cabinet in may 1974. After the introduction of one-party system of government through the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution in 1975, he resigned from the Jatiya Sangsad and also from the primary membership of the Awami League.

MAG Osmani was appointed an Adviser to the President in charge of Defence Affairs by khondaker mostaq ahmad on 29 August 1975. But he resigned immediately after the killing of four national leaders inside the Dhaka Central Jail on 3 November.

Osmani launched a new political party styled as Jatiya Janata Party in September 1976 and was elected its president. He contested in the presidential elections in 1978 as a nominee of the Democratic Alliance. He contested in the presidential elections once again in 1981 as a nominee of Jatiya Nagarik Committee (National Citizens Committee). A life long bachelor Osmani died on 16 February 1984 while under treatment of cancer in London.

Source: Click Here (http://www.banglagallery.com/bangladesh/mago.php)

[pirate_of_da_caribbean]

Jahanara Imam (May 3, 1929—June 26, 1994) was a Bangladeshi writer and political activist. She is most widely remembered for her endeavor to bring war criminals of the Bangladesh Liberation War to trial.

Biography

Jahanara Imam was born in a conservative Muslim family in Murshidabad, now in West Bengal, India. She, however, received higher education and studied in Carmichael College in Rangpur and institutions in Kolkata. After the partition of India, her family moved to Mymensingh. Imam joined them after completing her studies from Kolkata and started teaching at a local girl's school. In 1947, she married Shariful Alam Imam Ahmed. They moved to Dhaka after a few years, and Jahanara Imam started teaching at Siddheswari Girl's School, of which she became the Headmistress later. After taking training in education in Dhaka, she went to USA as a Fullbright scholar in 1964-65 to get further training in education. Jahanara Imam later got a Masters degree in Bangla literature from Dhaka University.

In 1971, the Bangladesh Liberation War broke out. Jahanara Imam's eldest son, Rumi, joined the Mukti Bahini to fight the Pakistani forces. Bottled in Dhaka with no information about her son, Jahanara kept a diary to express her thoughts. Rumi never returned from the war, and Shariful Imam died following an interrogation by the Pakistan army. After Bangladesh achieved independence, Imam stareted a literary career, and her most notable publication was that of her diary. In 1981 she was diagnosed with mouth cancer. In nineties, Jahanara Imam became the central figure of a political movement to try the 1971 war criminals. Imam died of cancer in 1994.


Effort to try war crimes

Jahanara Imam led a relatively quite life until 1992, when she suddenly came to the forefront of political dynamics of Bangladesh. She helped organise the Ghatak-Dalal Nirmul Committee(committee to exterminate killers and collaborators), and became its public face. The committee called for trial of people who committed crimes against humanity in the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War in collaboration with the Pakistany forces. In a highly controversial symbolic act, Ghatak-Dalal Nirmul Committee set up mock trials in Dhaka known as Gonoadalot (Court of the people) and sentenced war criminals. Jahanara Imam and 24 other intellectuals were charged with treason. The charges were never dropped.

Though Imam and her associates were seeking to try crimes 20 years old at that point, their acts caused deep reverberations in the political arena of Bangladesh. In the first free elections in decades, Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) had just come to power. Imam's effort was seen by the government to undermine its power. Many of the people charged by the Gonoadalot were from Jamat-e-Islami, an Islamist party many saw as supportive of the BNP government.


Literary Works

* Anya Jiban (1985) (Other life)
* Ekattorer dinguli (1986) (The days of 1971)
* Jiban Mrityu (1988) (Life and death)
* Buker Bhitare Agun (1990) (Fire in my heart)
* Nataker Abasan (1990) (End of drama)
* Dui Meru (1990) (Two poles)
* Cancer-er Sange Bosobas (1991) (Living with cancer)
* Prabaser Dinalipi (1992) (Life abroad)

[Son Of Bangla]

http://img439.imageshack.us/img439/4158/doc5zj6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[DeV|L]

Very interesting...I never read this before!

[Son Of Bangla]

Banglabandhu's 7th March er oitihashik bhashon
http://www.muktadhara.net/7Mspch.jpg

[winfield]

oshadharon post .....
u desrve to get 5 point

[pirate_of_da_caribbean]

once again........i cant just express how good r these posts...thanks SoB

[ocean]

wow...........

very nice post............ thanks a lot for this @ SoB

[intoXIcated]

aami khub , khub ebong khub hotash hoisi.

This Topic was opened nearly one month ago. what we've got ? 20 (twenty) posts not from 7 (seven) individuals. till now thanx to, priencess_fiona, sidewinder, ocean, DeV|L and winfield.

Whenever I found a topic like "Music Game", "What you bought last time", "what you dream last night", "aami kichu bolte chai", "tomake chai", "bhalo lage na", "kalke ki korba", "ajke ki khaiso", "muri khao" ......... prochur response. ei topic er ei obostha keno ? tahole ki aamader ei dhoroner kono topic-a kono interest nai ? naki aamader ei dhoroner topic niye kotha bolar jonno jotheshto knowledge er obhab ase ? naki aamra ei dhoroner bishoye kotha continue korte lojjaboadh kori ?

I am not a very good net browser. I just love to surf the photography based websites on the web. I find less interest in a forum or community like nsuers. that's why you can see my number of posts are so poor. maybe this is the reason that I found this topic so lately. but I observed that there are many who's got posts more than I just can't imagine. thousands and thousands..... r bhabi eder ki sharadin khaiya daiya kono kaj kam nai ? tara keu ki ekhono ei jaygar khoj pay nai ? aamar thik bisshash hoy nai. tahole bepar ta ki ? actually aamra ki jani j eikhane aamra ki niye alap kortesi ? aamra ki bisshash kori ? aami kori, tumi koro, hoyto emon kono din ashbe jokhon aamra r korbo na. aamader next geeneration r korbe na. the question is keno ? why ?

What we've got after Liberation ? ekta shadhin desh ? ekta shadhin projonmo ? ghrina korar jonno kichu Rajakar ? 35 ta bochor ? ki hoise ? temon bhoy pawar moto ashole kisu-e hoy nai. ek shomoy jara rajakar al-badar nam-a porichito chilo, ekhon tara montri minister nam-a porichito hoise. ekhon tara desh chalay. shorkari office adalot-a tader re shobai sir sir boila dake. tader k kono dosh aamra kibhabe dei ? tara ekta nirbachoni prokriar maddhome ei khomotay ashche. aamra keno tader k deny korte parlam na ? aamra keno tader k chini na ? kimba china shotteo keno tader k abar protishthito hoite dilam. aamar ekhono mone pore, once upon a time. DU campus-a tader k dhukte deya hoito na. lanchito hoite hoito. ekhon tara flag laganu gari te ghure beray. police tader protection dey. tader reccomendation-a aamader oneker chakri hoy.

montri minister r big big political face er kotha bad dilam. The President. who is constitutionaly the Number one person of the country. kono ek shomoy ekjon rajakar chilo. that was back in 1991-1996. Mr. Abdur Rahman Biswas. . er por-o aamra take deny to kori nai ulta aro kichu rajakar der shujog dilam.

ashole ghotona sheita na. ghotona hocche aamra khub shohoje shadhin desher shad paisi. aamra khub gorbo kore boli j dirgho 9 mash juddho kore 30 lakh shohid er rokter binimoye aamra aamader shadinota bla bla bla....... ashole kicchu na. 9 mash shomoy ashole kicchu na. khub olpo for a country to be a free one. 30 lakh manush ashole khub kom.

Vietnam er moton bochorer por por aamader juddho kora dorkar chilo. koti koti manush mara jawar dorkar chilo. Hiroshima Nagasakir moton paromanobik attack howar dorkar chilo, jate kore projonmer por projonmo shei tar effect boye beraite hoito, aamader prottek er family te kono na kono ekjon er atto-tyag thakto, keu na keu pongu hoye thaktam, aamader karu karu jonmo kono R*a*p*e*d mohilar gorve hoito, tahole hoyto aamra bujhtam j shadhinota jinish ta actually ki ? tahole hoyto aamder k ajker moton Jatir Jonok, Shadhinotar ghoshok, ghoshona pathok ittyadi topic nia debate korar proyojon hoito na. Joy Bangla kono doliyo slogan hoito na. aamra keu Joy Bangla bolte lojja paitam na. 35 bochor dhore Birsreshto Motiur Rahmaner koborer pashe "Gaddar" kotha ta likha thakto na. khub shohoje pawa aamder shadhinota. 9 mash r 30 lakh shohid, ashole kichu na.

pirate_of_da_caribbean : very good topic to watch

Son Of Bangla : Nice Posts to Read

Sorry for being so Rude.

[pirate_of_da_caribbean]

thanks a lot intoxicated vai,heartfelt thanks,we would love 2 c more post like this 1 coming from you...

[intoXIcated]

pirate_of_da_caribbean:

jei kotha ta aami boltesilam. aami last post korar por Bangla 2 English Dictionary te 2 ta post, Download and Req Song er moddhe 2 ta post r Music Game er moddhe 7 ta post. but ei topic er moddhe 1 ta.

tar mane aamader ei jatiyo topic-a kono interest nai. kimba hoyto onno kono reason. Rajakar r MirZafar der rokto ashole aamader shorir-a. ei karon-a still aamader hat-a cricket khelar shomoy Pakistaner Flag dekha jay. Pakistan Pakistan bole aamra ekhono michil kori. tao ei jinish ta mana jay as it is only a game. kintu Jahangir Adel er bashar chad-a Pakistan er independence day te Pakistaner flag ure r aamra still take rashtrodohi goshona kori na. ei ghotona ta k tumi ki bolba ? oder moton lok der lojja lage na, gorber shathe Pakistaner Flag bashar chad-a uray r aamra joy bangla bolte lojja pai, pache keu aamake Awami League boluk. aami emon-o lok chini jara Bangladesh Pakistan Cricket khela hoile Pakistan Support kore, ek shomoy tara Pakistaner khela dekhte Dhaka Stadium jaito, Radio te Pakistaner khela shunto, shei josh ekhono tader majhe roye gese, emon-o lok chini jara bole desh 2 bhag na hoile to aamra ekhon Nuclear Power country hoitam, India aamader 2 pasher chipay thakto. aamader durbhagger cheye tara Indiar shoubhaggo niya beshi Upset.

aamar shathe keu agree koruk r na koruk, aamar previous post er last paragraph aami strongly believe kori and that's for sure.

[Son Of Bangla]

thx intoxicated borther. I luved both ur posts. Its true ei jatio topic niya beshir bhag loker temon agroho nai. Kintu ki r korar ???

r apni last paragraph e ja bolsen ta 100% shotto. amra khub taratari paia gesi. tai etar mullo bujhtesi na.

thx for ur encouragement. I hav a lot of things to post in this topic.

[pirate_of_da_caribbean]

intoxicated vai.........thik e bolsen.......aamra aasholei er mormo bujhte pari na....muktijuddho ekhon aamader kase just ekta simple shobdo....r kisu na.........

ei shobdo take ki shobdo theke sotti baniye fela jai na?

nischoy jai........aamra pari........parte hobe............30 lakh manush emni emni more nai.............na hoi oder jonno ekta kisu korlam e aamra ....................

[Son Of Bangla]

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
By
BANGABANDHU SHEIKH MUJIBUR RAHMAN
http://www.bangladesh.net/muktijuddha/doc2b.jpg

source:Click here (http://www.bangladesh.net/muktijuddha/main.htm)

[intoXIcated]

Son Of Bangla : please, keep continue these kind of postings.

pirate_of_da_caribbean : tumi jotota encouragement dekhaiso change korar, I appriciate that. but is it really gonna happen ?

shadhinotar 4 bochorer moddhe shadhinotar jonno shobcheye boro voice , shobcheye boro shashosh r shobcheye boro inspiration k hottya kora hoise r 35 years er moddhe tar kono bichar hoy nai, borong law create kore shei hottyar bichar atkanu hoise. prithir itihash-a jei jinish kebol matro aamader deshe-e 1 ta example. r jara tar protibad korsilo tader keu shei same porinoti mene nite hoise kimba desh chara hoite hoise. Ex: Sector Commander Khaled Mosharraf and Bangabir Kader Siddicky (Bagha Siddicky). aami tumi ki parbo ei ekta forum r kisu related topic diye pura circumstance ta change korte ? beshi dure takaite hobe na, look at India, still they utter Jay Hind, Still the hang the picture of Mahatma Gandhi everywhere all over the country. r aamader ei khane 1 joner nam-a kisu korle sheitar nam hoy doliyo koron, shathe shathe arek joner name-o kisu kora lage.

The Question is tumi aami kibhabe change korbo ? are we going to do politics ? ek shomoy politics korto jara chilo khub medhabi, r ekhon ? jara hocche Cader naile 2 number. even tokhon kar amoler bagha bagha politianra-o ajke 2 number. ebong tara kotota 2 number sheita tumi aamar theke bhalo kore jano na. chotobela theika polititiander shathe utha bosha koira ajke aami boro hoisi. I know who they r. aami kimba tumi ei politics-a jodi dhuki desh ta k change korar jonno, tahole aami r tumi kono bhabe-e survive korte parbo na jodi na aamra-o tader moton hoi. ebong aamake tader moton hoite-e hobe survive korar jonno. ekbar khomotar shad r lov paiya gele shei jinish ta chara khub mushkil, desh boile tokhon kisu thake na.

what are the political parties doing ? forget about BNP and Jatiyo Party, tader jonmo-e hoise ekta military coup er maddhome political assassination koire. forget about Jamat-e Islami, the anti-libaration alliance. AL ki kortese ? to be more specific, ei 35 bochor-a tara ki korse ? Dr. Kamal Hossain r Kader Siddicky-r moton lokder tara dhoire rakhte pare nai.

aamar ashole khub raag, khob, kotha bartar moddhe khali ei shob-e ashe. ektu matha thanda hoile hoyto kisu bhalo bhalo kotha-o bolbo.

bhalo kotha, aamar kase onek chobi tobi jatiyo jinish potro ase, scan kore post kore dibo. kichuta shomoy lagbe.

[mohib_rokz]

pirate nice topic
sob brp thnx for those info
intoxicated bhai apnar post gula pore khub bhalo laglo

[intoXIcated]

mohib_rokz: welcome to the boring topic

[mohib_rokz]

intoxicated bhai thnx

bhalo kotha, aamar kase onek chobi tobi jatiyo jinish potro ase, scan kore post kore dibo. kichuta shomoy lagbe.

post koren, waiting

[winfield]

son of bangla bhai........... onek onek thnksss ...
amra ashole history bhule jachi.... ami apnar kaj ke appreciate kori.... keep it up man .....

deserve to get 5 again ...
respect to ya

[intoXIcated]

Son Of Bangla:
jei declaration of independence ta tumi post korso sheita actually Declaration of Independence na, sheita hocche Shadhin Bangla Betar kendra theke Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman er nam-a procharito Shadhinota juddher ghoshona. shei ghoshona ta March 25, 1971 ratre bela Bangabandhu Wireless kore Chittagong er Mr. Johur Ahmed er kase pathan.er thik por por-e uni Declaration of Independence ta send koren. that was.............

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE:

"This may be my last message, from today Bangladesh is independent. I call upon the people of Bangladesh wherever you might be and with whatever you have, to resist the army of occupation to the last. Your fight must go on untill the last soldier of the Pakistan occupation army is expelled from the soil of Bangladesh and final victory is achieved."
- Sheikh Mujibur Rahman

[Message embodying Declaration of Independence sent by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to Chittagong shortly after midnight of March 25, i.e. early hours of March 26, 1971 for transmission throughout Bangladesh over the ex-ERP transmitter]

ERP = East Pakistan Regiment

Source: Bangladesh Government, Foriegn Ministry-r bohirbissho prochar bibhag theke published - "Bangabandhu Speaks", Bangladesh er Shadhinota Juddho, 3rd khondo, Page 1.

[ocean]

intoxicated bh, apnar post gula ami kalkei porsi........ pore shotti shotti ami ato shocked hoisi....... ki lekhbo bujhi nai..... ami nijeo kokhono eibhabe bhabi nai.......... thanx a lot.......

amar kase ei related tamon kisu nai...... tai eikhane kono notun kisu provide korte pari na......... kokhono paile oboshhoi post korbo.........

akta qus amar mone shobshomoy'i ashe........ amra charpashe dekhtesi amader ei obostha......... ato koshto pore shadhinota pawar matro 35 bochore oi shadhinotar birodhirai abar khomotay....... mukhtijodhhader(olpo koyjon chara) kono porichiti shomman nai........ netara desher er shorbonah kore nijeder unnoti kortesi........ desh er jonno bhalo kisu korar dayitto khomota jader, tader ektuo maya nai desher proti........ kintu amader ki korar ase? amra jani amra maximum'i politics e jaite parbo na....... taile ki amra khali takay takay dekhbo? ghore boshe tader gali dibo? tader ku-kirti niye khali alochona korbo?

akta jinish shobai chinta koren, jei desher maximum manush daridro shimar niche boshobash kore, moulik chahidar puron hoa tader kache shonpo, shei desher manush hishabe amra shobcheye lucky person der modhhe koekjon. amra desh er shob shubidha bhog kortesi, bhalo jaygay portesi....... amader dayitto shobcheye beshi. kintu eikhane ki amader kisui korar nai? amra ato oshohay? jokhon amra akta kharap jinish bujhtesi, tokhon to amader kaj eita bondho korar cheshta kora. kintu kibhabe? eigula dekhe dekhe r comment korte korte amader jibon par hoye jabe? r kisu korte parbo na? jodi pari, taile amra kibhabe, ki korbo?

shobshomoy mone hoy amader kisui korar nai....... khali boshe boshe dekha chara.........

[intoXIcated]

Chittagong Kalurghat Betar Kendra :
ei khan theke March 27, 1971, Sunday 07:40 am
Shadhin Bangla Betar kendra er onnyatomo founder Mr. Belal Mohammad er request-a tokhonkar 8th Bengal Regiment er Major Ziaur Rahman, Bangabandhur nam-a Shadhinotar ghoshona ta Repeat koren.

"The Government of sovereign state of Bangladesh on behalf of our great leader, the Supreme Commander of Bangladesh Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, we hereby proclaim the independence of Bangladesh, and that the government headed by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman has already been formed. It is further proclaimed that Sheikh Mujibur Rahman is the sole leader of the elected representatives of seventy five million people of Bangladesh, and the government headed by him is the only legitimate government of the people of the independent sovereign state of Bangladesh, Which is legaly and constituitionaly formed, and is worthy of being recognised by all the governments of the world. I therefore, appeal on behalf of our great leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to the governments of all the democratic countries of the world, specially the big powers and the neighbouring counties to recognise the legal government of Bangladesh and take effective steps to stop immediately the awful genocide that has been carried on by the army of occupation from Pakistan.......................** The guiding principle os a new state will be first neutrality, second peace and third friendship to all and enimity to none. May Allah help us. Joy Bangla. "

[Reference Tape: Transcription Service, Radio Bangladesh, Dhaka]

** This Sentence could not be fully reproduced from the tape qwing to defective recording

Major Zia-r 8th Bengal Regiment bidroho korar 7 din age-e Jaydebpur er 2nd Bengal Regiment er Major Shafiullah and Comillay 4th Bengal Regiment er Major Khaled Mosharraf Shadhinota juddho start koren but tader area te kono radio station na thakay sheita unara radio te transmition korte paren nai.

[pinkfloyd]

very informative posts, i will go through this thread when i have ample time i honestly have no idea about bangladesh history :?, thanks to everyone for contributing :)

[intoXIcated]

ocean:
pura system ta-e ashole emon hoye gese, you can not change it alone. ajke aami r tumi ei shob topic niye kotha boltesi, aami r tumi ei shomaj er lucky koyekjon person jara shob shujog shubidha bhog kortesi. but aamra ki ei shomajer majority ? jotodin na majority part aamader moton chinta korbe, totodin emon change kokhono hobe na. aamader desher maximun manush rajakar r shadhinota birodhi r muktijuddho niye chinta kore na. tara chinta kore j aamar elakay load shading, chaler dam koto, tel er dam koto. Nijami r Sayedi ki hoilo ki korlo, ei ta nia keu bhabe na. ei karon-e aamra tader k vote dei. tara anti-liberation alliance chilo, ei ta aamder desher majority lok aamar tomar moton chinta kore na. aamra protteke jodi thik ek-e bhabe chinta kortam, tahole automatic tara aral ei thakto. automatic tader k aamra obanchito, tyajjo korte partam.

Please Don't be upset, tomar kase post korar material nai to ki hoise ? aamader majority karu kase-e nai. shobai to r aamar moton na j shadhinota juddher 15 ta dolil khondho nia ek shomoy boisha thakto. tomar jodi study korar iccha thake, aamar bashay eshe boi potro ghataghati korte paro.

I am happy that I found someone like you who is very much enthusiastic about to change the country. but aamader ashole eto ta utshaher-o dorkar nai. shobar moddhe just ei chetona tuku thakle-e enough j aami kake deny korbo, ki deny korbo, keno deny korbo.

ekta desh shadhin howar pore deshe ki thake ? ekta juddho bidh-dhongshi structure. ei desh ta readymade thake na. aamader desh tao hoyto chilo na. but aamra to bangali jati. matro 9 masher juddher karon-a aamader shohoj-a pawa shadhinota, shadhinotar mullo tai bujhi nai. shob kisu readymade chaisi. r tai aamra matro 4 bochorer mathay Bangabandhu k deny korlam. system tokhon-e change hoye gese.

aamra aamader basic needs gula chai. aamra eto deep chinta kibhabe korbo ? jokhon Muktijuddher onnyatomo ekjon shongothok er chele Md. Nasim (AL) ajke 300 koti takar malik, tokhon shadharon manush ki korbe ? aamder system aamader k change korar support dey na.

aamar jokhon bashay fan bondho korte ichcha kore, tokhon aami switch off kore dei. kintu shei fan ta ki ek bare thash kore bondho hoye jay ? aste aste bondho hoy, aami fan er batash chacchi na, but er pore-o bondho na howa porjonto aamar shei batast ta baddho hoye khawa lage. hoyto keu majh khane ghor-a dhuke fan ta abar on kore dibe jokhon aami ghum-a thakbo, kimba basha theke ber hobo. it is a loop.

[intoXIcated]

ocean:
you've asked...... mukhtijodhhader(olpo koyjon chara) kono porichiti shomman nai.

my father used to say that: "aamra kono cirtificate er jonno kimba nijeder nam baranur jonno juddo kori nai".

aamar bap er muktojuddher cirtificate aamar bap er kase chilo na. sheita aamader desher barir ek lok er kase deya chilo. muktijoddha der jonno shorkari jei vata, shei lok oi vata nito shei cirtificate dekhay, jodio shei vata khub-e shamanno. r unar obostha j khub kharap tao na, uni besh obosthaponno. shei lok nije-o ekjon muktojoddha chilen. aamar bap mara jawar pore aami shei cirtificate unar kas theke niye ashi just for a sriti.

my father was not an army person, he was not a Gerila. he was a Commando. unar area "Jagdal" r unar team er Commander. aami jokhon shei elakay jai, tokhon lok joner mukh-a ekhono shei shob kahini shuni, sheishob jayga dekhi, jeikhane ekhono gulir dag ase, shei gorto dekhi jei khane rajakar der dhoira aina pitay pitay mara hoito. shei gach dekhi, jei khane rajakar der maira jhulay rakha hoito.

bap jokhon mara jay tokhon tar funeral er shomoy rashtriyo morjada deya hoy. shob muktijoddha ra emon lucky hoy na. kothay k kon chipay ase aamra tar khobor-o jani na.

muktijuddher por protirokkha ministry theke muktijoddhader nam er ekta list ber kora hoy sector wise. shei list er moddhe non-military kono person er nam nai. 11 ta sector r Kaderia bahinir (Bangabir Kader Siddicky-r nijer bahini) jei shob muktijoddha ra chilo tader nam shei list er moddhe nai. tader nam keno bad deya hoise shei explanation tokhon kar kortripokkho dey nai.

[intoXIcated]

it so nice of you @ pinkfloyd

[DeV|L]

Very nice posts man...good to hear that some patriotism still lies among us...feel proud to hear about your dad too...keep it up please!

[DeV|L]

I have said a lot in the past about the current state of the country and what we are supposed to do but instead what we end up doing. I don't wanna repeat all those things once again. But one thing I agree with intoxicated bro is that, we are yet to realize the freedom we have achieved. Otherwise our respect for the sacrifices that led to the freedom and the aftermath would have been a lot higher. Most of us are corrupted morally and we have started taking the bad things in life for granted thus we have no wish to change anything whatsoever!

[pirate_of_da_caribbean]

http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/7931/l1de0.jpg

http://img475.imageshack.us/img475/8117/l2sk1.jpg


http://img426.imageshack.us/img426/2286/l4dh9.jpg

http://img430.imageshack.us/img430/1225/l5az3.jpg

[intoXIcated]

DeV|L : yes, we are yet to realize
pirate_of_da_caribbean: aami chobi post korte partesi na. URL chara ki possible na ? HDD theika ?

[intoXIcated]

Muktijuddher bikkhato 3 Brigade:

muktijuddher shomoy 11 ta sector er otirokto 3 ta Brigader create kora hoy. ei Brigade gula mainly Pakistan army theke asha experienced soldier der diye bananu hoy. ei 3 ta Brigade command korte deya hoy muktibahinir 3 jon best Sector Commander k.

1) S. Force - Lieutenant Colonel K. M. Shafiullah (September - December)
2) Z. Force - Lieutenant Colonel Ziaur Rahman (July - December)
3) K. Force - Lieutenant Colonel Khaled Mosharraf (September - November)

ei 3 ta Brigade jokhon create kora hoy, tokhono porjont Brigade Maj. Manjur battlefield-a ashen nai. August masher shesh dik-a Pakistan theke Afganistan border diye uni 2 bar palanur cheshta kore failure hon, 3rd time uni palay ashen.

Muktijuddher itihash-a 1st cantonment dokhol er credit Brigade Maj. Monjur er.

"Brigade Maj. Manjur is my best commander" - Gen. (ret.) M. Ataul Gani Osmani

France er war Musium-a Indian Gen. Tipu Sultan er pashe ekta nam ase shara prithibir sreshtho bir der list-a. shei nam ta hocche Gen. M. A. Manjur. nanan desher visitor ra ei nam er pashe tar birotter history dekhe, othocho aamra oneke-e unar nam jani na.

[ocean]

nice n inforamative post............. thanx 4 it.........

[sidewinder]

@intoxicated
nice going :D ....and of course u can post picures from your hard disk....use the site www.imageshack.us and upload your picture....resize the pictures if needed....after uploading, use the link that comes last beside the words 'direct link to image', paste it here, and apply the Img option above to it.... :) its gonna work im sure....

[Son Of Bangla]

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
by
MAJOR ZIAUR RAHMAN


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Major Zia, Provisional Commander in Chief of the Bangladesh Liberation Army, hereby proclaims, on behalf of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the independence of Bangladesh.

I also declare, we have already framed a sovereign, legal Government under Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, which pledges to function as per law and the constitution. The new democratic Government is committed to a policy of non alignment in international relations. It will seek friendship with all nations and strive for international peace. I appeal to all Government to mobilige public opinion in their respective countries against the brutal genocide in Bangladesh.

The Government under Sheikh Mujibur Rahman is sovereign legal Government of Bangladesh and is entitled to recognition from all democratic nations of the world.



Source: Shadeen Bangla Betar 27 March 1971 also The Statesman Delhi of 27 March 1971

[pirate_of_da_caribbean]

intoxicated vai : na vaia......pic first a upload korte hoe kono hosting site a...like imageshack.us.......erpor oikhan theke image er link ta eikhane paste korte hobe

[Son Of Bangla]

Eyewitness accounts, Rafiqul Islam

Professor Rafiqul Islam
[Translated by Zunaid Kazi]

25th March 1971. Universities were closed because of the non- cooperation movement; neither students nor teachers were attending classes. Even then one has to go back a little bit to speak about the events of 25th March. The elections had established the supremacy of the Bengali majority. Consequently, the power to rule the country should have been vested in the hands of their elected representatives, but the authoritarian ruling clique of the west were in no mood to accept the judgement of the people. That is why they cancelled promised sitting of the parliament on the third of March.

In the face of this insult, Bengalis became defiant. The Bangobondhu's thunderous declaration in a mammoth public meeting on the 7th of March - "ebArer shongrAm shAdhinatAr shongrAm: This struggle is the struggle for independence" - began to echo in the skies of Bangladesh. That struggle began with non-cooperation, court boycotts, tax revolt, meetings, processions and other mass actions. The Pakistani government became totally paralyzed.

The incapacitated totalitarian government was incensed and gave vent to it's fury on the black night of 25th March.

Dhaka citizens were apprehensive that the aggressor army might take recourse to a blood-bath. Innumerable barricades were built across the streets and roads of Dhaka. But, they were futile. Soon after day-break, the barbaric attack commenced. Numerous tanks and armored carriers took to the streets. Doors and windows of houses began to reverberate with the sounds of firing cannons, shells and mortars. The deafening rolls of the weapons of death shattered the silence of dusk. And it appeared as if tongues of flame were dancing the dance of daemons on the stage of a blood red sky. Dhaka has been transformed into a bloody war field.

Just like the previous days, some of us had gathered at the University Teachers Meeting Room. Under the aegis of the teachers association we were busy through out the month of March in arranging protest meetings and processions and putting out joint statements. Everyday work always awaited us, and that day was no different. Doctor Khan Sarwar Murshed had prepared a statement that we were planning to present to the British high Commission. Just a few days ago, a news item was published where we learnt that the British Government had permitted the Pakistani Navy access to the port facilities of the then British protectorate of Maldives for repairs and refuelling. We were apprehensive that if at our hour of need the Indian Navy puts up a naval blockade along Pakistani shores, Pakistani ships might attempt to reach Chittagong by way of the Maldives. that is why we were appealing to the British; our statement professed our great concern at the purported action. for several days we attempted to collect signatures form well known citizens. Former Ambassador Kamruddin Ahmed signed, whereas former governor Sultanuddin refused to sign our statement.

On the morning of 25th March Doctor Murshed, Doctor Sirajul Islam Chowdhury, Doctor Belayet, Professor Ahsanul Haque, Professor Giasuddin Ahmed (later murdered by Al-Badr), Professor Joynul Abedeen (deceased) amongst others presented our statement to the first secretary at the British Deputy High Commission. On our return to Campus we came across the leaders of Central Students Action Committee Tofael Ahmed and Sheikh Kamal. Sheikh Kamal had come to campus to pick up Tofael Ahmed. Tofael Ahmed told us that the meeting between Yah Yah and the Sheikh Shaheb had ended without agreement; no one knew what might happen.

In the afternoon I went to the University club. All the teachers there were pretty worked up. Some were berating the Awami League leadership for not having yet declared independence. In the evening, the Seven O'clock English news on TV we heard of the Bangobondhu's news conference earlier in the day. There he had said - If the Pakistani Army attacked the innocent and peace loving Bengalis then the gallant sons of Bengal will not let that pass unchallenged... etc.. On the way home from the club that night I met up with some known students students from Iqbal Halls. Two students Feroze and Moin told me that they were leaving Iqbal Hall for safety. They advised me to take my family elsewhere to safety since my house was so near Iqbal Hall. But it was already 10 at night, where could we go? I had no premonitions of what was going to befall us two hours hence.

Behind Iqbal Hall were University quarters 23, 24 and 25. In total 24 teachers stayed in those buildings with their families. I was a resident of the second floor of building 24. Doctor Fazlur Rahman of the Botany Department lived in building 23. In the same building Professors Anwar Pasha and Rashidul Hassan resided with their families in the apartments on the fourth floor. Just across from building 25 was the Nilkhet railroad. On the other side of the rail-line there was a slum where several thousand homeless eked out a leaving. In front of our buildings and parallel to the Nilkhet Road was four residences of University Administrative Officers. From the night of 35th March through the morning of the 27th Iqbal Hall and the adjoining residences were the main target of the Pakistani Army attack.

Just after midnight on the night of 25th March, the Pakistani Army began their attack on the Student Halls and Staff Quarters of the University. Since Iqbal Hall was known as the head- quarters of the Free Bengal Students Action Committee a major portion of the Pakistani Army fury was directed at Iqbal Hall. Just after midnight Iqbal Hall came under a barrage of heavy mortar and machine-gun attack from near the pond in front and the police barracks behind it. Immediately students and bearers from the Hall, and Bengali Policemen from the Nilkhet Barracks tried to escape and seek refuge in the adjoining teacher's and staff quarters. The Bengali soldiers of the EPR who were on duty at the President's House were disarmed and then to Ramna Race-Course where they were gunned down. Several EPR soldiers managed to flee and found refuge amongst our midsts. The Army set on fire the Nilkhet slum and in cold-blood machine gunned fleeing slumdwellers from the Nilkhet Rail-Gate. Many managed to escape from the slum and also took shelter with us.

I don't have the words to express the bestiality and barbarity that was perpetrated on the Dhaka University area, especially Iqbal Hall, Jagannath Hall, and adjoining residential areas, for a period of 36 hours from the night of the 25th till the 26th night. What transpired around Iqbal Hall, I saw with my own eyes. Raging infernos everywhere; the slum was burning, the cars parked around the residences were burning. The heaped bodies of the dead from the slum were also set on fire near the Nilkhet rail gate petrol pump. The sound of shells bursting and guns firing, the smoke and fire, the smell of gun-powder and the stench of the burning corpses all transformed the area into a fiery hell. Every so often our building was being peppered with bullets. In the midst of this, we, our families, the students and bearers from the Halls, the slum-dwellers, had given up all hope for life, and were waiting for the hour of death. For most of March, student leaders Nur-e-Alam Ziku and Shahjahan Siraj used to spend the night with thus, but on that fateful might they weren't with us. Had they been with us we would have been very apprehensive about their safety.

The incessant firings from cannons, mortars, tanks, machine-guns and automatics continue throughout the night. On the morning of the 26th the Pakistani killers began to go through the hall rooms and residential apartments and began their orgy of murder and looting. Huge gaping holes appeared on Iqbal Hall and the ad- joining residences of the bearers as a result of the shelling. Many bearers died as a result. Those unfortunate students and bearers of Iqbal Hall who had failed to flee were all killed by the Pakistanis. Some surviving students were taken to the Iqbal Hall kitchen where petrol was poured over them and then they were burnt alive. The university correspondent of the Daily Azad was shot near the auditorium. So was bearer Shamshu. The water pump workers of the Hall as well as the bearers were all brutally murdered by the Pakistani fiends.

Having finished their slaughter in Iqbal Hall, the Pakistani animals turned their attention to the residential buildings. The first began in flats of building 23. This here that they murdered Professor Fazlur Rahman of the Geology Department and two of his relatives. They also entered the flats of Professors Anwar Pasha and Rashidul Hassan. Everyone in those flats were hidden under the beds. After failing to see anyone in the torch light, the Pakistani soldiers were heard saying: "Bangali Kutta Bhag Gia - The Bengali dogs have flown." Even though Professors Pasha and Hassan miraculously survived from the Pakistani barbarians, death still met them on the 14th of December, on the eve of Victory, when the killers from Jamat-e-Islam, Islami Chhatro Shango, and the Al-Badr Muslim Bangla, murdered many intellectuals near Mirpur. Another resident of the building, Dhaka University Assistant Librarian Mridha miraculously survived. But about 30 women, men and children from the slum who took refuge on the roof did not live to see another day. Each of them were brutally murdered by the barbaric Pakistanis, and for nigh over a month their corpses fed the vultures and crows. After several months their skeletons were brought down from the roof; the same day the skeletons of 50 Rokeya Hall staff and their families were removed.

The Pakistani hyenas also entered the building we were in, no 24. On the third flight two mothers from the slum had taken shelter. Their babies were with them. Both of them had been shot in the legs. On seeing the blood allover the entering Pakistani soldiers thought that some of their colleagues had already been through our buildings and so did not enter it. That is why we survived. We did our best to help those mothers and the day we left Nilkhet we had them admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

On that night the Pakistani beasts had also attacked Madhu's Canteen and Rokeya Hall. Madhu Da, and his family, bearers and ayahs of Rokeya Hall and their families, were all brutally murdered that night.

Jagannath Hall too faced the fury of the Pakistani Army. Incessant shellings and blood-letting continued their throughout the night of the 25th and the day of the 26th. After the shelling, the soldiers went from room to room and brought out all the students and bearers to the field in front of the hall. There they were forced to dig their own graves. Subsequently they were all shot and buried in the graves they had dug themselves. Amongst all the residential halls of the University, Jagannath hall paid most dearly in terms of lives lost. In the teacher's corner of Jagannath Hall's Assembly House used to live Applied Physics' professor Anuddoipayon Bhottacharjo. On that night the Pakistani animals entered his room and bayonetted him to death. His body was put out near the big tree close to the Hall auditorium for some time, and was then probably buried in the mass grave in the field. At the end of the night, the Pakistani beasts attacked the residence Dr. Gobindrochondro Deb opposite the hall. They first shot him in the head and then bayonetted him. They dragged his body outside, and in plain view drove a truck over him. His corpse was then taken to the Jagannath Hall field and was probably buried in a mass grave. Close to Dr. Deb's house, near the Shaheed Minar, used to reside Professor Muniruzzaman and Dr. Jyotirmoy Guho Thakurta. Around 3 in the morning the Pakistani entered their residences and shot Professor Munirazzaman, his son Akram, and Dr. Thakurta. They died instantly. In the same building, professor Abdur Razzak and Dr. Anisur Rahman survived miraculously. On the same night, the Pakistani soldiers also attacked the Fuller Road faculty residences. Their first target was building 11. There they entered the residence of University Laboratory School teacher Mohammed Sadek. The animals first bayonetted him and then shot him in cold-blood. His dead body remained in that building till December 27. On the 27th he was buried behind the flat. They barbarians had also attacked building 12. They had dragged out Professor Syed Ali Naki of the Social Sciences Department, and a gentlemen by the name of Syed Syedul Islam. For some inexplicable reason they were not killed, but Professor Abdul Mutkadir of the Geology Department. from the same building, was brutally murdered. They dragged his body somewhere; it was eventually found on the 27th inside Iqbal Hall. The Pakistani animals had also attacked Salimullah Hall and Dhaka Hall. They beat up Salimullah Hall house tutor Professor Munim, and murdered Professor A. R. Khadem at Dhaka Hall.

This is how we spent those 36 hours. When on the morning of the 27th, the so called curfew was lifted, we all left the area for wherever we could. During those 2 days I had thought that everything was over, and we were all condemned to perpetual slavery; but, the firm and strong voice from Chittagong's Shadheen Bangla Betar Kendra told us that we had not died yet, and I lived again. That is why I still live today.

[Son Of Bangla]

Bir Sreshtho for the Liberation War of 1971

Martyr (Shaheed) Captain Mohiuddin Jahangir, BS
http://www.bd71.com/images/mjahangir.jpg

Born: 1948 in the village of Rahimgonj under Babugonj upazilla of Barisal district. Commissioned in the corps of Engineers on June 1968 from Pakistan Military Academy, Kakul. Embraced martyrdom while breaking through enemy defence on the bank of river Mahananda. His bold initiative and aggressive leadership helped wipe out the last vestiges of enemy resistance and the position finally fell to our forces.

Martyr (Shaheed) Sepoy Mostafa Kamal, BS
http://www.bd71.com/images/mkamal.jpg
Born: 16 December 1947 in Hajipur village of Daulatikhan upazilla under Bhola district. Proud son of retired Havilder Habibur Rahman, Sepoy Mostafa embraced martyrdom on 18 April 1971 in a defensive battle against the enemy in Daruin village of Comilla. With unflinching courage and steadfastness, he inflicted heavy casualties on the enemy.

Martyr (Shaheed) Sepoy Hamidur Rahman, BS
http://www.bd71.com/images/hrahman.jpg
Born: 2 February 1953 in Khardo Khalishpur village under jessore district. Joined the Army on 2nd February 1971 and enrolled in the corps of Infantry. Embraced martyrodom on 28 October 1971 at Dhalai in an attempt to capture the enemy position which finally fell to our advancing column.

Martyr (Shaheed) Md. Ruhul Amin, BS
http://www.bd71.com/images/ruhul_amin.jpg
Born: at Bagpachra in the district of Noakhali in 1934. After completing his secondary education from Sunaimuri High School in 1949, he joined erstwhile Pakistan navy in 1951. During the Liberation Movement in 1971, he was serving as engineer officer in the appointment of ERA-1 in PNS comilla Gunboat under Chittagong Naval base. On 25th March 1971 , he left the pak navy and joined the Liberation war. Later on he joined the naval ship Poash A few days before the country was liberated his ship came under air strike on 10 December 1971 near Khulna shipyard. He foughr bravely to save his ship but was wounded severely and later on the embraced martyrdom. He was honoured with the highest gallantry award “Bir Srestha” for hiw courage, valour and dedication to the nation.

Martyr (Shaheed) Naik Munshi Abdur Rouf, BS
http://www.bd71.com/images/arouf.jpg
Born: May 1943 at village Salmat of Boalmari upazila under Faridpur district. Enlisted in ther East Bengal Regiment on 8 May 1963. Was attached with a regular infantry unit during War of Liberation. Embraced martyrdoms on 8 April 1971 at Burighat in Chittagong Hill Tracts after causing extensive damage to enemy's men and materials with his MG and forcing them to retreat.

Martyr (Shaheed) Flight Lieutenant M Matiur Rahman, BS
http://www.bd71.com/images/mrahman.jpg
Born: 21 February 1945 at Dhaka. Joined the Pakistan Air Force in August 1961 and commissioned in the GD(P) branch on 23 June 1963. Embraced martyrdom on August 20, 1971 in an attempt to join the Liberation War with a T-33 aircraft from Karachi Air Base which ultimately crashed.

Martyr (Shaheed) Lance Naik Nur Mohammad Sheikh, BS
http://www.bd71.com/images/nurmd.jpg
Born: 26 February 1936 in Moheskhali village under Jessore district. Enlisted in the East Pakistan Rifiles on 14 March 1959. Embraced martyrdom while engaging the enemy with fire for covering the extrication of fellow soldiers at Goalhati in Jessore district on September 5 1971. Nur Mohammad died fighting along but not before his compatriots were safe and he had inflicted heavy casualties on the enemy.

Source:Click here (http://www.bd71.com/docs/Bir-Sreshtho.html)

[ocean]

very nice post ............. nice n informative....... thanx 4 it @ SoB

[pirate_of_da_caribbean]

SoB vai...this was da post i was striving for.....awsome post........ill tell ya a lil incident.......during issb exam....an instructor asaked me....if i can recall da names of all da Birshrestho's....i felt very ashmed as i cudnt recall one of them......it was Mrtyr Ruhul Amin.......i was very upset wid maself.......wen i got back home.....i bought a book .........Birsreshthoder Jibonkotha.......u ppl can try dis book........

[intoXIcated]

sheidin ek jon Freedom fighter er mukh-a ekta kahini shunlam

unader elakar unar ek shoho joddhar shathe shadhinotar pore 1st dekha hoise, dekha howar pore jante parse j unake baddhota mulok oboshor deya hoise just because of he was a freedom fighter and his elder brother was a freedom foghter too. tar elder brother k 71-a Pakistani military ra mere felsilo.

shei lok bashay chilo na, military ra tar family k bujhaise j jodi surrender kore tahole kisu hobe na. tar baba tokhon take call kore, shei lok babar call paiye surrender kore. r surrender kora matro shobar shamne militari ta tar pichon dik diye pechano lohar rod dhukay nari bhuri ber kore fele.

ei ghotonar pore shei lok er baba r kono din hashte pare nai. shadhinotar por-o tar baba 30 years beche chilen. mara jawar ag porjonto uni konodin hashen nai tar cheler mara jawar jonno nije k dayi bhebe.

ei dhoroner family aamader moddhe khub kom, tai aamra Rajakar der aj-o vote dei.

[mohib_rokz]

sob bhai jotil post jotil

[DeV|L]

Very touching! @ intoxicated

[pirate_of_da_caribbean]

sudhu vote na....ekushey podok porjonto dei......

[pirate_of_da_caribbean]

jokhon shunlam Dr. Yunus Nobel prize paisen for peace...mone holo Juddhota ekebare britha jai nia.......kisu orjon aamader kasei aase....keu eigula nia jete parbe na

[mohib_rokz]

u r rite pirate

[intoXIcated]

pirate_of_da_caribbean : in one sense, you r right. aami etodin negetive kotha bolsi, ajke ekta positive kotha boli.

juddho aamader k ei nam ta dise. to be more specific, aamader shudhu matro ei nam ta dise. ei nam tar karon-a aamra ajke bolte partesi j 2006 er nobel peace prize jei lok win korsen, he is our own, he is our own Bangladeshi. r ei ta-o bolte pari j Bangladesh ei prize win korse in a large view. nahole hoyto shara duniya janto j Nobel Peace prize paise Pakistan, kimba India. aamra ajke ei nam ta use korte pari BANGLADESH.

tumi jemon proud, aami proud, shara desh temon-e proud. kintu er pore-o dekhba j kichu kichu lok jon ei prideness er shujog r shubidha nite charbe na. shei ta shonglap er nam-a hok r nirbachon er nam-a hok.

[pirate_of_da_caribbean]

intoXIcated vai : thik e bolsen.....subidhabadi aase, thakbe......but ....keu aamader gorbo r ohonkar ta ke nosto korte parbe na

[intoXIcated]

Joan Baez - Bangladesh
(Words and Music by Joan Baez)


Bangladesh, Bangladesh
Bangladesh, Bangladesh
When the sun sinks in the west
Die a million people of the Bangladesh

The story of Bangladesh
Is an ancient one again made fresh
By blind men who carry out commmands
Which flow out of the laws upon which nation stands
Which is to sacrifice a people for a land

Bangladesh, Bangladesh
Bangladesh, Bangladesh
When the sun sinks in the west
Die a million people of the Bangladesh

Once again we stand aside
And watch the families crucified
See a teenage mother's vacant eyes
As she watches her feeble baby try
To fight the monsoon rains and the cholera flies

And the students at the university
Asleep at night quite peacefully
The soldiers came and shot them in their beds
And terror took the dorm awakening shrieks of dread
And silent frozen forms and pillows drenched in red

Bangladesh, Bangladesh
Bangladesh, Bangladesh
When the sun sinks in the west
Die a million people of the Bangladesh

Did you read about the army officer's plea
For donor's blood? It was given willingly
By boys who took the needles in their veins
And from their bodies every drop of blood was drained
No time to comprehend and there was little pain

And so the story of Bangladesh
Is an ancient one again made fresh
By all who carry out commands
Which flow out of the laws upon which nations stand
Which say to sacrifice a people for a land

Bangladesh, Bangladesh
Bangladesh, Bangladesh
When the sun sinks in the west
Die a million people of the Bangladesh

[pirate_of_da_caribbean]

excellent post intoxicated vai...

[priencess_fiona]

I havnt finished all the post here . Will continue later . btw nice effort :)

[intoXIcated]

Thank you very much princess_fiona, these kinds of interest can make our effort......... ki bole oi tare ? I mean, shobai ei dhoroner interest dekhaile polapain er effort sharthok hobe, britha jabe na.......... this and that.

ek ta-e bhoy, oneke hoyto porte porte fed-up hoye jabe.

[ocean]

nice one.............. thanx.............

gan ta apnar kase thakle upload koiren...... shunte ichha hoitese........... @ intoxicated bh

[ocean]

'Bangladesh'

by george harrison :

http://file.uploadr.com/a45f

[intoXIcated]

Dear Ocean: aamar kase Joan Baez er gawa Original ta r Renaissance er gawa Cover, 2 ta gaan-e ase. but aamar net er line er jei obostha (ask Pirate of Carbn j ki obostha), aamar pokkhe ei upload kora possible na ei muhurte. aami hoyto koydin pore aamar mobile theke net use korbo. tokhon upload kore dibo.

[intoXIcated]

Song: Bangladesh
Composer: George Harrison
Vocals: George Harrison
Year: 1971
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lyrics:

My friend came to me, with sadness in his eyes
He told me that he wanted help
Before his country dies

Although I couldn't feel the pain, I knew I had to try
Now I'm asking all of you
To help us save some lives

Bangladesh, Bangladesh
Where so many people are dying fast
And it sure looks like a mess
I've never seen such distress
Now won't you lend your hand and understand
Relieve the people of Bangladesh

Bangladesh, Bangladesh
Such a great disaster - I don't understand
But it sure looks like a mess
I've never known such distress
Now please don't turn away, I want to hear you say
Relieve the people of Bangladesh
Relieve Bangladesh

Bangladesh, Bangladesh
Now it may seem so far from where we all are
It's something we can't neglect
It's something I can't neglect
Now won't you give some bread to get the starving fed
We've got to relieve Bangladesh
Relieve the people of Bangladesh
We've got to relieve Bangladesh
Relieve the people of Bangladesh


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Instruments & additional info.:
vocal - George Harrison
saxophone - Jim Horn

[ocean]

okay........... jokhon paren tokhoni koiren........ no probs..........

[intoXIcated]

aami bhul kore same post 2 bar kore felsilam, pore 1 ta Edit kore George Harrison er Lyrics ta diye dilam

[intoXIcated]

According to the Album Cover................

The Concert for Bangladesh was held on August 1, 1971 at Madison Square Garden, New York City. The following people contributed their talents and time to help in the production of this event

GEORGE HARRISON from Beatles

RAVI SHANKAR
performed courtesy of Gramophone Co. of India Ltd.

ERIC CLAPTON
(courtesy of Polydor Records Ltd.)

BOB DYLAN
(courtesy of Columbia Records, Inc.)

BILLY PRESTON
(appears by the Grace of God)

LEON RUSSELL
(with love from Shelter Records, Inc.)

RINGO STARR

KLAUS VOORMANN

BADFINGER

Pete Ham
Tom Evans
Joey Molland
Mike Gibbons

ALAN BEUTLER

JESSE ED DAVIS
(courtesy of Atlantic Records, Inc.)

CHICK FINDLEY

MARLIN GREEN
(from Elektra Records - Peace)

JEANIE GREENE
(from Elektra Records - Peace)

JO GREEN

DOLORES HALL

JIM HORN
(with love from Shelter Records, Inc.)

KAMALA CHAKRAVARTY

JACKIE KELSO

JIM KELTNER

USTED ALIAKBAR KHAN

CLAUDIA LINNEAR

LOU McCREARY

DON NIX
(from Elektra Records - Peace)

DON PRESTON

CARL RADLE

ALLA RAKAH

PRODUCTION COORDINATON
Steve Lieber
Allan Steckler
Jon Taplin

SOUND
Band Concert Productions
Ed Anderson
Clare Brothers Inc.

STAGING & LIGHTING
Bruce De Forrest
Chip Monck Enterprises

INTRUMENTS AND SUPPLIES
Ampeg Corp.
Carrol Music Instrument Rental
Manny's Music
Total Piano & Organ Service

Warren Arhcer, Mike
Mahoney & Color Service
Al Aronowitz
Neil Aspinall
Nick Bell
Pete Bennett
Mal Evans
Gary Haber
Kevin Harrington
Paul Mozian
Queens Lithographing
Shyamsundar - Das

Album package, photography and design by
Barry Feinstein & Tom Wilkes for
Camouflage Productions.
Additional photography by Alan Pariser.

(c) 1971 APPLE RECORDS, INC.
(California) All Rights Reserved.


The recording was made using up to 44 microphones at one time.
Special thanks go to Gary Kellgren, Lillian, Dennis and Tom of Record Plant, New York and to Norman and Steve mix down engineers of A&M Studio, Los Angeles for their time and energy.

Mastered at Sterling Sound
All Glories to SRI KRSNA

The Album was Produced by George Harrison and Phil Spector

[ocean]

thanx 4 the infos..............

[pirate_of_da_caribbean]

oshadharon post........aami dhakai eshe joto joldi pari gangula intoxicated vai er kas theke niye upload kore dibo

[Son Of Bangla]

Photos of some martyred intellectuals


http://www.muktadhara.net/picture_library/bj.jpg

[Son Of Bangla]

Dr GC Deb ( Philosophy Dept, Dhaka University)
http://www.muktadhara.net/picture_library/gc.jpg
This is a real story told by Begum Rokeya Sultana, the adopted daughter of Dr.G.C. Deb, a highly admired teacher at the Philosophy Department of Dhaka University, who was brutally killed by the Pakistani armed forces on March 26,1971. On March 26, the day following the genocide let loose by the military junta on the Bengalees on March 25, she was standing beside the dead body of Dr. Deb who was shot to death a few moments ago. Then her only baby girl Rabeya was in her lap.The motionless body of Rokeya's husband was also lying there.

With the baby in her lap Rokeya did not know what to do. She was benumbed with fear and shock. It was one of the many incidents of that black, doomed night --- the night that made the Bengalees a nation of fighters. The definition of death was not known to Rokeya. But she was a witness to that fateful black night of March 25. She experienced the horrors of 26th March comparable to one's dying moments only. On the morning of 26th March Dr. Gobinda Chandra Deb fell down before Rokeya's eyes because of indiscriminate shooting. Whereas moments before death, in his child-like innocence he was addressing the Pakistani soldiers as 'baba' (father, meaning 'my beloved children'). He wanted to know about the cause of their sudden raid on his residence. Rokeya found no pertinent reason behind the brutality that befell them.

During the Non-cooperation Movement of March Dr. Deb was not physically well. In February,1971 he came back from the USA with a pain in his leg. In March he used to suffer from toothache. The pain even spread to his throat. Dr. Deb usually did not participate in any discussion on politics, but the Non-cooperation Movement of March sometimes made him very thoughtful and disturbed. The Bangla word 'mukti' (freedom) had a very special meaning for him. He considered it to be related to the very existence of independent Bangladesh. On March 23, when late Abdul Quddus Makhan, a DUCSU leader, came to see Dr. Deb, he (Dr.Deb) willingly gave him (Makhan) money to buy a Swadhin Bangla flag. Later on, he said this time there would be something meaningful for the country.

On March 25 he went out for an evening walk as usual. After returning home at 8 in the evening he entered his reading room. Rokeya requested him to go to bed as early as possible since he was not physically well. Her husband late Mohammad Ali was a banker. She was busy with her B. Ed examinations. Being tired of whole day's work, her husband and Dr. Deb fell asleep.

It was 11 at night then. The non-stop sound of firing startled Rokeya. Being frightened, she called her husband. Then they were living in the premises of Jagannath Hall. Rokeya's room was at one corner and Dr. Deb's room was in the middle of the house. Mohammad Ali woke up hearing the sound of firing. They felt as if it were an earthquake. Bullets like hailstorm were hitting the house. The whole house was trembling. Mohammad Ali and Rokeya with their baby crawled into the middle room. Dr. Deb was shivering in fear and horror. Handing over the baby to Mohammad Ali, Rokeya hugged Dr. Deb. Late in the night there were so many bullets that they had to take shelter in a small room of the house. The Pakistani armed forces with their loudspeakers were giving orders to surrender. The language they used was English. By morning the sound of bullets almost ceased. For being awake throughout the night, Dr. Deb was very tired. He was about to collapse. In spite of his tiredness and exhaustion, he told Rokeya, "It's time to say prayers, Ma (mother, meaning 'my beloved daughter'). Could you make me a place for that?" The sound of firing was no longer there. Rokeya cleaned the middle room to let Dr. Deb worship. The whole house was so disorderly due to the frenzied orgy of the Pakistanis that it was almost impossible to walk from one room to another. There were many holes in the wall. Plasters of the walls were coming off. It seemed at any moment the house might break down.
Mohammad Ali was lying on the bed hugging the baby. Somehow Rokeya prepared a cup of tea with the hot water kept in a flask and brought it to Dr. Deb's room. He felt well after sipping tea.

Rokeya looked tired as she was narrating the atroticities perpetrated by the Pakistanis. It was a cursed moment of her life - of everybody's life in Bangladesh. She said my baby also saw how her grandfather was brutally killed. The occupying forces killed Dr. Deb before the baby. "The memories of the merciless killing are still fresh in my daughter's mind, she becomes agitated when she remembers that." It was that cursed morning of 26th March. The compound of Jagannath Hall was full of soldiers. The dead bodies killed the previous night were lying in the field in front of the dormitory building. Groans of tortured women could be heard from the neighbourhood. In a state of bewilderment, we all gathered in the middle room of our house. A few moments later, there was a knock at the main door. Somebody was shouting, "Malaun ki baccha, darwaza khol do" (You son of a infidel, open the door). It was not an order. It sounded like the roar of a fiend. Being frightened, Dr. Deb stood up very nervously. Rokeya forced him to sit dawn. The knocks at the door were gradually increasing. It seemed they were kicking at the door with their boots. The door was about to be broken down.

Keeping the baby in Dr. Deb's lap, Rokeya's husband walked towards the door. The door was not able to stand the barbaric blows. No sooner had he reached near the door than it collapsed on the trembling old man. Dr. Deb somehow managed to come out of the collapsed door. Immediately one soldier hit him in the head with the rifle. A bullet from a distance hit him in the chest. He tried to walk away from there. After a few steps, he fell down on the floor. Other members of the family had been standing in the middle room. They were only three Dr. Deb, the baby and Rokeya. Dr. Deb became so shocked and dumbfounded that he couldn't but quietly ask the invaders, "What do you want here baba"? Those were his last words. In course of this query they started shooting at him. Two bullets hit him in the head just near one ear and the other bullets hit him in the chest. They also beat Rokeya mercilessly. They were asking again and again where the rifles were in the house. Repeatedly they charged bayonet on the dead body of Dr. Deb. It was a ghastly sight. Rokeya became mentally so upset and exhausted that she uttered "Allah" quite loudly pulling the baby more close to her. She still does not know whether she survived because of that utterance. The Pakistani forces took away the bodies of Dr. Deb and her husband Mohammad Ali, and kept them among the hundreds of dead bodies lying in the playground in front of the Jagannath Hall. With this tragic killing ended the life of a beloved teacher and philosopher of Bangladesh.

[Son Of Bangla]

Message to the World by Prime Minister Tajuddin Ahmed
TO THE PEOPLE OF THE WORLD

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A statement issued by the Prime Minister of Bangla Desh
Mr. Tajuddin Ahmed, on 17.4.71

Bangla Desh is at war. It has been given no choice but to secure its right of self-determination through a national liberation struggle against the colonial oppression of West Pakistan.

In the face of positive attempts by the Government to distort the facts in a desperate attempt to cover up their war of genocide in Bangla Desh, the world must be told the circumstances under which the peace-loving people of Bangla Desh were driven to substitute armed struggle for parliamentary politics to realize the just aspirations of the people of Bangla Desh.

The Six Point Program for autonomy for Bangla Desh within Pakistan had been put forward in all sincerity by the Awami League as the last possible solution to preserve the integrity of Pakistan. Fighting the elections to the National Assembly on the issue of Six Points, the Awami League won 167 out of 169 seats from Bangla Desh out of a house of 313. Its electoral victory was so decisive that it won 80% of the popular votes cast. The decisive nature of its victory placed it in a clear majority within the National Assembly.

The post election period was a time of hope, for never had a people spoken so decisively in the history of parliamentary democracy. It was widely believed in both wings that a viable constitution based on six points could be worked out. The Pakistan Peoples party which emerged as the leading party in Sind and Punjab had avoided raising the issue of Six Points in their election campaign and had no obligation whatsoever to its electorate to resist it. In Baluchistan the dominant party, National Awami Party, was fully committed to Six Points. In NWFP, the NAP dominant in the Provincial Assembly, was also a believer in maximum autonomy. The course of the elections, which marked the defeat of the reactionary parties, therefore, gave every reason to be optimistic about the future of democracy in Pakistan. Preparatory to the convening of the National Assembly talks were expected between the main parties in the political areas. However, whilst the Awami League was always willing, preparatory to going to the Assembly, to explain its constitutional position and to discuss alternative proposals from other parties, it is believed that the spirit of true democracy demanded that the constitution be debated and finalized in the National Assembly rather tan in secret sessions. To this end, it insisted on an early summoning of the National Assembly. In anticipation of this session, the Awami League worked day and night to prepare a draft constitution based on Six Points and fully examined all the implications of formulating and implementing such a constitution.

The first major talks over Pakistans political future took place between General and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in Mid-January. In this session General proved the extent of the Awami Leagues commitment to its program and was assured that they were fully aware of its implications. But contrary to expectation did not fully spell out his own ideas about the constitution. General gave the impression of not finding anything seriously objectionable in Six Points but emphasized the need for coming to an understanding with the PPP in Western Pakistan.

The next round of talks took place between the PPP and the Awami League from 27th January, 1971 in Dacca where Mr. Bhutto and his team held a number of sessions with the Awami League to discuss the constitution.

As in the case with, Mr. Bhutto did not bring any concrete proposals of his own about the nature of the constitution. He and is advisors were mainly interested in discussing the implications of Six Points. Since their responses were essentially negative and they had no prepared brief of their own it was not possible for the talks to develop into serious negotiations where attempts could be made to bridge the gap between the two parties. It was evident that as yet Mr. Bhutto had no formal position of his own from which to negotiate.

It must be made clear that when the PPP left Dacca there was no indication from their part that a deadlock had been reached with the Awami League. Rather they confirmed that all doors were open and that following a round of talks with the West Pakistani leaders the PPP would either have a second and more substantive round of talks with the Awami League or would meet in the National Assembly whose committees provided ample opportunity for detailed discussion on the constitution.

Mr. Bhuttos announcement to boycott the National Assembly, therefore, came as a complete surprise. The boycott decision was surprising because Mr. Bhutto had already been accommodated once by the President when he refused Sheikh Mujibs plea for an early session of the Assembly on the 15th of February and fixed it, in line with Mr. Bhuttos preference, for 3rd March.

Following his decision to boycott the Assembly, Mr. Bhutto Launched a campaign of intimidation against all other parties in West Pakistan to prevent them from attending the session. In this task there is evidence that Lt. Gen. Umer, Chairman of the National Security Council and close associate of, with a view to strengthening Mr. Bhuttos hand, personally pressured various West Wing leaders not to attend the Assembly. In spite of this display of pressure tactics by Mr. Bhutto and Lt. Gen. Umer, all members of the National Assembly from West Pakistan, except the PPP and the Qayyum Muslim League, had booked their seats to East Pakistan, for the session on 3rd March.

Within the QML itself, half their members had booked their seats and there were signs of revolt within the PPP where many members were wanting to come to Dacca. Faced with the breakdown of this joint front against Bangla Desh, General obliged Mr. Bhutto on 1st March by postponing the Assembly, not for any definite period, but sine die. Moreover he dismissed the Governor of East Pakistan, Admiral S. M. Ahsan, who was believed to be one of the moderates in his administration. The Cabinet with its component of Bengalis was also dismissed so that all power was concentrated in the hands of the West Wing military junta.

In these circumstances Yahyas gesture could not be seen as anything but an attempt to frustrate the popular will by colluding with Mr. Bhutto. The National Assembly was the only forum where Bangla Desh could assert its voice and political strength, and to frustrate this was a clear indication that Parliament was not to be the real source of power in Pakistan.

The reaction to the postponement in Bangla Desh was inevitable and spontaneous and throughout the land people took to the streets to record their protest at this arbitrary act. People now felt sure that never really intended to transfer power, and was making a mockery of parliamentary politics. The popular mood felt that the rights of Bangla Desh could never be realized within the framework of Pakistan, where could so blatantly frustrate the summoning of an assembly proclaimed by his own writ and urged that Sheikh Mujibur Rahman must go for full independence.

Sheikh Mujib however continued to seek a political settlement. In calling for a program of non-cooperation on 3rd March he chose the weapon of peaceful confrontation against the army of occupation as an attempt to bring them to their senses. This was in itself a major gesture in the face of the cold blooded firing on unarmed demonstrators on the 2nd and 3rd March which had already led to over a thousand casualties.

The course of the non-cooperation movement is now a part of history. Never in the course of any liberation struggle has non-cooperation been carried to the limits attained within Bangladesh between first and 25th March. Non-cooperation was total. No judge of the High Court could be found to administer the oath of office to the new Governor Lt. General Tikka Khan. The entire civilian administration including he police and the Civil Service of Pakistan, refused to attend office. The people stopped supply of food to the army. Even the civilian employees of the Defense establishment joined the boycott.

Non-cooperation did not stop at abstention from work. The civilian administration and the police positively pledged their support to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and put themselves under his orders.

In this situation the Awami League without being a formally constituted Government, was forced to take on the responsibility of keeping the economy and administration running whilst non-cooperation lasted. In this task they had the unqualified support not only of the people but the administration and the business community. The latter two subordinated themselves to the directives of the Awami League and accepted them as the sole authority to solve their various problems.

In these unique circumstances the economy and administration were kept going in spite of the formidable problems arising out of the power vacuum which has suddenly emerged in Bangla Desh. In spite of the lack of any formal authority, Awami League volunteers, in cooperation with the police, maintained a level of law and order which was a considerable improvement on normal times.

Faced with this demonstration of total support to the Awami League and this historic non-cooperation movement, General appears to have modified his tactics. On the 6th March, he still seemed determined to provoke a confrontation when he made his highly provocative speech putting the full blame on the crisis, on the Awami League and not even referring to the architect of the crisis, Mr. Bhutto. It seems that he expected a declaration of independence on 7th March. The Army in Dacca was put on full alert to crush the move and Lt. Gen. Tikka Khan was flown in to replace Lt. Gen. Yakub to signify the hardening of attitudes within the Junta.

Sheikh Mujib, however, once again opted for the path of political settlement in spite of massive public sentiment for independence. In presenting his 4-point proposal for attending the National Assembly he not only had to contain the public mood but to leave a way open for to explore this last chance of a peaceful settlement.

it is now clear that and his Generals never had the slightest intention of solving Pakistans political crisis peacefully but were only interested in buying time to permit the reinforcement of their military machine within Bangla Desh. Yahyas visit to Dacca was a mere cover for his plan of genocide. It now becomes clear that contingency plans for such a crisis had already begun well in advance of the crisis.

Shortly before 1st March tanks which had been sent north to Rangpur to defend the borders were brought back to Dacca. From the 1st March the families of Army personnel were being sent off to West Pakistan on a priority basis as were the families of West Pakistani businessmen.

The military build-up was accelerated after 1st March and continued throughout the talks up to 25th March. Members of the armed forces dressed in civilian clothes were flown in PIA commercial flights via Ceylon. C 130s carrying arms and provisions for the garrisons flew in to Dacca. It is estimated that up to one division, with complementary support, was brought into Bangla Desh between 1st and 25th March. To ensure security, the airport was put under strict airforce control and heavily guarded with artillery and machine gun nets whilst movement of passengers was strictly supervised. As SSG commando group especially trained in operations in sabotage and assassinations was distributed in key centers of Bangla Desh and were probably responsible for the attacks on Bengalis in Dacca and Saidpur in the two days before 25th march to provoke clashes between locals and non-locals so as to provide a cover for military intervention.

As part of this strategy of deception adopted the most conciliatory posture in his talks with Mujib. In the talks beginning on the 16th of march, he expressed regrets for what had happened and his sincere desire for a political settlement. In a crucial meeting with Sheikh Mujib he was asked to positively state the Juntas position on the Awami Leagues 4-point proposal. He indicated that there was no serious objection and that an interim constitution could be worked out by the respective advisors embodying the four points.

The basic points on which agreement was reached were:


Lifting of Martial Law and transfer of power to a Civilian Government by a Presidential Proclamation.



Transfer of power in the provinces to the majority parties

To remain as President and in control of the Central Government

Separate sittings of the National Assembly members from East an West Pakistan preparatory to a joint session of the house to finalize the constitution.

Contrary to the distortions now put out by both and Bhutto the proposal for separate sittings of the Assembly was suggested by to accommodate Mr. Bhutto. Hi cite the practical advantage that whilst 6-points provided a viable blueprint to regulate relations between Bangla Desh and the Center its application would raise serious difficulties in the West Wing. Fro this reason West Wing MNAs must be permitted to get together to work out a new pattern of relationships in the context of the Six-point constitution and the dissolution of One Unit.

Once this agreement in principle had been reached between Sheikh Mujib and there was only the question of defining the powers of Bangla Desh vis-a-vis the Center during the interim phase. Here it was again jointly agreed that the distribution of power should as far as possible approximate to the final constitution approved by the National Assembly which, it was expected, would be based on Six Points.

For working out this part of the interim settlement Mr. M. M. Ahmed, the Economic Advisor to the President was specially flown in. In his talks with the Awami League advisors he made it clear that provided the political agreement had been reached there were no insuperable problem to working out some version of Six Points even in the interim period. The final list of three amendments to the Awami League draft which he presented as suggestions, indicated that the gap between the Government and Awami League position was no longer one of principle but remained merely over the precise phrasing of the proposals. The Awami league in its sitting of 24th March had accepted the amendments with certain minor changes of language and there was nothing to prevent the holding of a final drafting session between the advisors of and Mujib when the interim constitution would be finalized.

It must be made clear that at no stage was there any breakdown of talks or any indication by General or his team that they had a final position which could not be abandoned.

The question of legal cover for the transfer of power is merely another belated fabrication by to cover his genocide. He and his team had agreed that, in line with the precedence of the Indian Independence Act of 1947, power could be transferred by Presidential Proclamation. The notion that there would be no legal cover to the agreement raised subsequently by Mr. Bhutto and endorsed by General was never a bone of contention between Sheikh Mujib and. There is not the slightest doubt that had indicated that a meeting of the National Assembly was essential to transfer power, the Awami League would not have broken the talks on such a minor legal technicality. After all as the majority party it had nothing to fear from such a meeting and its acceptance of the decision for a separate sitting was designed to accommodate Mr. Bhutto rather than a fundamental stand from the party.

Evidence that agreement in principle between contending parties had been reached is provided by Mr. Bhuttos own Press Conference on 25th March. It is not certain what passed in the separate session between General and Mr. Bhuttto but there is evidence that deliberate falsehoods about the course of the talk with the Awami League were fed to the PPP who were told that Sheikh Mujib was determined to have a showdown and was daily escalating his demands. Needless to say not the slightest indication of these misgivings have been raised in the meetings between the Awami League team and General Yahyas advisors where amicability and optimism prevailed to the end.

Whilst hope for a settlement was being raised more ominous signs of the intentions of the army were provided by their sudden decision to unload the munitions ship M.V. Swat berthed at Chittagong Port. Preparatory to this decision, Brigadier Mazumdar, a Bengali officer commanding the garrison in Chittagong had been suddenly removed from his command and replaced by a West Pakistani. On 24th night he was flown to Dacca under armed escort and has probably been executed. Under the new command notice was given to local authorities of the decision to unload the ship in spite of the fact that the army had abstained from doing so for the last 17 days in the face of non-cooperation from the port workers. The decision to unload was a calculated provocation which immediately brought 100,000 people on the streets of Chittagong and led to massive firing by the Army to break their way out. The issue was raised by the Awami League with General Peerzada as to why this escalation was being permitted whilst talks were still going on. He gave no answer beyond a promise to pass it on to General.

Following the final meeting between General Yahyas and Awami Leagues advisors on 24th March where Mr. M.M. Ahmed passed on his amendments, a call was awaited from General Peerzada for a final session where the draft could be finalized. No such call materialized and instead it was learnt that Mr. M. M. Ahmed, who was central to the negotiations, had suddenly left for Karachi on the 25th morning without and warning to the Awami League team.

By 11P.M. of the 25th all preparations were ready and the troops began to take up their positions in the city. In an act of treachery unparalleled in contemporary history a program of calculated genocide was unleashed on the peaceful and unsuspecting population of Dacca by midnight of 25th March. No ultimatum was given tot he Awami League by, no curfew order as even issued when the machine guns, artillery and canon on the tanks unleashed their reign of death and destruction. By the time the first Martial Law proclamations issued by Lt. General Tikka Kahn were broadcast the next morning some 50,000 people, most of them without offering any resistance, and many women and children, had been butchered. Dacca had been turned into an inferno with fires raging in most corners of the city. Sleeping inhabitants who have been drawn from their homes by the fires started by the military, were machine gunned as they ran to escape the flames.

Whilst the police, EPR, and armed volunteers put up a heroic resistance, the main victims remained the weak, the innocent and the unsuspecting who were killed at random in their thousands. We are compiling a first hand account of the details of genocide committed by the Pakistani Army on the orders of the President of Pakistan which we will publish shortly. The scale and brutality of the action exceeds anything perpetrated in the civilized world.

himself left Dacca on the night of 25th March after having unleashed the Pakistan Army, with an open license to commit genocide on all Bengalis. His own justification for this act of barbarism was not forthcoming till 8 P.M. the next day when the world was given its first explanation for the unleashing of this holocaust. This statement was self-contradictory and laced with positive lies. His branding of a party as traitors and outlaws, with whom he had only 48 hours ago been negotiating for a peaceful transfer of power, bore no relationship to the situation in Bangla Desh or the course of the negotiations. His promise to hand over power to the elected representatives of the people after banning the Awami League which was the sole representative of Bangla Desh and held a majority of seats in the National Assembly was a mockery of the freely recorded voice of 75 million Bengalis. The crudity of the statement was clear evidence that was no longer interested in taking shelter b behind either logic or morality and had reverted to the law of the jungle in his bid to crush the people of Bangla Desh.

Pakistan is now dead and buried under a mountain of corpses. The hundreds and thousands of people murdered by the army in Bangla Desh will act as an impenetrable barrier between West Pakistan and the people of Bangla Desh. By resorting to pre-planned genocide must have known that he was himself digging Pakistans grave. The subsequent massacres perpetrated on his orders by his licensed killers on the people were not designed to preserve the unity of a nation. They were acts of racial hatred and sadism devoid of even the elements of humanity. professional Soldiers, on orders, violated their code of military honor and were seen as beasts of prey who indulged in an orgy of murder, rape, loot, arson and destruction unequaled in the annals of civilization. These acts indicate that the concept of two countries is already deeply rooted in the minds of and his associates who would not dare commit such atrocities on their own countrymen.

Yahyas genocide is thus without political purpose. It serves only as the last act in the tragic history of Pakistan which has chosen to write with the blood of the people of Bangla Desh. The objective is genocide and scorched-earth before his troops are either driven out or perish. In this time he hopes to liquidate our political leadership, intelligence and administration, to destroy our industries and public amenities and as a final act he intends to raze our cities to the ground. Already his occupation army has made substantial progress towards this objective. Bangla Desh will be set back 50 years as West Pakistans parting gift to a people they have exploited for 23 years for their own benefit.

This is a point of major significance to those great powers who choose to ignore this largest single act of genocide since the days of Belsen and Auschwitz. If they think they are preserving the unity of Pakistan they can forget it because himself has no illusions about the future of Pakistan.

They must realize that Pakistan is dead and murdered by - and that independent Bangla Desh is a reality sustained by the indestructible will and courage of 75 million Bangalis who are daily nurturing the roots of this new nationhood with their blood. No power on earth can unmake this new nation and sooner or later both big and small powers will have to accept it into the world fraternity.

It is therefore, in the interest of politics as much as humanity for the big powers to put their full pressure on to cage his killers and bring them back to West Pakistan. We will be eternally grateful to the people of USSR and India and the freedom loving people of all countries for their full support they have already given us in this struggle. We would welcome similar support from the Peoples Republic of China, USA, France, Great Britain and all Afro Asian countries who have freed themselves from colonial rule and from all freedom loving countries. Each in their own way should exercise considerable leverage on West Pakistan; and were they to exercise this influence, could not sustain his war of aggression against Bangla Desh for a single day longer.

Bangla Desh will be the eighth most populous country in the world. Its only goal will be to rebuild the nation from the ashes and carnage left behind by Yahyas occupation army. It will be a stupendous task because of destruction of economy by Yahyas army in our already underdeveloped and overpopulated region. But we now have a cause and a people who have been hardened in the resistance, who have shed their blood for their nation and won their freedom in an epic struggle which pitted unarmed people against a modern army. Such a nation cannot fail in its task of securing the foundations of its nationhood.

In our struggle for survival we seek the friendship of all people, the big powers and the small. We do not aspire to join any bloc or pact but will seek assistance from those who give it in a spirit of goodwill free from any desire to control our destinies. We have struggled far too long for our self determination to permit ourselves to become anyone's satellite.

We now appeal to the nations of the world for recognition and assistance both material and moral in our struggle for nationhood. Every day this is delayed a thousand lives are lost and more of Bangla Deshs vital assets are destroyed. In the name of Humanity act now and earn our undying friendship.

This we now present to the world as the CASE of the people of Bangla Desh. Bangla Desh has earned her right to recognition at great cost, as the people of Bangla Desh made sacrifices of unequal magnitude and fought hard in order to establish the rightful place for Bangla Desh in the community of Nations.

[Son Of Bangla]

The proclamation of Independence

http://www.bangladesh.net/muktijuddha/doc4.jpg

[rafian]

oti shundor ekta topic....nd full of nice posts....tnx to both pirate nd SOB bhai. many things i dint know abt our great liberation war are here.

[Son Of Bangla]

Intellectuals Murdered by
Pakistani Millitary and local Collaborators

Dhaka University Teachers
A. N. M. Munier Choudhury
Dr. G.C. Dev
A.N.M. Maniruzzaman
Muffazzal Hyder Chowdhury
Jyotirmoy Guha Thakurata
Dr. M.A. Khair
Anwar Pasa
S. M. Rashidul Hasan
Fazlur Rahman Khan
Dr. Serajul Haque Khan
Ghiasuddin Ahamed
Abdul Muqtadir
Dr. A.N.M. Faizul Mahi
Dr. Shahadat Ali
A.R. Khan Kadim
Muhammad Sadeque
Sharafat Ali
Ananda Payan

Rajshahi University Teachers
Mir Abdul Qayyum
Habubur Rahman
Shree Sukha Ranjan Samadder


Litterateurs

Zahir Raihan
Purnendu Dastidar
Ferdous Dowla
Indu Saha
Meherunnessa

Journalists

Shahidulla Kaiser
Sirajuddin Hossain
Nizamuddin Ahmed
Sk. Abdul Mannan(Ladu)
A.N.M. Golam Mustofa
Selina Akhter
Abul Basar
Shahid Saber
Khondakar Abu Taleb
Nazmul Haque
M. Akhter
Chisty Helalur Rahman
Shibsadan Chakravarty

Artists, Professionals, etc
Altaf Mahmud
Dhirendra Nath Dutta
Danbir Ranada Prasad Saha
Jogesh Chadra Ghose
Santosh Chandra Vattacharjya
Saidul Hasan
Shamsuzzaman
Mahbub Ahmed
Khurshid Alam
Nazrul Islam
Muzammel Haq Chowdhury
Mohsin Ali
Mujibul Haq

M.C.A.s
Mashiur Rahman
Amjad Hossain
Aminuddin
Nazmul Haque Sarker
Abdul Haque
Syed Anwar Ali
A.K. Sarder


Physicians

Md. Fazle Rabbi
Abdul Alim Chowdhury
Dr. Ghulam Murtaza
Dr. Abul Kalam Azad
Shamsuddin Ahmed
Azharul Haque
Humayun Kabir
Sulaiman Khan
Kaiser Uddin
Mansur Ali
Hafez Uddin Khan Jahangir
Abdul Jabbar
S.K. Lal
Hem Chandra Basak
Kazi Obaidul Haq
Mrs. Ayesaha Bedoura Chowdhury
Al-Haj Mamotazuddin
Hashimoy Hazra
Naren Ghose
Zikrul Haq
Shamsul Haq
M. Rahman
A. Gafur
Mansur Ali
S.K. Sen
Mafizuddin
Amulya Kumar Chakravarty
Atiqur Rahman
Ghulam Sarwar
R. C. Das
Mihir Kumar Sen
Saleh Ahmed
Anil Kumar Sinha
Sunil Chandra Sharma
A.K.M. Ghulam Mustafa
Maqbul Ahmed
Enamul Haq
Mansur(Kanu)
Ashraf Ali Talukdar
Lt. Ziaur Rahman
Lt. Col. Jahangir
Badul Alam
Lt. Col Hai
Maj. Rezaur Rahman
Maj. Nazmul Islam
Asadul Haq
Nazir Uddin
Lt. Nurul Islam
Kazal Bhadra
Mansur Uddin

[Son Of Bangla]

oti shundor ekta topic....nd full of nice posts....tnx to both pirate nd SOB bhai. many things i dint know abt our great liberation war are here.

we are welcome. I am just copy pasting, nothing else.

[rafian]

Enforcing the Arms Embargo--Personally

Professor Blaustein and I asked our new friends and clients from Bangladesh to keep their eyes and ears open. In late June 1971, they informed us that they had heard that the Kaptai, a 10,000-ton Pakistani freighter docked at Pier 36 in New York, was carrying munitions and preparing to set off for Pakistan. Such a shipment marked a clear violation of a Presidential Order issued by Richard M. Nixon on March 25, 1971 that prohibited the granting of a license to any munitions ship bound from a U.S. port to the area of the Pakistani conflict.

My firm immediately filed a complaint with the American authorities in charge of the New York Harbor. The authorities, however, insisted that this shipment was purchased before the March 25 signing of the Presidential Order authorizing the arms embargo. Since that would have meant that the shipment was legal, the ship would be allowed to leave port.

Suspicious of the government's stand regarding the Kaptai, my firm immediately filed a lawsuit in the Federal Court of Manhattan, asking for a restraining order to prevent the ship from leaving New York Harbor and requesting a full inspection of the cargo, dates of purchase, and licenses pertaining thereto by the US customs commission.

Immediately after our filing, we were contacted by the U.S. Attorney General's office. They reassured us that of course the United States had no intention to assist anyone in violating the law. We were told that someone from the office would get back to us in a day or two to discuss a satisfactory resolution of the case. We had every reason to believe that since the matter was now in court and the U.S. Attorney General (John Mitchell) was on the case, the matter would be quickly resolved. Not so.

The government was using a negotiating tactic that I call feinting in an attempt to deter us from further action. In negotiations, someone who employs the strategy of feinting presents the appearance of wanting to move toward a mutual goal or a resolution of conflict. The negotiator who feints hopes to forestall any action by the opposing side and put the opponent off guard long enough to accomplish some other end that surely would have met with resistance had it been done openly.

In this case, the "day or two" of stalling by the government gave the Pakistani shipping company--desperate to hide what was really going on--time to move the Kaptai out of New York Harbor. (Although the local newspapers reported on July 2 that the ship was on its way to Pakistan, in actuality the Kaptai had merely been moved across the river to Hoboken, New Jersey.)

Although the government's feinting had indeed caught us off guard, the ploy of moving the ship out of New York failed miserably. Upon learning of this surreptitious move, I immediately filed a writ of mandamus -- which requires public officials to file detailed reports to the court showing that they are fulfilling the duties of their jobs--against the New York Harbor Master. (As it later turned out, it was the Harbor Master himself--the government official in charge of monitoring shipments transported into and out of New York Harbor--who had ordered the ship to "hide" in New Jersey.) But someone in the government had failed to do his or her homework properly. Hoboken, although certainly not part of New York, was nonetheless part of New York Harbor. So sneaking the ship across the Hudson River did not at all remove it from the jurisdiction and control of the New York Harbor Master. Through our legal action, we soon discovered the location of the ship.

At this point, we decided that we needed to apply another level of pressure in our negotiations to halt this arms shipment. Unsure of how we would fare in the judicial courts, we determined to try the issue in the "court of public opinion" as well.

After pinpointing the location of the Kaptai, my firm tipped off the New York television stations. With several news crews and a team of customs inspectors in tow, we headed straight for the Hoboken pier to find the evidence needed to show that the U.S. was in fact shipping arms to Pakistan. The story appeared on that night's evening news broadcasts bringing new awareness not only of the illegal shipments themselves, but also of the entire Bangladesh situation.

In the wake of all the publicity that followed this "raid," the arms shipment was halted and the cargo confiscated as contraband. Although we had begun this adventure in a court of law, the court of public opinion had made it completely unnecessary to pursue any further legal action. We had won a significant battle that would help Bangladesh win the war.


S.O.S.: Save Our Sheikh

The day after the publicity broke on the halting of the arms shipments to Pakistan, about 20 Pakistanis from the secessionist province of Bangladesh suddenly arrived at my office. They were natives of Bangladesh who had served in the Pakistani delegation tp the United nations; mostly lawyers and judges. They had resigned from the United Nations as a group to protest the killings going on in their province.

These ex-Pakistani delegates to the U.N. had come together to thank me for stopping the arms shipments and to ask me--again, on a pro bono basis since they had no money with which to pay me--to represent Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (also known as Sheikh Mujib), the leader of Bengal's Awami League and the revolutionary leader of the 75 million people of Bangladesh. In March 1971, Sheikh Mujib had addressed more than one million people of Bangladesh, calling for a peaceful and constitutional settlement of the differences between East Pakistan (later Bangladesh) and West Pakistan. In urging a settlement, Sheikh Mujib had outlined four conditions for peaceful coexistence:

The lifting of martial law by the Pakistani government.

The return of Pakistani soldiers to their barracks·

A public inquiry into the Pakistani armed forces massacre of the citizens of East Pakistan

The restoration of power to the elected representatives of the people
These conditions apparently enraged the Pakistani government, which launched a massive attack on the University of Dacca, a massacre that claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of students, teachers, and unarmed civilians, on March 25, 1971 (the same date on which President Nixon signed the arms embargo against Pakistan).

That same day, the Pakistani army arrested Rahman and took him into custody in West Pakistan. Despite the efforts of several prominent jurists from both Great Britain and Ireland, the Pakistani government had forbidden all access to Sheikh Mujib since the date of his arrest. The Bangladeshis who came to us for help, however, had received reports from Pakistan that Rahman was currently being tried by a secret military tribunal. Recognizing such a secret military trial as a flagrant violation of human rights, our firm immediately petitioned the Pakistani government seeking permission to be active participants in any trial of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. In order to do this, of course, we would have to gain access to Sheikh Mujib, so our firm also requested permission to interview him. At the very least, we hoped to be allowed to act as observers at any trial of the Sheikh.

We soon received word from the Pakistan Mission to the United Nations that our request for entry into Pakistan and participation in the trial had been passed on to that nation's Consulate-General. But while waiting for word from the Pakistani Consulate, our clients returned with the news that Pakistan was not even going to try Sheikh Mujib, but planned simply to kill him outright. They desperately asked us to do something quickly.

I immediately got in touch with Albert Blaustein and asked him to get a message through to the U.S. Department of State: that if Pakistan killed this man, there would be no possibility for peace in the region for 200 years--and that it was up to the U.S. to do something to try and stop the execution. Not only did Blaustein get the message through, but he actually brought back an answer from the State Department: five days. Well, I didn't have any idea what that meant, and I told my Bangladeshi clients as much. But I asked that they remain patient and wait, as the State Department had urged us to do. When the five days had passed, Pakistan suddenly released Sheikh Mujib, announcing that there would be no trial. The diplomatic pressure we had helped create had worked.

[rafian]

http://banglapedia.search.com.bd/Thumbs/TP_0105.jpg

Pasha, Anwar (1928-1971) martyred intellectual and litterateur, was born on 15 April 1928 at Dabkai village in Murshidabad. His father, Haji Makrom Ali, was a local celebrity. After passing the High Madrassah examination in 1946, Anwar Pasha went on to do his BA and then his MA in Bangla from Calcutta University in 1953. He started his teaching career as superintendent of Manikchak High Madrasah and later on taught at Bhabta Azizia High Madrasah (1954) and Sadikhan Diar Bohumukhi Higher Secondary School (1957). In 1958 he joined Pabna Edward College and then, in 1966, the Department of Bangla, Dhaka University.

Anwar Pasha made his debut as a writer while still a BA student with Hasnahena, a collection of literary essays. During the next two decades, he published novels, essays, poems, and short stories. He also edited four ancient and medieval Bangla poems in collaboration with Professor muhammad abdul hai. His writings were published in many journals, including the quarterly Kabita, published from Kolkata and edited by buddhadev bose. His notable writings include Nadi Nihshesita Hale (1963), Nid Sandhani (1968), Nishuti Rater Gatha (1968), Nirupay Harini (1970), Rabindra Chhotagalpa Samiksa (Vol. I 1963, Vol. II 1973), Sahityashilpi Abul Fazal (1968) Rifle-Roti-Aorat (1973), Samudra Sankhalata Ujjayini (1974). The novel Rifle-Roti-Aorat was based on the nine-month liberation war.

Anwar Pasha was a staunch supporter of the liberation war and he dreamt of an independent Bangladesh. Unfortunately, he could not see his dream realised, because, shortly before 16 December, he was picked up from his university flat, taken to Mirpur and killed brutally along with other intellectuals. His dead body was recovered and buried in the compound of the Dhaka University mosque. In 1972, Anwar Pasha was posthumously honoured with the Bangla Academy Award for his literary achievements.

[pirate_of_da_caribbean]

rafian thans bro....SoB.....as usal......oshadharon post........rafian bro....keep posting..........

[rafian]

Murdered Students of Jagannath Hall, DU

Upendra Nath Ray: Final Year MS Physics (Village: Guliara, Dinajpur)

Kartik Sheel: Final Year MA English (Kalakhali, Barisal)

Kishori Mohan Sarkar: First Part MA English (Paragram, Dhaka)

Keshab Chandra Haoladar: First Part MS Mathematics (Kachabalia, Barisal)

Gano Pati Haldar: First Second Third Year, Chemistry (Ghatichora, Barisal)

Ziban Krishna Sarkar: Final Part MS Chemistry (Kulpotak, Mymensingh)

Noni Gopal Bhaumik: Second Year Student (Shyam Gram, Comilla)

Nirmal Kumar Ray: First Part MCom Student

Niranjan Prosad Saha: First Part MS Physics

Niranjan Haldar: Final Part MS Physics (Shikarpur, Barisal)

Prodip Narayan Ray Chaudhury: First Part MA student

Barda Kanto Tarafdar: Second Year Student (Khepamol, Mymensingh)

Bidhan Chandra Ghose: Third Year, English (Kacharipara, Pabna)

Bimol Chandra Ray: Third Year Statistics (Balirtek, Manikganj)

Murari Mohan Biswas: M Ed (Ektarpur, Kustia)

Mrinal Kanti Bose: Final Part Economics (Muriagora, Faridpur)

Manoranjan Biswas: Second Year, Mathematics (Satpar, Faridpur)

Ronoda Prosad Ray: Second Year, Mathematics (Kosba, Faridpur)

Ramoni Mohan Bhattacharya: First Part MA, Philosophy (Asta gram, Mymnsingh)

Rakhal Ray: Third Year Mathematics (Chandidwar, Comilla)

Shib Kumar Das: Second Year, Soil Science (Patuary, Faridpur)

Rupendra Nath Sen: Second Year, Chemistry (Bhanga, Faridpur)

Santos Chandra Ray: Final Part MS, Botany (Boribari, Dhaka)

Shishutosh Datta Chaudhury: Second Year, English (Ambor, Sylhet)

Satya Ranjan Das: Third Year, Chemistry (Bajonba, Dhaka)

Sujit Datta: Third Year Student (Palash, Dhaka)

Subhash Chandra Chakrobarty: Second Year, Statistics (Mymensingh)

Susil Chandra Das: Third Year, Soil Science (Barail, Comilla)

Swapan Chaudhury: Third Year, Statistics (Dhemla, Chittagong)

Hari Narayan Das: Third Year, Sociology (Narsingdi, Dhaka)

Ajit Ray Chaudhury: No information

Niranjan Chanda: No info

Prabir Pal: First Part, MS (Amlapara, Mymensingh)

Bhabotosh Bhaumik

Satya Ranjan Nag:

Subrata Saha:

Murdered University Staff and Guests

Modhu Sudan Dey (Modhu Da)

Khogendra Chandra Dey: staff philosophy dept

Sushil Chandra Dey: Pump workman, Engineering dept Dhaka University

Moti Lal Dey:

Dasu Ram: Gardener, VC Resident

Man Bharan Ray: Staff NIPA

Raj Bhar: Electrician, Engineering Dept, DU

Priyo Nath Ray: Gatekeeper

Sunil Chandra Das (Janitor)

Dukhi Ram Mandal: (Janitor)

Shib Pada Kuri (janitor)

Rajen Brahmachari: The spiritual guru of Shib bari

Zahar Lal Rajbhar: Gardener, Botany dept

Saroja Brahmachari: Spiritual guru of Shib bari

Madhab Chandra Das Brahmachari: Spiritual guru of Shib bari

Ram Dhoni Brahmachari: Spiritual guru of Shib bari

Shankar Kuri: Brother of Shibpada Kuri

Swami Mukundo Nando Saraswati: Spiritual guru of Shib bari

Bheer Ray

Bodhi Ram

Mani Ram

[Son Of Bangla]

hmmm. gud job rafian. I m glad tht i gave u the link :D . chalaia jao :D

[rafian]

ei topic e contribute korte pere bhalo lagtese...tnx everyone. nd tnx sob bhai for the link..na hole hoito jaantami na.

http://www.geocities.com/rafian70/untitled.GIF
http://www.geocities.com/rafian70/untitled2.JPG

[ocean]

we r getting important infos here........... this topic is becoming an archive......... amader mukti judhher bibhinno news er........ now thanx to rafian bro.................

[sidewinder]

nice post by SOB and rafian....rafian can u plz give us brief profiles of the other intellectuals, like u did for Anwar Pasha??

[pirate_of_da_caribbean]

rafian bro...the last post uve made....it was a very good 1....thanks....keep posting....

[rafian]

http://banglapedia.search.com.bd/Thumbs/TK_0024.JPG

Kaiser, Shahidullah (1927-1971) journalist and novelist, born on 16 February 1927 in the Mazupur village of feni. His original name was Abu Nayeem Mohammad Shahidullah. His father, Maulana Mohammad Habibullah, was principal of the Dhaka Aliya Madrasah and his younger brother, zahir raihan, was a noted filmmaker and writer. Shahidullah Kaiser married Zohra Khatun, a Communist Party activist and daughter of minister and physician R Ahmed of west bengal. After the break-up of this marriage, Kaiser married Panna Chowdhury in 1969.

After completing Honours in economics from Presidency College in 1946, Shahidullah Kaiser enrolled for the Master of Arts in economics at Calcutta University, but could not sit for the final examination. As a student, he participated in various social, cultural and political movements. He was a member of the provincial Communist Party of East Pakistan and also played an important role in the language movement. As a consequence, he suffered imprisonment several times. He was arrested on 3 June 1952 and was incarcerated for three and a half years. In 1955 he was again arrested and sent to jail. He was arrested for the third time on 14 October 1958 and was incarcerated four years till his release in September 1962.

Shahidullah Kaiser started his career in journalism in 1949 with the weekly ittefaq in Dhaka. In 1958, he was appointed associate editor of the sangbad, and continued to work there until his death.

Shahidullah Kaiser was also a novelist of note. He came into the limelight with Sareng Bau (The Captain's Wife, 1962), which deals with the human fight for existence. Later, a film was made based on this book. His other novels include Sangshaptak (The Indomitable Soldiers, 1965), which was later made into a highly acclaimed television serial, Krsnachura Megh (Krishnachura Clouds), Timir Balay (The Circle of Darkness), Digante Phuler Agun (The Flaming Horizon), Samudra O Trsna (Sea and Thirst), Chandrabhaner Kanya (Chandrabhan's Daughter) and the unfinished novel, Kabe Pohabe Bibhabari (When Will It Dawn?). Rajbandir Rojnamacha (The Diary of a Political Prisoner, 1962) details his life in prison. Peshwar Theke Tashkhand (From Peshwar to Tashkent, 1966) may be termed a political travelogue.

Shahidullah was the recipient of the Adamjee Literary Award (1962) and the Bangla Academy Award (1962). He was picked up by the occupation forces on the night of 14 December 1971, two days before the independence of Bangladesh, and never returned. [source: muktodhara.net]

P.s: am trying to collect all martyrs' profile wih pic @ sidewinder bhai

[Son Of Bangla]

Jyotirmoy Guha Thakurata
1920-1971
http://victorian.fortunecity.com/dada/137/pic/g/g6.gif
Born in Borobasha, Mymensigh town. Professor.
He finished his Entrance from Mymensingh District school in 1936, and I. Sc. from Mymensing Anada Mahan College in 1939. He graduated with first-class-first in B.A. in English Honors from Dhaka University in 1942, and M.A. from the same university with second-class-first in 1943. He was awarded Ph.D. from Kings College, London in 1967.

His professonal career started as a lecturor in Kishor Gonj Guru Doyal College in 1943. From 1943-1949, he was lecturor of English in Jagannath College. In 1949, he joined English Department of Dhaka university as a lecturor. He was promoted to the Reader in 1968.

Jyotirmoy Guha Thakurata was famous as a follower of M.N. Ray's "Radical humanism". He wrote many priceless essays, both in Bangla and English, now and then. His doctoral thesis was published as a book from Dhaka University in 1982 named "Myths in plays of Swinburne Struge moore and Eliot".

He was familiar with different branch of knowledge. He was famous as a benovolent man and foremost intellectual.

He was seriously wounded by Pakistani military's bullet when they attacked Dhaka in the dark hours of 25th March 1971, the very beginning of Bangladesh Liberation War. He was taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital in March 27, and died there on the 30.

Source:Click here (http://meltingpot.fortunecity.com/hastings/430/)

Posted after 14 minutes 52 seconds:

Liberation War and creative arts


Films
Pre Liberation:

Jiban Theke Neya: Zahir Rayhan

Joy Bangla: Uma Prosad Maitra

Joy Bangladesh: IS Johar

Nine Months to Freedom: Shuk Deb

During Liberation war:

Stop Genocide (71): Zahir Rayhan

Liberation Fighters (Alamgir Kabir supervised by Zahir Rayhan)

Innocent Millions (Babul Chowdhury)

A state is born: Zahir Rayhan

News documentaries:

Pigram

A Child will Cry

Sun rise, Sun down

After liberation:

Ora Egaro Jan: Chashi Nazrul Islam

Arun Ydayer Agni Shaksi: Shubhash Datta

Bagha Bangalee: Ananda (1972)

Roktakto Bangla: Momtaz Ali (72)

Dhire Bahe Meghna: Alamgir Kabir (73)

Abar Tora Manush Ha: Khan Ataur Rahman

Amar Janma Bhumi: Alamgir Kumkum (73)

Sangram: Chashi Nazrul (74)

Alor Michhil: Naryan Ghosh Mita (74)

Megher Anek Rang: Harun or Rashid (76)

Kalmi Lata: Shahidul Haq Khan (86)

Ekattorer Jishu: Nasiruddin Yusuf Baccu (93)

Aguner Parashmoni: Humayun Ahmed (94)

Nadir Nam Madhumati: Tanvir Mokammel (95)

Ekhono Anek Rat : Khan Ata

Banglar Chabbish Bachhar: Mohammad Ali

Kar Hashi ke Hashe: Ananda

Badhon Hara: AJ Mintu

Chitkar: Matin Rahman

Rupali Shaikat: Alamgir Kabir

Ek Sagaro Rakter Binimoye: Alamgir Kabir

Short Films and documentary:
Agami, Shuchana: Morhsedul Islam

Hulia: Tanvir Mokammel

Smriti Ekattor: Tanvir Mokammel

Prottabartan: Mostafa Kamal

Dhusar Jatra, Abarton: Abu Sayeed

Chakki, Potaka (the Flag): Enayet Karim Babul

Duranta: Khan Akhter Hossain

Ekjon Muktijodda: Dioldar Hossain

Neel Dangsan: Suman Ahmed

Program in Bangladesh: Alamgir Kabir

Towards a golden Bangla: Alamgir Kabir

Muktir Gaan, Muktir Katha: Tareq & Catherine Masud

Sey Rater Katha Bolte Esechhi: Kawsar Chowdhury

Shilalipi: Shamim Akhter

Films overseas
UK: Dateline Bangladesh: Gita Mehta

Japan: Bangladesh story: Nagisha Oshima

India: Duranta Padma: Durga Prosad

[rafian]

http://img15.imgspot.com/u/06/298/16/killing1161893272.JPG
http://img15.imgspot.com/u/06/298/16/killing21161893513.JPG [source: muktodhara.net]

[pirate_of_da_caribbean]

The War We Forgot

Iqbal had asked me when we first met. "Bhaiya where are Barkat and Salaam's graves?'' I didn't know. He was 10, I was 39. As a 15 year old in 1971, I had felt the warm flush of victory as I held a Pakistani light Machine Gun in my hand. I hadn't really won it in battle, but only recovered it from a burning military truck. But the joy was just as much. That was the time when a rickshaw-wala had refused to take my fare, because he had heard me greet a friend with "Joy Bangla'' (freedom for Bengal, the 1971 slogan symbolizing freedom from Pakistani rule). Things had changed, and the promise of our own land had slowly been eroded by politicians and military rulers who had lived off our dreams. Each time we became skeptical, each time we sniffed that something other than "Shonar Bangla (Golden Bengal)" was in their minds, they led us on with vitriolic rhetoric. Eventually, as on that day in 1994, I too had forgotten. I didn't know where Salaam and Barkat's graves were. More importantly, I didn't care. But Iqbal did. Born long after Salaam and Barkat's bodies had merged with the soil, Iqbal only knew of this great battle that we had fought. Though the heroes had changed depending upon who ruled the country at any particular time. Salaam and Barkat were beyond disputes. They were not a threat to anyone. They didn't apply for a trade license, or bid for a government tender. It was safe for the history books to remember them.

My search for these other heroes, the ones with cameras, began in 1994, after Iqbal reminded me that I had forgotten. It was in the Paris office of Sipa that Goksin Sipahioglou, excited at my presence, ran down the stairs and brought back with him an armload of slide folders. It took a while for it to sink in. These were the first colour photographs of the Muktijudhdho that I had ever seen. We had heard that some of these photographs had been published. But our only source of news at that time was Shadhin Bangla Radio. It talked of the glory of our freedom fighters, of how they were fearless against enormous odds. Of their glory in our battle. M R Akhtar Mukul in "Chorompotro" was the one voice we longed for. We chuckled as he talked of the plight of the Pakistanis. His wry but animated voice, muffled by the blanket we hid under, and barely audible in the turned down volume of the transistor radio, gave us hope, and kept us going through the dark nine months.

It was Abbas' photographs that Goksin had brought for me. Later that month, in the back garden of a house in Arle, I met Don McCullin. Don was excited about the show I wanted to do, and unhesitatingly agreed to give us pictures. I found Abbas, at a beach near Manila, quite by accident. Both of us had been following the golden late afternoon light in a summer evening in Manila beach. Abbas too was excited. He wanted to be the part of the show. Michele Stephenson and I had been in the same jury of World Press Photo on two occasions, and I had plenty of time to tell her about my plans. She invited me to New York and arranged for me to go through the archives of her magazine, Time. It was in the basement of the Time Life Building in the Avenue of the Americas that I came across the daily bulletins that the reporters had sent in.

Memories flooded through my mind as I remembered those harrowing days and nights. I remembered the screams of people being burned alive as the flamethrowers belched fire at the Holiday office near the Hotel Intercontinental. Most of the people who died were the people who slept in the streets and the slum dwellers around the newspaper office. Those who chose to escape the fire ran into a hail of machinegun bullets. My father, mother, Babu bhai and I watched quietly from our verandah in Nasheman on New Elephant Road. My dad had suffered from Hindu bhodrolok prejudice in the pre-partition days, and had never supported the break-up of Pakistan. And we would have great fights in the home, the younger ones wanting independence, dad's generation feeling things could be patched up. That was the night dad said it was over. No longer could we ever be one Pakistan.



I excitedly went through the reams of paper. Each scrap of news had a meaning for me. I could relate to these news bulletins. I remembered the horror of those nights. As I thumbed through a tattered red diary, I noticed the skimpy notes of a photojournalist as he travelled through Jessore. I remembered Alan Ginsberg's poem. It was David Burnett's diary. Several years later as David and I met in Amsterdam in yet another World Press Jury, I told him where his diary was. In Kuala Lumpur, Dubai, Delhi, and so many other cities have I picked up the scraps of evidence that would help me piece the jigsaw together.

It was in Paris that I spoke excitedly of my plans to Robert Pledge, the president of Contact Press Images. Robert shared my enthusiasm for the project, but I harried him with my feverish frenzy. We couldn't wait, we had to do it now. That now has taken over six years. But in these years we have made the most amazing discoveries. The stories, the images, the people we have come across, make up the life of this exhibition. It is the war veterans, the men and women who were killed and maimed and the women who were raped that this show is dedicated to. It is not a nostalgic trip for us to romanticize upon. It is for Iqbal and his friends to know that Barkat and Salaam, were more than simply names in history books.

Shahidul Alam Dhaka, 5th December 2000

[pirate_of_da_caribbean]

Aaj Sohid Birsreshtho Hamidur Rahman er 36th Mrittubarshiki........Shosroddho salam ei birke...........

[tantra]

oh.. aei topic ta amar attodin pore chokh e porlo :(
ashole.. ami forum e ektu irregular silam, cuz of my slow net connection..... But ajke aei topic ta dekhar por and onekgula posts porsi... Just Oshadharon.. ONek onek information... ONek kissu ase. and ajke ami onek kissu ontun kore janlam and shikhlam.. Shokol-ke onek onek thanks for their posts and contribution... keep it up.. keep spreading the knowledge of our Mohan Mukti judhdho... .. 9 mash war er por amra shadhin hoisi... kintu amar ektaai dukhkho.... ajke Desh e onek mara mari holo.. SHadhinotar por emon andolon kokhono desh dekhe nai... Ershad er time e andolon hoisilo.. But ajker moton atto teebro naa.... Keno atto mara mari ? amra ki amader shadhinota peyechi ??

Haider hossain er "Tirish Bosor" gan ta shuntesilam .. ar khub kanna ashtesilo desh tar jonno :( ...here is the link to that song......

http://community.nsuers.com/viewtopic.php?p=56629#56629

aei topic ta porar por .. ektu holeo bolte pari .. NSUers community er jonmo sharthok.... Without this topic NSUers Community was missing some real thing... Everyone should go through each and every posts under this topic............ :) .. Take some time... and read the posts ... :) .. ALLAH HAFiZ

[ocean]

nice to see u here.......... apnar kache kono info thakleo share koren........@ tantra bh

n thanx for ur song.................. gan ta amar kase ase....... kintu jara shune nai, tader shoabr shona uchit.........

[intoXIcated]

It is Very nice to learn that You people study a lot about 71 and the history liberation specialy Rafian and SOB (as I mentioned earlier)

ekta shomoy ashe jokhon ei shob ghataghati korar kimba ei shob niya porashuna korar r temon obokash pawa jabe na. ei dhoroner Archive gula te choakh bulale shob kichur ekta revision hobe. tobe I Suggest You people to post more Pictures. oneker kache hoyto ei text part gula bishesh kore boro boro post gula klantikor mone hoite pare. majhe majhe pictures thakle manush jon j khub attract kore.

and I am Sorry that I couln't contribute for a long time.

accha aamra ki sure ? aamra j ei boro boro post gula kortesi, ei gula shobai khub dhairjo shohokar-a pore ? jai hok bhai aami kotha barabona, aamar hoyto mejej abar kharap hoiya jaite pare. LOL

Posted after 19 minutes 42 seconds:

Tantra...........
Ershad er time e andolon hoisilo.. But ajker moton atto teebro naa.... Keno atto mara mari ??

Ershad er shomoy manush Carfue porjonto Break korsilo. so I think j oi shomoy er theke beshi desperate chilo manush.

r ekhon jeita hocche sheita k andolon bole na, ei ta hocche khomota dokholer lorai, Game, dhawa-palta dhawa. tomar andolon kotha tar tibro protibad janacchi.

Ershad er amol-a aami School-a portam, tokhon aami kisu-e bujhtam na, but lok joner mukh-a shunte shunte josh ashto nijer bhitore, aami-o michil korsi. r ekhon ? Tantra, You know me very well that who I am, but aami to rastay nami nai. Maybe aami Election er shomoy kaj korbo. but ei khane ei shob maramari to korbo na, cause ei ta kono andolon na. it is bloody politics man.

anyway, nice to see you here. welcome to the abol tabol kotha bola family.

[intoXIcated]

aamar mone hoy 71 er theika current ghotona khub beshi interesting. follow the link

http://www.prothom-alo.org/index.news.details.php?nid=MTI5NA==

[pirate_of_da_caribbean]

aami sylhet a silam bole etodin temon post kora hoi nai...jei kothata holo.....sylhet a ekta jadughor aase....muktijuddher Sorbadhinayok GEn. Osmani er....ei bar onek din por jadurghor tai gesilam...if u guys ever go 2 sylhet.....dont forget 2 visit the museum.

[Son Of Bangla]

Watch documentaries on 1971 war. Here (http://tinyurl.com/8clbj)

Tale of the Darkest Night
(Shei rater kotha bolte eshechi ) -Tale of the Darkest Night tells the story of the killings by the Pakistani army in Dhaka University on 25th March 1971. Surviving members and witnesses speak, and bring alive the havoc of that night.


Dateline Bangladesh - Gita Mehta's film compilation of the Bangladesh revolution, Dateline Bangladesh, was shown in cinema theatres both in India and abroad.
(193 MB Stream)

Song of Freedom
(Muktir Gaan ) - Song of Freedom is a documentary film which explores the impact of cultural identity on the liberation war, where music and song provided a source of inspiration to the freedom fighters and a spiritual bond for the whole emerging nation. A group of Bengali cultural activists traveled through refugee camps and battle zones performing rousing songs which capture the essence of the Bengali nation. Directors Catherine and Tareque Masud used original footage by American film-maker Lear Levin, as well as other archival footage collected from the UK and India.
(244 MB Stream)

Tears of Fire - A Documentary by Sentu Roy related to the 1971 Genocide in Bangladesh committed by Pakistan Army and the agents. The director interviews international journalists, activists and expatriate who were witness to the Genocide.
(115 MB Stream)

Liberation Struggle of the Bengalis - A twenty five minutes long documentary by the Liberation War Museum describing the havoc of 1971 war.
(80 MB Stream)

[intoXIcated]

S_O_B:
Tale of the Darkest Night
(Shei rater kotha bolte eshechi )

ei Documentary ta k banaise ? can you give us the info ?

[pirate_of_da_caribbean]

SoB vai....another excellent post .....

[Son Of Bangla]

http://img242.imageshack.us/img242/8799/tdnzj8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Tale of the Darkest Night ( Shei rater kotha bolte eshechi ) -Tale of the Darkest Night tells the story of the killings by the Pakistani army in Dhaka University. Surviving members and witnesses speak, and bring alive the havoc of that night. The documentary also includes the wireless messages the Pakistani army exchanged that night which a Bengali engineer accidentally stumbled upon and recorded while trying to tune in to the BBC for news of the crackdown in his country.
Second Best Film Award, Film South Asia '03

[ocean]

amar kase humayun ahmed er 'jochona o jononir golpo' boi ta bhalo lagse........... mukti judhher shomoyer onek information ase oitay.............

[intoXIcated]

Jahanara Imam er ekta bikkhato boi chilo na ? aamar kase chilo, haray gese, khuje pacchi na. oi boi tar nam karu kase ase ?

[pirate_of_da_caribbean]

aase ...aamar kase...tobe sylhet er bashai....ocean.....ei boito poiro....nam "Ekattorer dinguli, Jahanara Imam (1986)" oshadharon ekta boi

[intoXIcated]

right P_O_C: 71' er din guli, aamar khali mathay ashtesilo 71' er din ratri.

[ocean]

hmmmmm onek nam shunsi boi tar.......... porbo porbo koreo pora hoy nai............. next chance ei porbo...............

[intoXIcated]

ei boi tar maddhome-e aamra Mrs. Jahanara Begum er shathe porichito hoisi, unake Shahid Janani upadhi te bhushito kora hoise,
ghatok dalal nirmul committee-r ahobayok hishabe uni besh active chilen Rajakar der punorbashon er biruddhe r obanchito korar pokkhe.

[pirate_of_da_caribbean]

yap...unar aaso kisu boi aase....aamar valo lagse 'probasher dinlipii' oi boitao pore dekhar moto...jodio mukti juddher upore na.......

juddher upore aamar aarekta prio boi holo

Lokkho praner binimoye.....A tale of millions...

nebody can hav a look at this books

[intoXIcated]

Jahir Rayhan er Stop Genocide (Spell check plz) ta aami khub chotobelay dekhsilam eto choto bela j tokhon aamar temon ekta bujhar khomota chilo na. tai sheita k thik dekha bola jabe na. ekhon paile dekhar ichcha ase.

arekta Documentary aami koyekdin pore hat-a pabo, sheit ahocche Palashi theke Dhanmondi, paile pore janabo j bhitore ki ase na ase.

[pirate_of_da_caribbean]

ok intoxicated vai...intoxicated vai gaangula kin2 ekhono pai nai....

[intoXIcated]

POC: aami notun notun GPRS use kortesi, ekhono bhau buijha uthte pari nai. khub Easy DL hoye jacche but UL shohoje hoite chay na. aami try kortesi. aami khub taratari UL kore link diye diye dibo. nije na parle aami Hasib k doye koray felbo

[Son Of Bangla]

kon gan ?? @ POC and Intoxicated

[Son Of Bangla]

George_Harisson_-_Bangladesh.mp3

download here

http://www.4shared.com/file/5513212/f259836e

Posted after 22 minutes 26 seconds:

aase ...aamar kase...tobe sylhet er bashai....ocean.....ei boito poiro....nam "Ekattorer dinguli, Jahanara Imam (1986)" oshadharon ekta boi

if any1 is interested i can get some part of the book online. just let me know.

[pirate_of_da_caribbean]

SoB......ei gaantai....thank u.....and pls bring da book in ere.....ppl should hav a look at it

[Son Of Bangla]

hmm. no problem.

r boi ta anbo, i hav to find the original onlline version. give me some time,too bz now-a-days

[ocean]

oohh ei gaan ta amio koek din age upload kore eikhane post korsilam............. kheyal kori nai........... korle pirate chaile abar ul kore dite partam............

yah SoB........... it wud b very nice................

[pirate_of_da_caribbean]

i m trying 2 get the copy of "Chorompotro by M R Akhter mukeul" joss ekta program silo.......oita ki karo kase aase?

aami khujtesi pailei upload kore dibo......

[Son Of Bangla]

Nineteen Seventy-One
by Humayun Ahmed
Translated by Shabnam Nadiya
================================================== =========================================

They arrived just before evening. An enormous group. Not marching or anything. Just walking about in a disorganized manner. They were probably coming from very far away. Each of them bowed down in weariness. Faces wet with sweat. Khaki clothes gray 'with dust.

Almost all of the villagers went into hiding. Only Crazy Bodi came forward with a smile. With enormous glee he shouted at them, "What's up?"

The whole group stopped suddenly. Crazy Bodi held a red gamchha in his hand. Waving the red gamchha like a banner, he shouted. "Where you going, eh?" He had never seen such a strange sight before.

The major was wearing sunglasses. He took his glasses off and asked in English, "What is this man saying?"

Ranquddin replied immediately, "The man seems to be a madman. All our villages have one of them."

"Oh really?"

"Yes, Sir."

"How can you tell that this man is mad?"

Rafiquddin stayed silent. The major had a very twisted sort of nature. He could squeeze out ten different meanings from a single sentence. Crazy Bodi could be seen running towards them. His face was all smiles.

Rafiq snapped at him. "What the hell do you want?"

Crazy Bodi's smile broadened further.

Rafiq wiped the sweat off his forehead. He said in a thin voice, "The man is mad, Sir. All our villages...."

"You've said that once before. There is no need to repeat the same thing two or three times."

Rafiq gulped.

The major said in a cold voice, "I like this place- Let us rest a while. Everyone's tired."

"Sir, if we go on five miles further, we'll reach Nabinagar. It's a big marketplace, there's a police station there. We should get to Nabinagar before evening falls."

"Why? Are you afraid?"

"Of course not. Sir. Why should I be afraid?"

The major turned towards the group and said something- A soft hubbub arose. Within moments everyone was sitting down, sprawling here and there. They began removing their helmets.

The major said in a low voice, "We have to tie the madman up." He sat down on a wooden box and lit his pipe. Pipes don't usually go with someone wearing khakis. But this major was impossibly handsome- Anything looked good between his lips.

The madman was tied to a mango tree. He did not protest. Rather, he seemed quite happy to be fortunate enough to be allowed to stay near these people. No one paid much attention to him- They were terribly tired. Their gazes were vacant and without thought.

The major drank a few gulps of water from his water bottle. He took off his boots. He had a blister on his left ankle.

The major drank a few gulps of water from his water bottle. He took off his boots. He had a blister on his left ankle.

Rafiq said, "Would you like to have a green coconut. Sir?"

The major said in a calm voice, without answering his question, "In the past, whenever we entered a village, there would always be a small group with a Pakistani flag in hand to welcome us. They no longer come. Do you know the reason for this?"

"I don't know, Sir."

"They don't come because they are afraid. All the people of this village are now hiding in the jungle. Am I right?"

Rafiq did not answer.

Crazy Bodi said, "I feel like drinking some bottle water."

"What does he want?"

"He wants to drink water from the canteen, Sir."

Even though all the villagers had fled, Aziz Master had been unable to because his sister had arrived from Ghonapota. Her labour pains had started that morning. One cannot drag around a person in such a condition.

Still, Aziz Master had said twice, "If we could somehow get her to the boat, then she could be taken to Shyamganj."

In response, Aziz Masters mother had made an ugly remark concerning his cowardice. She compared him to a cat with a broken leg.

Aziz Master did not protest because it was true. He was an awful coward. Ever since he had heard that the army had entered the village, he had been feeling the need to piss pretty frequently. He was sitting in the yard, and he started violently at the least bit: of noise.

"Master, you home?"

"Who's that?"

A few Nilganj elders entered the yard in an apprehensive manner. "You should be goin' there. Master."

"Where should I be going?"

Instead of answering the question, Dabir Mia said in a low voice, "Who else c'n go other than you? You know English. You know how to speak proper."

"You asking me to go to the military?"

"Yeah."

"What could I do there?"

"You could go and tell them that we have no trouble in this village- Take the Pakistani flag with you,. There's nothing to be afraid of."

Aziz Master did not speak for a long time.

Dabir Mia felt irritated and said, "Why don't you speak?"

"How can I go? We've such trouble at home. Puti is havin' a baby -"

"There's nothin' you c'n do here. Master. You're neither a doctor nor a kaviraj."

Aziz Master said in a faint voice, "Where do I get a Pakistani flag?"

"Why, whatve you done with the school flag?"

"Threw it away."

"Threw it away? What for?"

Aziz Master did not answer.

Dabir Mta said in an angry voice, "Even if you have passed yo IA exams, Master, you still don't have much brain. What made you throw away the flag? Now what else can you do? Then, go on, empty-handed."

"I'm afraid, Uncle."

"There's nothing to fear. These are neither tigers nor bears. You just go and be nice to them, say nice things. Its a matter of a minute or so. What do you think, Azmat?"

"Quite right."

"Don't delay. Go before it gets dark."

"Alone?"

"Its better to go alone. Go by yourself. Recite the Kulhu Allah your mind three times and place your right foot forward first. Say Yaa Muqaddemu silently mind five times. There is nothing to fe Master. This is Allah's sacred text. It has special and sacn significance."

Aziz Master remained sitting there with his head bowed dow He felt the need to urinate again. Puri was whimpering inside tl house. This was her first pregnancy and she was suffering.

"How can I leave my sister in such a state?"

"What sort of talk is that? What can you do at home? Always talkin' like an idiot- Get up now."

Aziz Master got up.

The major stared at him for a long time through narrow eyes. It was getting dark. The statement on his face was hard to read. He was sitting on a large wooden bench with his legs spread wide apart.

The major asked in clear Bangia, "Ki chaw ? " ("What do you want?")

Aziz Master was taken aback. This guy knows Bangia? How strange!

"Ki chaw" ?

"Well, I don't really want anything."

The major said, in English this time, "If you don't want anything, why are you here then? To watch the fun? This is circus?"

Aziz Master started to sweat. The rest of the conversation was carried on in English on the major's side- Aziz Master answered in Bangla. It didn't create any problems. The major understood Bangla.

"What do you do?"

"I am the Primary School teacher here."

"So there's a school here?"

"Yes, Sir."

"What else is there?"

"There's a mosque."

"Only a mosque. No temples? Where pujas are held?"

"No, Sir."

"Tell me the truth. Is there a temple here or not?"

"No, Sir."

The major lit his pipe. He said something in a cold voice to someone in Punjabi or some other language- The man came over and slapped Aziz Master hard on his cheek- Aziz Master fell over on his back.

Tied to the mango tree. Crazy Bodi said in surprise, "Oh Master, get up then, get up."

The major asked as if nothing had happened, "What is your is your name?"

"Azizur Rahman."

"Azizur Rahman, do you have freedom fighters here?"

"No."

"Everyone's Pakistani?"

"Yes."

"Well, that's good. You yourself are a pure Pakistani, right?"

"Yes. Sir."

If you're all Pakistanis, then what are you afraid of? It seems to me that all the villagers have fled in fear. The women are all hiding in the jungle. Am I right?"

Aziz Master did not answer. His head was reeling. He was feeling nauseous. With great difficulty, he controlled his urge to vomit.

"Do you think that we will take your women away?"

Aziz Master remained silent.

"Why aren't you speaking? Is your wife also hiding in the jungle?"

"Sir, I am not married."

"Not married? How old are you?"

"Forty."

"Forty and not yet married? How do you cope then? Do you masturbate?"

Aziz Master wiped the sweat off his forehead.

The major roared, "Answer me."

Raflquddin said in a thin voice, "Sir wants to know whether you masturbate. Answer him, man. Sir is getting angry."

"I don't."

"Really? Is your equipment okay? Let's see, take your pajamas off and show everyone."

"What are you saying. Sir?"

"I told you to take your pajamas off and show your equipment to everyone. Well, hurry up, don't delay. I don't have much time."

Aziz Master looked at Rafiq in surprise.

Raflquddin said in an indistinct voice, "Take it off, man. What's there to be ashamed of among men? Take if off. Sir is getting angry."

The major said something in a low voice. Someone came and jerked down Aziz Master's pajamas.

The major said, "Take his shirt off too."

Aziz Master tried to cover his nakedness with his two hands. The soft hum of laughter arose around him. Someone threw a ball of crushed paper at him.

The major said, "Do you love Pakistanis?"

"I love them."

"Good, do you love the Pakistani army?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Very good. You must love me too. Don't you? Go on, tell me,"

"I love you, Sir."

"You love the man who is forcing you to stand here naked? You seem to be a lover of the whole world."

A flood of laughter erupted as the major made some remark in a low voice.

With eyes big in amazement, Crazy Bodi said, "Master, where're your clothes? Hey, Master."

Aziz Master looked at him with muddied eyes. His nausea had gone, leaving him with an intense and sharp pain at the back of his head.

The major said, "Azizur Rahman, you are lying out of fear. To save your life. Tell me the truth, and I will let you go. Do you like me?"

"No."

"Now we're getting the truth. Do you want this to become Bangladesh?"

"Yes, Sir."

"So, you're a traitor. Traitors should be put to death- That is what I would like to do. Or do you want to live?"

Aziz Master did not answer.

"Don't delay. Tell me if you want to live."

Rafiquddin said in a frightened voice, "Say it, man, say, I want to live. Why are you acting like this? You're only bringing down danger upon yourself."

Crazy Bodi spoke again, "Hey, Master, put your clothes back on. You're naked."

Aziz Master did not move.

The major said, "Put your clothes on. Put your clothes back on and get out of my sight. Clear out."

Aziz Master did not put his clothes on. He spat. The spittle fell on the right leg of the major's trousers. The major lifted his eyes and stared. There was pin-drop silence.

Aziz Master stepped forward and spat again. The spittle fell on the major's shirt.

The major said in a calm voice, "We have rested long enough. Now we must start moving again."

The troop of soldiers march forward. The majors face is impossibly colourless. Behind him stands a naked man, his head held high.

================================================== =============================

"Unish Sha Ekattar" is anthologized in Humayun Ahmed's Shrestha Galpa (Dhaka : Ananda Prakashana, 1988).

SOurce:http://humanists.net/avijit/26th_march/1971.htm

[ocean]

ami erokom arekta golpo porsilam humayun ahmed er............... oitar ending ta onnorokom chilo............

[pirate_of_da_caribbean]

Shundor post......keep up da good work SoB vai

[pirate_of_da_caribbean]

hmmm...........sobkhanei bandwith valo.......eikhane kharap...........december is coming....bijoyer mash........bijoy dibosh a ke ki koren?.....ekta usual holiday palon koren naki tao na..... let us know guys....how u pass da 16th of december every year

[Son Of Bangla]

http://humanists.net/avijit/kobita/asader_shirt.jpg

[ Asader shirt (Asad's Shirt) - by Shamsur Rahman

[sidewinder]

very beautiful poem :) onek age porsilam...

[pirate_of_da_caribbean]

nice post indeed....

[chan_biz]

khub bhalo laglo....thanks SOB bhaia for such a nyc post...

[intoXIcated]

pirate_of_da_caribbean:
hmmm...........sobkhanei bandwith valo.......eikhane kharap...........december is coming....bijoyer mash........bijoy dibosh a ke ki koren?.....ekta usual holiday palon koren naki tao na..... let us know guys....how u pass da 16th of december every year

goto bochor ki korsi mone nai, ei bar aamra 15 r 16 Dec-a Charukala-r ultapashe big screen-a Concert for Bangladesh r sheitar upor ekta documentary, Stop Genocide, Nine Months to Freedom dekhaisi.

[Son Of Bangla]

Tales of Endurance and Courage

By Aasha Mehreen Amin, Lavina Ambreen Ahmed and Shamim Ahsan


One of the greatest shortcomings in the perception of our fight for Independence is our consistent failure to recognise the role of women in our Liberation War. In fact, the role of women is largely ignored, denied and misconstrued in our mainstream history. This is because of our general tendency to think of war only in terms of physical fighting and exchange of gunshots. But our liberation war or any war for that matter, which has involved the entire population of the country, has been a struggle through which a united nation has asserted its aspiration for freedom. Such wars are not fought only in the battlefields, neither are they fought only with guns. War heroes include those women who have supported the valiant freedom fighters with food, shelter, funds; who have nursed the wounded and hid weapons risking their own lives. They also include those who have willingly given their sons to war, who have lost their loved ones and even worse been subjected to sexual abuse and still survived to tell their stories.


Bir Protik Taramon Bibi fought against Pakistanis in the liberation war in her village home in Shankar Madhabpur Kurigram. She was in Sector 11 under the leadership of Sector commander Abu Taher, Bir Uttam. Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibor Rahman's Government honoured her with the Bir Protik title in 1973, for her courageous role in resisting the Pakistan occupation force with weapons. After independence, there was no trace of her whereabouts. In 1995, a researcher found out where she lived and consequently the women's organisations brought her to Dhaka. Her story of bravery was soon published. Taramon Bibi was honoured with the prestigious Bir Protik title 24 years after the war in 1995. Prime Minister Khaleda Zia handed Taramon Bibi the award in a simple ceremony on December 19, 1995.

It was Taramon's Godfather, Muhib Habildar, who motivated her to become a freedom fighter. He was a solider who was on duty in a camp close to her village. Taramon was about 13 or 14 when she joined the camp. At first, she was brought to the camp mainly to do the cooking and cleaning, but later when Muhib saw that she was a very strong and brave young lady he taught her how to use arms like the rifle and stein gun.


Taramon recalls the first time she attacked the enemy with arms. She was having lunch at the camp. Suddenly, the muktijoddhas came to know that a gunboat carrying the Pak army was heading towards where they were located. Taramon got prepared for combat with her comrades, and together, they succeeded in getting rid of the enemy. After that, Taramon had to fight with arms on many occasions. In fact, she has encountered the Pakistanis so many times, that she lost count of the number. She said, she obeyed instructions from her mentor and Godfather, Muhib. The muktijoddhas praised her for being a good marksman. In those days, she never thought about the risks involved in what she was doing. "We were fighting to free our country," she says, " the last thing on my mind was worrying about my own safety." She was totally committed to the cause of her motherland just like so many others at the time. Taramon and her camp mates sought refuge in bunkers when the enemy changed their tactic and started an air-bombing onslaught. The Pak army raided the camp a few times and hurled bombs killing several people. But fortunately, Taranmon escaped death. When the war was over Taramon came to Dhaka with her Godfather. Muhib Habildar always used to inspire her. He would say that they fought againts great odds, to gain independence. All the hardship and sacrifice were for the cause of the motherland.


However Taramon has a complaint. The country has given recognition to many freedom fighters and also provided a certain amount of financial assistance to them. But she never received any kind of monetary benefit from any of the governments till date. She feels that she was ignored because she is a woman and people don't take women freedom fighters seriously. Taramon lives with her farmer husband and two children in Kaliakoir, Comilla.

Dr. Captain (Rtd.) Sitara Begum is the only other woman besides Taramon Bibi to get the 'Bir Protik' award for gallantry in the Liberation War. Bir Protik Sitara Begum was born in Kolkata in 1945. She is number three among three sisters and two brothers. Her father Md. Israil Mian had a law practice in Kidhoreganj where Sitara spent her childhood. After completing her Matriculation, Sitara finished her intermediate from Holy Cross College and then studied medicine at Dhaka Medical College hospital. When she received her medical degree, she joined as a leutenant in the army's medical corps in 1970. In the turbulent days of 1970, Sitara was posted in the Comilla Cantonment. At the time, her brother, valiant freedom fighter Major A. T. M Haidar was transferred to Comilla from Pakistan. He joined the 3rd commando battalion in Comilla. Both Haidar and his sister Sitara went to Kishoreganj to spend Eid holidays in February 1971. The non-cooperation programme had started throughout the country by then. Sitara's vacation was not over yet. Haidar warned Sitara not to go back to the Cantonment thus, she returned home in Kishoreganj. Haidar sent some members of the Muktibahini as well his parents and Sitara to Meghalaya, India. It took the group almost two weeks to reach Meghalaya from Kishoreganj. There was a makeshift hospital known as 'The Bangladesh Hospital', with almost 400 beds. Captain Dr. Sitara was the Commanding Officer of the hospital under Sector 2. Among those who worked there were some final year students of the medical college. Some doctors from UK also offered their services to the hospital. Sitara had to go to Agartala regularly to get medicines.



The hospital had an Operation Theatre, the floor of which was covered by plastic. The hospital not only catered to Bangali patients and wounded freedom fighters, members of the Indian army also sought medical aid at that medical centre. Sitara and her colleagues got to know about Bangladesh's independence on December 16 through the radio. She returned to Dhaka a few weeks later. But after her brother Major Haidar was killed in a conspiracy in 1975, Dr. Sitara left Bangladesh her family and settled in America.

Geeta Kar was only 15 during the War of Independence, yet she vividly recalls what happened during those significant nine months. Her father was killed on May 5, 1971 by the Pak army. Shocked by the incident, Geeta left her home in Rajbari leaving behind her mother and younger siblings and headed for India. They walked for nine days before they reached India. Geeta was determined to fight to free her motherland from the ruthless grip of the Pakistanis. When she was contemplating on joining the freedom movement, she learnt about how Bangali people who have crossed the border and arrived in our neighbouring country were getting organised to ward off the Pakistanis. Geeta soon enlisted her name in the Mukti Bahini. She joined the camp on July 2, 1971 and underwent training on guerilla warfare and first aid. There were more than 200 women in the training group. Most of them had lost their family members and were resolute to take revenge. The food they used to get at the training camp was paltry but that didn't bother the camp inmates. Geeta reminisces that the main driving force was the desire to win the battle against the Pak army at any cost. After the training was over, it was time to go to the actual battleground to utilise the skills. But only 15 young women including Geeta gave their consent to join the war. A guide was sent with the group of novice, but he had could not communicate with them in Bangla or English. To make things worse the guide disappeared without a word one fine day abandoning the courageous young people who were ready to face the enemy. But the determined group proceeded without their guide. They went without proper meals for almost ten days and survived on banana and water. Then somehow they managed to reach the Sylhet border. At first it was difficult to convince the Indians of their true intentions. Finally, a man named Makhon Shom from the refugee camp assured them all possible help. He arranged for food and lit fire to keep them warm. Thanks to Makhon Shom's kindness, Geeta and her fellow mates were able to reach Agartala. However, when they arrived there, the women were not sent to the war zone as they expected.



After the war many women were left to raise their children and feed families all by themselves.

Instead, they were told to assist at the 480-bed hospital in Agartala known as the Bangladesh Hospital. The group of young women put their heart and soul into their job as medical attendants. Geeta remembers meeting numerous freedom fighters at the hospital, and most of them were brought to the hospital with serious injuries. She and her friends consoled themselves in the knowledge that helping out at the hospital was almost as good as fighting in the war. After all, both the tasks had the same goal. Geeta returned to Bangladesh with the wounded Muktijoddhas and her friends at the hospital five weeks after the Victory Day at the last week of January. They returned to Dhaka after spending a week in Comilla. Most of her co-workers had immediately returned to their homes when they reached Dhaka. But Geeta didn't know where to go since her father was dead.

Hena Das, the current President of the Bangladesh Mohila Porishad was the Head Mistress of Narayanganj High School in 1971. Hena was an ardent member of the Communist Party, Bangladesh Teachers' Committee and Bangladesh Mohila Porishad.right from the start. Hena was in Kolkata during the war. On her way to Kolkata, she delivered speeches in favour of Bangalis' fight for freedom at the women's meetings there. Her main work was with the refugee teachers. A Bangladesh Teachers' Committee was formed comprising teachers from all levels in Kolkata. Fifty camp schools were set up with foreign assistance and Hena was in charge of running the schools. She used to explain to the children the reasons behind the Muktijuddho and also motivated the teachers. Hena participated in collecting clothes and other necessary items for the children in the refugee camps. Since the Headquarters of the Communist Party was located in Kolkata, she was very much part of the party's activities. Hena was constantly on the move until May 1, 1971, at different places in Narayanganj, in the fear that she might get caught. At one point, she took shelter in the science building with her sick husband and five-year old daughter. There were some people who risked their lives to keep in touch with her in those uncertain days. One of her well-wishers was her teacher Nurul Amin, who was later brutally killed by the Pak army. Hena was aggrieved by her teacher's death. But as Hena recalls, she had to deal with the loss of many people who were close to her in 1971, such as, the death of her student Momtaz, and the murder of the parents of another student etc.



The Liberation War has been an attractive subject for film makers and a good number of documentary films have resulted from this interest. Being the most powerful medium to hold people's attention, films have played a significant role depicting the oral history of the Muktijuddho. But most of these films have focused mainly on the freedom fighters, genocide and the agony of people being driven out of their homeland. The incredible role of women during the war and after, have not been given its due recognition. During the war not only were women systematically sexually abused, they also had to face the grief and shock of losing their loved ones, their homes. With remarkable resilience and strength, women fought the war in so many different ways. Two films -- one by Tareq and Catherine Masud called Narir Kotha and the other by journalist Afsan Chowdhury called Tahader Juddho together encompass the untold stories of women in the Liberation struggle, one that continues even today.

Narir Kotha, a joint production of Audio Vision (Tareq and Catherine's production company) with Ain O Shalish Kendra, a human rights organisation, focuses on women who suffered immensely during the war. Victims of rape were among the most traumatised. They not only had to endure the horror of sexual abuse but also the pain of being humiliated and ostracised by society as well as their own families. In the film, survivors of abuse by the Pak army talk frankly about their ordeal and how they are still having to deal with the stigma of being 'tainted' in the eyes of society. The 25-minute film also includes interviews of women who survived massacres and lived to tell their stories. It is clear that the film does not intend to make people sorry for these women. Rather it is to demonstrate the incredible strength and will to survive that needs to be recognised and respected.



Even though the country won freedom 30 years ago, those who fought in the war are still batling with poverty and hardship. Courtesy: ‘Tahader Juddho’

The underlying theme of Narir Kotha is 'the trauma and triumph of women in '71' . It begins with footage of women engaged in various activities of the Liberation War -- serving in hospitals, distributing clothes to victims. The theme song says

'No one talks about the role of women.'

Everyone sings the praises of men.

Didn't women folk contribute to the cause of Independence?'

The camera then focuses on renowned sculptor Ferdousi Priyabhashini who survived sexual abuse at the hands of the Pak Army and their collaborators in '71. As one of the first women to publicly speak of her ordeal she is movingly honest and comes out as a person who has gone though the worst nightmare but has managed to survive by channelising her pain into something creative.

In the interview she says that after independence of Bangladesh, she was faced with another ordeal as her society refused to accept her. "I became the target of terrible insult and humiliation....At one point I realised I don't need any human being in my life."

It was the very isolation that led Priyabhashini to take refuge in sculpture. Using objects normally unappreciated and unwanted (like roots and tree trunks) -- much like her own plight -she created sculptures.



Freedom has come at a high price. For Sufia it has meant being shot and losing her daughter Hamida who was eight months pregnant when she was killed in ‘71. Courtesy: ‘Muktir Kotha’

"As I became engrossed in my own work, I withdrew from friends and society," says Priyabhashini.

The next story the film narrates through the women survivors is about how 18 women of Kodalia village in Faridpur were massacred by the Pak Army on May 1971.


Rabeya, now a middle aged woman, recounts how the village people hid in a ditch in the jungle when they saw the Pak Army approaching. About 30 women were in the ditch. Along with them were their children. Among them was Chanu who was about 10 or 12 years old. "The Army surrounded us and the 10-12 year old boys like me...and took us away from our parents," says Chanu who had to witness the murder of his mother, aunts and cousins on that terrible day. The army caught the women and made them sit in front of a madrasa. They then started firing on their hapless victims. Sufia, now an old woman was present along with her daughter Hamida who was seven months pregnant at the time. "They set the machine guns and then brought water from the pond," recalls Sufia. "They said to us 'Do you Bangalis want to drink some water'?...I told myself I wouldn't drink water from the kafir's hand."


A few who were grazed by the bullets survived. Hamida, Sufia's pregnant daughter, however, didn't. "She asked her father for some water. After drinking the water, she died," says Sufia, tears overflowing her eyes. Sufia still bears the scar of a bullet in her stomach which had hit her during the massacre. One of her daughters had later pulled it out.

Chanu's mother too was among the casualties. "My mother was hit by six bullets, she had fallen over on her stomach." Among those still alive were Chanu's aunts, cousins and other relatives. They were still alive and begging for water. Little Chanu ran to his house only to find it burning. So he took a few coconut shells and filled them up with water from the pond. "Some of the women died while I was giving them water." The impact of seeing so many of his relatives dying in front of his eyes was too much for Chanu and he lost consciousness.

"I don't think they were Muslims. How could Muslims kill others this way? asks Rabeya relating how women alone in their houses were raped by the soldiers. After this incident, says Rabeya, the men of the village joined the resistance.

Smritirekha Biswas's story is next in the film. Smritirekha was only 12 in 1971 when the Pak Army burnt down her village forcing her and her family to join the millions of refugees in an excruciating 13-day journey to the border. Her family included her pregnant mother, her 80-year old grand mother and younger brother and sister. For 13 days Smritirekha carried her little brother Babu.

"The country got freedom," says Smritirckha "but we never got back what we lost. So how can I say we benefited from independence?....we still couldn't rebuild our house... The kind of communal harmony we had is no longer there."

The film then focuses on Adivasi women -- a group that played a very active role in the '71 struggle, women who have never been recognized for their courage. In a remote village in Rangpur, the film makers find a few Adivasi women toiling in the paddy fields. It is characteristic of this community for women to slog all day in the fields while their husbands fritter away their wives' earnings in alcohol and gambling. Mazlibala, an Adivasi woman, was a young woman who had been sexually abused by war collaborators.

She had just been married. One day some collaborators started following her. Mazlibala hid in a small bush. "They shouted at me, 'Don't move!'," says Mazlibala. "I was trembling with fear, I couldn't run any more. When I came home my father asked why I was crying. My father went to chase the collaborators with bow and arrow."

The next day her father sent her to her husband's house thinking she would be safe. But again she was attacked. Her husband's grandfather hid her under the bed and her sister-in-law under a mound of hay. "At that point I asked myself' "Oh God is there no one in this world for me," says Mazlibala, who is obviously still traumatised by the experience, "What did I do to deserve this?"

Although she does not explicitly say that she was raped, it is obvious from her emotional response that she was sexually abused. Later when Mazlibala took refuge at her relative's house they asked why she was crying all the time and whether the collaborators had dishonoured her. "Is physical dishonor all that matters?" demands Mazlibala, her face washed with new tears. "Haven't I lost my honour anyway?"

"Even to this day people ask me, 'Is it true something happened to you back then?'"

"But how can I talk about that? What's the point of talking? If I speak of it, it will only bring shame and dishonour to me."

At this point another incident is referred to -- that of how Adivasi (indigenous) men and women along with a few Bangalees attacked the Pak Army in a courageous fight against the enemy. In April 1971, a large number of Santals - men and women -- surrounded the Rangpur Cantonment. Armed with bows and arrows the Adivasies attacked the soldiers. Their hatred of the Cantonment was deep-rooted. Like Mazlibala, many other women had been sexually assaulted by the Pak soldiers and their collaborators. The proximity of the Cantonment to remote areas where many such Adviasi lived, helped to perpetuate these sex crimes.

"The men could not tolerate the Army's torture of their daughters," says Nataniel Lakra, an Adivasi man in the film, "Men, women, old and young we all jumped into the fight...with whatever weapons we could gather, even sticks." According to Lakra many of the Adivasi women fought with bows and arrows and killed some of the soldiers."

For women like Mazlibala, the fight goes on. "We participated in the Liberation struggle ...now we're struggling with our soil. Still our sorrow doesn't leave us...The struggle will never end...

There were many other women who actually took part in defending their land or their families when the Pak Army attacked. The film turns to Choto Paitkandi village where men and women together defended their village with bamboo spears and shields. A mute woman tries to describe how the army came and set fire to the village. She lost her speech after her husband was killed while fighting the Pak Army.

A village woman informs that the soldiers killed the men and raped the women. Another woman describes how her mother-in-law joined the fight with bricks and stones and was shot dead by the Army. "So many women died," she says. "Women tied grenades to their bodies and threw themselves on the road."

The whole village swooped on the soldiers and started beating them. The soldiers then jumped into a lake. But the village folk jumped in and killed them.

"It's not only men who fought in the war, women did too. My mother-in-law died in that fight, nobody talks about that."

The film ends with the same song that reverberates throughout:

Nine months of grief and pain

Does the father have the only claim of parentage?

Have we forgotten the sacrifice of millions of mothers and sisters?

Dramatic, without any contrivance, the stories in the film touch the heart. While one shares the grief of these women who have lost so much at the prime of their life, one cannot but feel inspired by their courage and capacity to survive.


Tahader Juddho contains a series of interviews where the subject of the film, the poor illiterate village women, describe their experiences of 1971. We learn from these women who, at tremendous risk to themselves and their families, surreptitiously delivered food to Muktijodhas, saved them from watchful razakers by hiding them in their own house, provided them with clothes, blankets etc, or smuggled arms from one place to another. But these heroic acts and zealous patriotism of these poor women have not been recorded in the history. Neither are they considered worth mentioning. With our patriarchal mindset we are more comfortable to think of women only as hapless war victims who at best can appeal to our sympathy but cannot command our respect.

Rokeya Begum was expecting a child when the war broke out. Her husband used to bring his fellow freedom fighters home whom Rokeya used to feed. This brought the wrath of the Razakars upon Rokeya. Following their threat Rokeya decided to take food to the nearby island where the freedom fighters had camped in. To make sure that she was not being followed by anyone Rokeya used to get out at night and reach the island on a boat steering all by herself. She also used to keep their weapons in the well of her house. Sometimes the Muktijodhas spent nights in her house and on those nights Rokeya kept vigil very often passing the whole night sleepless. "People talked a lot of things----I am a bad woman--------I go out alone at night----------- chat with the muktis-----feed them. But fortunately my husband always stood beside me", says Rokeya.

Farida Akhter of UBINIG, the feminist outfit who has worked to organize women freedom fighter has strong views on the nature of gender discrimination and war roles. She says of what women did in the war and how it contrasts with male warrior pereceptions. Citing an example, she said of a woman who had a little child, but taking food to the Muktijodhas occupied her attention more than looking after her baby. One day, when she returned home after feeding the fighters she found her child lying dead. A Pak army soldier hat stood on the baby with his boots on had killed the child. But she is not recognized for her role.

Shohagpur Kakurkandi in Sherpur district. On one monsoon day in a matter of just two hours almost all the men were killed by the Pakistani army and their collaborators. It is called the "widow's village" now.

Kohinoor Begum had to flee from one place to another with her newborn baby and a girl. One of her brothers went to the war while the other was too severely beaten up by the razakars that he couldn't go to the work. Besides her two children, Kohinoor also had three young sisters. Kohinoor had to look after her all of them, which she did. She married off all of her three sisters, raised her children and looked after her old bed-ridden mother who later became mentally imbalanced due to shock.

As the film progresses and we hear more and more stories of these valiant women who put everything at stake to win freedom for the country, we cannot help comparing the lives of these forgotten women with those of male freedom fighters, who have been recognized by the state and by their own communities as real heroes, as Bir Srestho, Bir Bikram etc. As the film ends the question, Chowdhury asks implicitly throughout the whole film also haunts us: Weren't these women as much Muktijodha as the men who fought the Pakistani army with guns?

But the most important role the women played besides taking active participation in the war and helping the Muktijodhas in various ways was as sustainers of families and households "And it's on standing on these households that society itself survived in 1971". says Afsan Chowdhury. For these women it was a war of existence, a fierce struggle to survive which did not end with the war. These remarkably courageous women have waged a tough struggle to keep the family going on, raised their children and passed on the spirit of fighting to them. Whether they find room in the pages of history or not, it is an undeniable truth that it was their sacrifice and strength that helped us to win our freedom. For these poor, ordinary village women who had to fight simultaneous enemies on personal social and national level, the fight goes on.

(Some information has been taken from ‘Muktijuddher Smriti’ published by Bangladesh Mahila Parishad.)

Source: The Daily Star

[pirate_of_da_caribbean]

intoxicated vai...ei rokom aaro korben...aamrao thakbo insallah....

SoB....another nice post

thanks

[intoXIcated]

pirate_of_da_caribbean:
intoxicated vai...ei rokom aaro korben...aamrao thakbo insallah...

ashole aamra organizer chilam na. somehow sheikhane involved hoye gesilam. er age aamra basically paray mohollay prg kortam.

[Son Of Bangla]

The hero of the liberation war

For over two decades Mujibur Rahman spearheaded the movement, first for autonomy and later for freedom for what is now Bangladesh.

KABIR CHOWDHURY

THE assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was masterminded by a small group of conspirators who were opposed to the values that underlay the Bangladesh liberation struggle, which Bangabandhu lived and fought for. They could not accept the notion of a sovereign Bangladesh that adhered to secular principles and was committed to building a just and equitable society.

Mujibur Rahman spearheaded the movement in East Pakistan, first for autonomy, and later for the freedom of Bengalis, for over two decades. He was repeatedly imprisoned by the autocratic regime of Field Marshal Ayub Khan of Pakistan; every attempt was made to crush his spirit, but his resolution was rock-like. His leadership of the mass upsurge of 1969-70 and the non-cooperation movement launched in early 1971 was unforgettable. His historic speech at a public meeting in Dhaka on March 7, 1971 - in which he asked Bengalis to turn every home into a fortress and fight the enemy with whatever they could lay their hands on, for the struggle this time was the struggle for independence - will remain an inexhaustible source of inspiration for Bengalis.

On the night of March 25, 1971 the Pakistani military junta unleashed on the unarmed people of Bangladesh violence on an unprecedented scale. Early on March 26, Mujibur Rahman proclaimed the independence of Bangladesh. He knew full well that his life was in serious jeopardy, but he refused to flee the country, although he advised his colleagues to do so and carry on the freedom struggle. Mujibur Rahman was arrested by the Pakistani Army that night and whisked away to a jail in West Pakistan. All through the nine-month-long liberation war, he was placed in solitary confinement there. From inside his cell, he could hear the sound of shovelling outside: his grave was being dug. But his spirit remained indomitable.


Mujibur Rahman addresses a rally in Dhaka on March 7, 1971. It was a historic rally, at which he announced a programme of non-cooperation with the Central Government, marking an intensification of the struggle for independence.

Recalling those terrible days, he said:

"They had my body in their possession. They could, in a moment of utter desperation, do anything with it. But I was confident that if they took my life, my people would carry on the liberation struggle.

"If I had to be a victim of their mad fury following the eventual victory of the Bengalis, I would have no regret. If I had more than one life and if I were required to give all of them for the fulfilment of my cherished dream called Bangladesh, I would gladly do so. They could kill me only once..."

World opinion and the domestic political imperatives of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto led to Mujibur Rahman's release after Bangladesh became a sovereign independent people's republic when the 93,000-strong Pakistan Army accepted defeat at the hands of the Allied Forces - the Mukti Bahini of Bangladesh and the fraternal Indian soldiers.

Bangabandhu came back to his motherland on January 10, 1972. He was given a hero's welcome. The country, however, was a shambles. After the Pakistan Army had gone on the rampage in late March and early April of 1971, cities looked as if they had been subjected to a nuclear attack, a team of inspectors from the World Bank observed. The war had claimed the lives of three million Bengalis.

Mujibur Rahman took up the task of reconstruction. Under his guidance, phenomenal progress was made in several areas. He gave the country a modern, progressive Constitution barely nine months after Bangladesh was born, and the first general elections within a year and a half. (Pakistan was born in 1947, but its leaders took nine years to draw up the country's Constitution; the first general elections were held 23 years later.) At Bangabandhu's request, the Indian Army, which had fought side by side with the freedom fighters, promptly left the country.

But the enemies of the liberation war, the forces of reaction and counter-revolution and the communal and fundamentalist elements of the country went on with their relentless plotting until they succeeded in assassinating Bangabandhu. And then Bangladesh began its journey backward. From August 1975 until June 1996, a systematic campaign was carried out by successive reactionary regimes to tarnish the image of the Father of the Nation and to block all attempts to put his killers on trial. History was shamelessly distorted. Secularism and socialism, two cardinal values which inspired freedom fighters during the war of liberation and which were incorporated in the Bangladesh Constitution of 1972, were abandoned.


However, in June 1996 a Government which believed in the ideals cherished by Bangabandhu came to power. Headed by his daughter Sheikh Hasina, the Government is trying to undo the evils perpetrated during the past 21 years and usher Bangladesh into the new millennium as a democratic, progressive, economically self-sufficient country. The Government of Sheikh Hasina is looking to build a civil society and, naturally, the establishment of the rule of law is one of its priorities.

Soon after assuming power, the new democratic Government initiated various measures to establish the rule of law. On November 12, 1996 the infamous Indemnity Ordinance was repealed by Parliament; this paved the way for the trial of the assassins. Despite attempts by the conspirators to thwart the process by various means and demands to set up a special tribunal to try the case so that no time would be wasted, the Government stuck to its decision to have the case heard in an open court under the existing laws after given the accused who had absconded a chance to be heard. It made it clear to the people of Bangladesh and to the world that the trial was no act of revenge. In contrast, the regimes of Gen. Ziaur Rahman and Gen. H.M. Ershad had hurriedly framed charges against a large number of Army officers who had taken part in the liberation war; after in-camera trials in military courts in different cantonments of the country, the accused were executed in the darkness of the night.

Now the way is clear for other trials. On November 3, 1975, four national leaders of Bangladesh, all close associates of Bangabandhu, were murdered inside the Dhaka Central Jail. The trial proceedings in that case will start soon. One hopes that the assassinations of some others - Gen. Ziaur Rahman, Col. Abu Taher, Gen. Manzoor - will be investigated at an early date and that justice will be done in all these cases.

Source:http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl1524/15240150.htm

[intoXIcated]

At last aami kono kisu Upload korte parsi

Joan Baez - Song of Bangladesh (http://www.megaupload.com/?d=K5DT3V01)

[DeV|L]

Thx a lot! :) @ intoxicated vai

Ei assassination of sheikh muzib is a controversial topic though! @ SoB vai

[pirate_of_da_caribbean]

intoxicated vai thanks a lot...keep posting...SoB nice post once again

[Son Of Bangla]

watch History of Bangladesh liberation war Video

http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=-3657849156911580542

Posted after 2 minutes 57 seconds:

Bangabandhu er upor ekta video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pYFNUzhk1w&eurl=

thx to another forum for these links

[pirate_of_da_caribbean]

Thanks SoB...for another amazing post...

[Son Of Bangla]

The war Swadhin Bangla Betar waged... and won

The Bengali armed struggle for freedom began with the rebellion put up by Shwadhin Bangla Betar in March 1971. Call it resistance to the Pakistani occupation, call it a war to throw the enemy out of our land, the truth is that everything commenced with the revolutionary broadcasts that began to make their way out of Kalurghat in the early afternoon of 26 March 1971. It had by then become obvious that Dhaka had gone under a relentless pounding by the Pakistani army, the consequences of which had been horrendous. Academics, teachers and other categories of citizens had already died in their thousands, having become the furious target of the army. Bangabandhu had been taken away and there were hardly any reports on the whereabouts of all the other political figures who had till recently been engaged in negotiations over a peaceful end to the crisis. To its everlasting shame, the Pakistani junta had carefully stayed away from making any further contact with Mujib and his colleagues after 24 March. A little after dusk set in on 25 March, General Yahya Khan sneaked out of Dhaka, after having given Tikka Khan the go-ahead for Operation Searchlight, the massive military assault designed to break the back of Bengali nationalism. As the fires raged all over the city, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto watched from the safety of his suite in the Intercontinental Hotel. The next day he was flown off to West Pakistan, where he proclaimed with evident relief, ‘Thank God, Pakistan has been saved’.
It was a misplaced expression of sentiment. Pakistan was badly wounded and dying. On 26 March, in Chittagong, Belal Mohammad and a very dedicated band of Bengali radio officials were taking the first steps towards ensuring that Pakistan would not be saved, that Bengalis would mount a resistance as soon as they were able to withstand the on-going assault of the army. Belal Mohammad and his colleagues made frantic contacts with local Awami League leaders in Chittagong, given especially the sketchy reports of Bangabandhu having made a formal declaration of independence moments before his arrest by the army. It was M A Hannan, the respected Awami League politician, who provided the necessary justification for Radio Free Bengal, as it was called in Bengali, to carry the struggle onward. Arriving at the radio station, Hannan read out what has since come to be known as a message of freedom from Bangabandhu. There were the initial irritants, however, particularly when Hannan thought he should announce his own name even as he read out the declaration of independence from the undisputed leader of the Bengali nation. In the end, Belal Mohammad persuaded him to stick to Bangabandhu and the message. It was by now twilight on 26 March and Belal Mohammad and his colleagues were a long way from home. Besides, a certain element of fear gripped them, clearly because of the possibility that their radio station could soon become a target of the military. In the event, the Pakistani air force did strafe the station, forcing it to relocate. But that came later.
On the morning of 27 March, a young Bengali major in the Pakistan army, Ziaur Rahman, was roped in by Belal Mohammad and brought to the Biplabi Shwadhin Bangla Betar Kendro (for that was how the radio station was known at that point). It was clearly felt that an announcement by a military officer would add flesh to the bones of the Bengali struggle. In the event, Zia made two announcements. The first one, wherein he proclaimed himself the president of a provisional government of Bangladesh, was quickly jettisoned on the strength of the feeling that it looked too much like a mutiny by a rebellious officer in the Pakistan army. Besides, such a declaration, one that took no account of the political issues prevalent at the time, would be ignored by the global community. That led to the second announcement. Zia now declared the independence of Bangladesh on behalf of ‘our great leader and supreme commander Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’ and appealed to the international community to accord recognition to the new state. The state, meanwhile, was desperately trying to ward off the blows Pakistan was hurling at it.
The rebel radio station at Chittagong was soon forced to move as the army began to assert its control over greater swathes of territory. It was not before May that Shwadhin Bangla Betar took actual concrete shape and truly began to play its assigned role in Bangladesh’s history. By then a whole class of Bengali civil servants and intellectuals had made their way to the neighbouring Indian states of West Bengal and Tripura. The provisional government of Bangladesh, established through a formal declaration at Meherpur, Chuadanga, by Tajuddin Ahmed, had begun functioning through mapping out a strategy for guerrilla war. At Shwadhin Bangla Betar, men such as Jamil Chowdhury, Waheedul Haq, Dr T Hossain, Belal Mohammad, Dr Habibur Rahman and a host of others planned strategy for a war of liberation through the waves, as it were. Regular English and Bengali news bulletins were scheduled and even an Urdu programme targeting Pakistani soldiers and other non-Bengalis in occupied Bangladesh, went on air. As the days went on, the radio station developed an increasingly spirited propaganda campaign through news reports from the battle zones and comments on the struggle in the international media. For its signature tune, Shwadhin Bangla Betar adopted the song Joy Bangla Banglar Joy, which was a demonstration of the militant nature of the war of liberation.
In the very best of times, Shwadhin Bangla Betar did not go beyond an hour in disseminating its contents to people in the occupied parts of the country. But that limited time span proved to be just what the country needed to have its faith in the war reinforced at every turn. All the programmes came in focused, determined packages. In Jollader Dorbar, the actor Raju Ahmed proved to be at his best in presenting Yahya Khan at his bloodthirsty worst. Jollader Dorbar was conceived along the format, more or less, of the jatra form of drama. Till the end of the struggle, it kept public interest in the prosecution of the war alive and kicking. A regular feature of Shwadhin Bangla Betar programmes was the brief Bojro Kontho, which was essentially the concluding lines from Bangabandhu’s oration of 7 March 1971 at the Dhaka race course: ‘Ebarer shongram amader muktir shongram / ebarer shongram shadhinotar shongram / Joy Bangla’. Such programmes were then buttressed by the highly acclaimed Charampatra, an energetic monologue dripping with humour at the narration of the plight of an increasingly beleaguered Pakistan army in Bangladesh. M.R. Akhtar Mukul, the writer and presenter of the series, carefully chose the local dialect of Old Dhaka to pass on his messages to the country. Throughout the war, such terms as Chhokku Mia, bashonti rong, ek gada peek phalaiya, Dha-in! ki oilo ki oilo, Larkanar nawabjada pyare Julfikar Ali Bhutto, Yahyar ek gelasher dosto, et cetera, only reinforced the power of Charampatra to add the needed light touches to an otherwise desperate struggle for liberation. Charampatra lasted as long as the war went on. No media programme since liberation has been able to beat it in terms of content, language, delivery and profusion of humour.
An extremely significant content of Shwadhin Bangla Betar programmes was the repertoire of wartime music it presented to its listeners on a regular basis. In a very large way, Bengali music underwent a radical new change, and refreshingly too, through the songs that were constantly being composed and sung by artistes who had made their way into exile to be part of the struggle for freedom. Abdul Jabbar’s Salam Salam Hajar Salam, Sharhe Shaat Koti Manusher Aaj Ekti Naam and Mujib Baiya Jao Re injected fiery enthusiasm into the popular urge for independence. Apel Mahmood remains famous for Ekti Phool Ke Banchabo Bole Juddho Kori and Teer Hara Ei Dheu-er Shagor Parhi Debo Re. Songs such as Rothindronath Roy’s Amari Desh Shob Manusher and Subol Das’ Purbo Digonte Shurjo Uthechhe, along with the Tagore numbers O Amar Desher Mati and Aji Bangladesher Hridoy Hote and Nazrul’s Chal Chal Chal and Karar Oi Louho Kopat only added to the furious pace of the armed struggle for freedom. The Mujib persona was what came alive through Shono Ekti Mujiborer Theke.
There were the innumerable personalities who dedicated themselves wholeheartedly to the national cause at Shwadhin Bangla Betar. Ramendu Majumdar, Aly Zaker, Babul Akhtar, Parveen Hossain and Abu Yusuf are a few of the individuals whose voices were heard in the hamlets and villages of Bangladesh in the nine long months when predators come from Pakistan burnt and pillaged and raped and murdered, until the arrival of a winter afternoon when they were shamed into defeat. It was then time for Shwadhin Bangla Betar to come home. No homecoming could be more poignant than the one that came wrapped in the poetry of the Abdul Jabbar song, Hajar Bochhor Pore Abar Eshechhi Phire Banglar Booke Achhi Danrhiye...

[Son Of Bangla]

Tales of the tortured


Many women who participated actively in the 1971 war were arrested and kept in camps experiencing inhuman conditions. Rape, torture and in many cases death was common in those camps. We tell the stories of two women participants who were subjected extreme nature of abuse and brutality. To protect the privacy of these women, we have changed their identities.

Adila Begum

When the Pakistan army cracked down in Dhaka we were angry but not scared. We belonged to a family of politicians and our eldest brother was a Chhatra League leader in the Comilla city. He came home a few nights after that and told our family to prepare to fight in the resistance army. He said that the army had already moved close along the Gumti river. There were 19 of us from the same bari and we began to train to fight alongside our brothers. The first fight took place in Burichong thana and we suffered heavy casualties. Our weapons were not good enough to fight the Pakistan army guns. Some of us were cut off from the main group and we ran to hide through the swampy area. We found some derelict huts that night and stayed in them. Three days later we skirted the area and tried to return home but found that the army had attacked our home. I later learned that my brother and two of my cousins were killed. I finally made it after almost a month moving from place to place with my younger brother and cousin along with some other refugees. Till the middle of April, life was relatively simple, but things got worse when the local leaders began to talk about raising "village defenders." Actually the idea was not bad because the defenders -- who were later called razakars -- were local people and we knew them all. They were the poor villagers who had no work so this new job made them better off. They didn't bother us, but once the Pakistan army declared prizes for catching Muktis, these razakars became greedy and started to demand money from us, threatening to tell the Pakistan army if we did not pay.

After a month we became so scared that my father sent my sister and me to Comilla town. We were going towards a relative's house when the army began to stop all rickshaws and check them. Suddenly two men were running through the street and the army fired at them. Both were hit. We became so scared that we also started to run and there was complete chaos. I fell down and hit my head. When I regained my senses, I realised I was being slapped by a Khansena. They dragged me and two others into a truck and we were taken to the military camp. From the very first day they thought I was also a freedom fighter and beat me up. I don't know why they didn't kill me because they did everything else. There were several girls like me in the camp and we were regularly tortured. Then they thought that it was much better to let me cook and clean. I became their servant. They wouldn't let me wash or clean myself and I smelt foul. I cooked -- lal kumra and lau and bhat -- for other Bengalis. They ate chapati and I made tons of them. Even now, years later, I can't make chapatis, and seeing them makes me sick.

One day an officer came and without saying anything started to beat me up. Maybe being raped would have been better because hours later when I regained consciousness, I had found that I had lost so many of my teeth and my forehead was bleeding. The scars are still there. I later learnt his best friend had been killed in a fight. Next day I was dragged out and made to clean ditches and then prepare chapatis. I taught myself one thing -- that was not to think of my family or what would happen the next day. If I did I would have gone mad. So slowly the faces faded from memory. I think it helped me survive.


When winter came, a Pakistani soldier told me that war was imminent. He also said that they would be gone soon and I would be free. The he did something strange. He searched me including my private parts looking for hidden gold. He must have been mad to think I still had gold with me after all this time.

But war did come and one day we heard them leave. Before they left they killed a few prisoners, but expecting this some of us hid outside. It was almost a full day before the Indians came, but we were so scared and stupid we didn't go out. Even the Indians didn't know we were there, a few of us. They freed us and gave us food. I first took a bath, cleaned my body properly of blood and dirt, and went home. The nightmare of being a woman in a camp has imprisoned me ever since then.


Hanufa Khatun

We knew the Pakistan army would attack ordinary people. When the army crossed the river and slowly began to take over the towns, resistance began to give away and the partisans began to retreat. We were caught in a vicious circle. If we crossed the border, the Indian army might kill us for being Leftists, and if we stayed back the Pakistanis could kill us. But after a fight with the Pakistanis that we lost we
retreated into the remote areas and hills. There we tended the wounded including my husband who had taken a bullet in his arm. When several others also became very ill and no medical help was found, I with another woman decided to go to the city to find a doctor. Just as we were entering the city, we were recognised by a group of collaborators who hated us for being women activists and grabbed us. My friend managed to run but they caught my sari and I couldn't escape. Yet I was caught because these people hated my husband and his family. I was not political myself and I think I was caught because they couldn't get my husband. I had returned only to help heal my husband but they said I had fought in the resistance war.
The gang members, all of whom belonged to the Islamic parties, first raped me and then left me tied up. I thought I was going to die, but I didn't. It was so strange to feel that way, as if my body belonged to someone else, as if another person had been raped. I didn't feel a thing that day. It was next day that it began to hurt all over. Such pain that I screamed like a butchered animal and my captors came and beat be some more. I bled again and blanked out. After two days, I was taken to a Pakistan army camp. My captors told the army that I had fought against them, but I was bleeding and I fell to the ground and fainted. I think the Pakistani officers didn't believe them and I was later surprised to find one of them beaten up too. I got my first meal -- some bread and water -- after that I realised that I was a prisoner.

I was made to do a lot of menial work, but nobody questioned me. I saw many local boys in the camp including some that had fought in the resistance. Sometimes in the evening, shots were fired. They said we were being killed.

One of the women in the camp was the wife of a college teacher who had been killed and knew me. Her husband was a teacher of Islamic studies. She herself could speak Arabic and Urdu. The Pakistanis soon found that out and used her to talk to the prisoners to find out if India was helping us or not. One day she read the Quran to them and after that there was an argument about whether it was right to keep her inside. Finally they decided to let her go and she said that she wouldn't leave without me. These soldiers didn't know anything about my husband's politics and the captors had been discredited so her words helped me. I was released.

When I reached home I found that my husband had died soon after my capture and so I left with my brother-in-law for India. We stayed as refugees and then through the party channel reached Kolkata. When I returned in January, my brother-in-law got into trouble again, and our family had to flee once more.

[cYcLone]

Historic March 7 today

Today is the historic March 7.
'Ebarer Sangram Amader Muktir Sangram, Ebarer Sangram Swadhinatar Sangram' (this struggle is for our freedom, this struggle is for independence), declared Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in a voice that resonated throughout the country from the Suhrawardy Udyan (the then Race Course Maidan) on this day in 1971.

Like a magic spell, it inspired thousands of Bangalees who gathered there and beyond, to brace themselves for the ultimate struggle to snatch freedom from the Pakistan junta.

I salute Bangladesh and am proud to be a Bangali.

[Son Of Bangla]

always

[ocean]

march........... amader shadhinotar mash........... 7 march er bhashon, 25 march er kaloratri......... 26 er shadhinotar ghoshona............

[Son Of Bangla]

Piest helps keep war memories alive
Moon Moon Sultana

"He is no longer an Italian today, but a Bangladeshi who came here during the 50s as a priest. He also played a great role in the Liberation War in 1971," said Dr Sarwar Ali, one of the trustees of the Liberation War Museum, introducing Father Marino Rigon .

http://www.thedailystar.net/2006/11/29/2006-11-29__back03.jpg
Marino Rigon was the Father of a Catholic Church at Baniarchak, Faridpur during the Liberation War in 1971. He served the freedom fighters by founding a hospital at the area. He also organised the villagers to resist the attacks of Pakistani Militants.


The Liberation War Museum organised a 'Memento Receiving Ceremony' on its premises yesterday as a part of its memento receiving programme which aims to gather war related memorabilia.


In his welcome speech, Sarwar Ali, also the member secretary of the Museum, said over 14 thousands mementos of the War have been collected in the museum. These include photography, essential daily items used by the freedom fighters, weapons and skeletons.


"Most of the mementos have been contributed by Father Rigon," he added.


Father Rigon yesterday donated a photo of the freedom fighters at Baniarchak snapped by him in 1971, his own diary written in 1971 and several other items.


Also at the ceremony was freedom fighter Major Shamsul Haque who donated a photograph of the freedom fighters at Sector Number-3 in Rangpur. He was joined by Shantilata Mallik, an Indian social worker at a refugee camp in Chhabbish Pargana, Bangaon in 1971 who donated a photograph of herself receiving an appointment letter to work as a social worker from the government of Bangladesh.


Air Vice Marshal (retd.) AK Khandaker, deputy commander-in-chief of the Liberation War received the mementos on behalf of the Museum.


Recalling his experiences of the War, Father Rigon said he is still carrying the horrible memories of the brutality of the Pakistani occupation forces in 1971.


He urged all to follow the path of the freedom fighters and uphold the victory of the Liberation War.

Later Father Rigon unwrapped the cover of an anthology titled, 'Father Rigon: Nivrito Kolahol' written by a selection of the country's leading authors' about Father Rigon and edited by Kabyo Kamrul.

Source :Daily Star

[ocean]

ei lok er kotha age kokhono pori nai to.............

thanx 4 the post @ SoB

[pirate_of_da_caribbean]

Dekhben 25 a march? Dekhben Operation Searchlight ki korse?

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[Son Of Bangla]

thx pirate

paki kuttar bachchader shasti hoilo na

[pirate_of_da_caribbean]

mohiuddin re naki deshe ferot anbe...eigular shasti age howa uchit....

ei khane niche theke count kore uporer dike gele pic number 9 ta amar khub fav ekta pic....look at the girl at dat pic....sumhow it brings tears.......

[ocean]

thanx a lot @ pirate............

bujhi na ora eigula korlo kemne.. ..............
pic gula dekhle asholei mon khub kharap hoye jay...........

[Son Of Bangla]

http://www.kothon.org/kill26.jpg

Been walking all morning
went walking all night
I can't see much difference
between the dark and light
And I feel the wind
And I taste the rain
Never in my mind

Greatful Dead


http://www.kothon.org/kill29.jpg

... and how many times can a man turn his head
And pretend that he just doesn’t see.
... ....
... and how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry.
... and how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died.

Bob Dylan

http://www.kothon.org/women.jpg
...... we were told to kill the hindus and Kafirs
( non-believer in God). One day in June, we cordoned a village and were ordered to kill the Kafirs in that area. We found all the village women reciting from the Holy Quran, and the men holding special congregational prayers seeking God’s mercy. But they were unlucky. Our commanding officer ordered us not to waste any time.

Confession
of a Pakistani Soldier

http://www.kothon.org/kill16.jpg
Tomrrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time
and all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!


William Shakespeare


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The blood of the clildren ran in the street
like the blood of children

Pablo Neruda

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What good am I if I know and don't do
If I see and don't say, if I look right through you
If I turn a deaf ear to the thunder in the sky
What good am I?

Bob Dylan

photo source: kothon.org

[chan_biz]

sob sohid der ajker ai mohan din a ami srodda janai....asolei chinta korle khub kharap lage....thanks potc n sob bhai for this picz...age rajakar gula k shikkha dea uchit...ar sob pakistani supporter k dekhano uchit pakistani gula ki korsilo amader desher manusher sathe....no offence..

[ocean]

ato kisur por'o mukti jodhhara shadhin korte parse ei desh.............

r amra tader eituk shomman o dekhaite pari na........

jara mara gesen tara tobuo kichuta shomman pan, kintu jara akhono beche asen.......... olpo koekjon bade tader kono khobor'o nai.........

akta example dei :

daily janakantha te porlam akjon muktijodhhar kotha..... 71 e uni pakistani shoinno r al bodor marsen, nijeo guli khaisen.......... akhon akta market er guard..... bari bhara na dite pere bosti te uthsen........... shadhinota diboshe naki onnoder moto takeo 1 bela khaway 100 takar prizebond diye 'shomman' janano hoy........

hayre Bangali.............

[ocean]

ei related news: ajker paper e porlam oi news ta pore akjon onake (btw, onar sobhan) japan e niye jaite chaisen........ apatoto dhk te niye ashchen............

[pirate_of_da_caribbean]

yap....ekdom family shoho......aro koto jon je eirokom koste ase,,,,,,tader satheo eirokom hoile joss hoi

[pirate_of_da_caribbean]

We are probably the most idiosyncratic generation of blemished and spoiled bunch of brats Bangladesh has ever seen. Okay, maybe that's saying a bit too much, but at least a large portion of us are. Why? Let me share with you a very rare, unique and extreme case of absurdity. We were celebrating Victory Day in school and our performance included a scene from Ekattorer Dinguli by Jahanara Imam. After the performance when I came down to the audience, I heard one kid in Class 7 asking another kid, “Ajke ki hoisilo re? (What had happened today?)” If I can, through writing, make you understand the fury those words generated in my mind, I would consider myself the greatest writer in the world, which I am unfortunately not. Anyways, I hope this answers your question.

I find the necrotic attitude of a large portion of students of the ‘new generation' towards knowing about our Liberation War history not only shocking, but amazing. It's almost like they are a dead set- that no matter what happens, they will not learn about the history of Bangladesh. Apparently, they like to be updated about 'cool' stuff, like Lady Marmalade dancing almost nude on stage and the exact number of seconds when Johnny Depp had winked in Dead Man's Chest. Unfortunately, knowing about your own country, about why you get to call yourself a Bangladeshi now, has less priority and is not worth knowing.

I cannot possibly remember how many had accounted 16th December to be our Independence Day and had managed to stir up chaos and potent volcanic eruptions in my otherwise sane mind. Sadly enough, even 'smart and educated' growing Bangladeshis who know a lot about the Great War, World War II, French Revolution and etc know almost nothing about our Liberation War and make such mistakes. For those idiots who are still wondering, 16th December is our Victory Day; 26th March is our Independence Day.

The Liberation War General Facts Survey
Story being told, we decided to conduct a multiple choice questions (MCQ) survey across Dhaka, as much as possible, with basic general knowledge questions regarding Bangladesh's liberation for ranging Class groups of 7-10 and 11-12. Shortened survey questions and their correct answers are reproduced below. Try them out yourself and see how many of them you know… considering the country's current situation, I'll tell you the hawkers' secret market place if you can get all of them right!

Questions:
(1) In which year did the Pakistani Forces open fire on the Language Movement protestors on 21st February?
(2) Where did the killings take place?
(3) Which monument was constructed to honor the victims of the Language Movement?
(4) Who and when was 21st February declared as the International Mother Language Day?
(5) Who was the Pakistani president during the time of the war?
(6) On the afternoon of 7th March, 1971, where did Sheikh Mujibur Rahman deliver his famous speech?
(7) On the night of 25th March, the Pakistani soldiers head out to eliminate the Bangladeshi resistance. What was the operation named?
(8) Approximately 7000 people were killed in the single night and a Hindu Dormitory of Dhaka University was destroyed? What is the name of the Hall?
(9) On 26 March, Bangladesh was declared as Independent from Kalurghat Radio Station. What was the Radio Station called?
(10) What is the significance of 16th December?
(11) Where did the Pakistani Army surrender, in written, to the Allied Forces?
(12) How long did the Liberation War last?
(13) Where was the original flag of Bangladesh first raised?
(14)

Answers:
(1) 1952 (2) Near Dhaka Medical College (3) Shaheed Minar (4) UNESCO, 1999 (5) Yahya Khan (6) Race Court Moidan (7) Operation Searchlight (8) Jagannath Hall (9) Shadhin Bangla Betar Kendro (10) Victory Day (11) Suharwardy Udyan (12) 9 months (13) Dhaka University (14) Savar

The Survey Results
As one can easily see, the survey was balanced between some extremely easy and intermediate level questions. To keep the survey valid, diverse and unbiased, it was conducted on students from various institutions all over Dhaka including Academia, Adroit International, Aga Khan, Dhaka Residential Model College, Dhanmondi Tutorial, European Standard School (ESS), Green Herald, Mastermind, Monipur School, Notre Dame College, Oxford International School, Rajuk, Scholastica, School of Development Alternative (SODA), Sunbeams, Sunnydale, South Breeze, Viquarunnesa and those applying for their board exams in Private. The Results of the Survey were more shocking than expected; they are given in the table below, and you can judge them yourself.

I found a comment by one of the surveyors pretty amusing, “I was shocked to see how little students today know about 1971. Some were reluctant to fill the questionnaire up, in fear that their bad performances may affect their school's reputation.” Well, they were right in some sense. The results above do clearly reflect their fear, and impedes the reputation of Bangladesh as a whole. Come on, if in total 21.5%, that is 65 people out of 300 cannot say that 16th December is our Victory Day, it is a matter of shame. The only reason I am so bent on this question is because it is really disappointing as to where our generations are leading. On average 38.9% of each question in the survey was answered wrong. Please look at each question and compare whether you got it right and the percentage of it answered wrong. The results are certainly very disturbing. Just think how pathetic we are!

The questionnaire being of MCQ format, each of the questions had four answers to choose the correct one from, and thus each question has a 25% chance of being right by guess. This apparently really boosted the results as commented by a surveyor, “I myself am discovering a considerable amount about how much the young generation of Bangladesh know, and their 'Guessing Powers'!” Without a doubt, if the survey was not MCQ, the results would be much more disastrous than it already is.

What I also find really depressing is that no school has any specific courses or has taken any major steps in teaching the history of our liberation war to students. In most cases the Bengali Department is the only dept. that seems to be a little bit interested in actually teaching our culture, heritage and history. All that most of the schools and teachers are concerned about is making the students pass the courses and securing “A” in the board exams.

I personally have learned more about our liberation war and history after coming to the US. We were studying genocidal incidents in history and we studied Bangladesh as a case, where we had to study about the entire war including many minute details. It is simply sad to think that foreign institutions study about our war whereas we go and crunch on counting the number of “As” we have earned. I am not saying getting As is bad. It is obviously necessary and very much appreciated, but at the same time we should not neglect studying about our own history, which has higher priority in many ways.

We also have “Bangladesh Studies” as a course in the O Levels, but it is not even offered as a subject in most of our English medium schools. Chittagong Grammar School has, in the recent years, made the course compulsory for all O' Level students, which I believe is a great step, and should be done in all other schools. The Bangladesh Studies course curriculum not only covers material from the Pre-Mughal period to the formation of Bangladesh, including details about the war, but also geographical and cultural heritages and the influences of major figures of Bangladesh. In many US schools, US history is taught for three years and world history is taught for just one. Okay, I guess this variation is not properly balanced and is not right, but at least they are learning. We on the other hand study chapters after chapters on history of the world, but just study a single chapter which is even indirectly related to our war in the renowned “Amar Boi” book in class 7 or 8, and that is the end. This has to be properly balanced.

The most primary and important source for anyone's education is their parents. Most of our parents and grandparents have been there during the time of war and should teach and talk to their children about it. We are the ones who should also be interested in knowing. It will be a huge shame if we do not grasp this opportunity that we have, which future generations will not. Bug your parents to talk to you about those hard times. Know their personal experiences and by no doubt, you will be benefited in a lot of ways.

I know the mindset of people cannot be changed with just an article and a survey. However I urge all of you to please know about your own country's history. If you don't know much about it, ask your parents about it or access Google and Wikipedia and learn about the war. As an ending note, I request all schools and institutions to at least take some steps towards solving this future national identity crisis. The least we can do to respect the martyrs of our war, who created Bangladesh, is to know about them and the history; let us please not deprive ourselves from doing even so.
http://www.thedailystar.net/rising/2007/03/04/rs03.jpg
Doing and getting the survey together was the hardest job and has been possible thanks to Abdur Rahman, Ahsan Sajid, Anika Tabassum, Faria Sanjana, Hitoishi Chakma, Iftikhar Azam, Manat Afsana Hamid, Ashfaque Kabir, Nayeema Reza, Osama Rahman, Reesana Sifat Siraj, S. S. Emil, Shehtaz Huq, Shuprova Tasneem, Wajed-Al-Rahman and Waqar Ahmed who conducted the survey, and to all those who participated!

By Adnan M. S. Fakhir

Collected from The Daily Star

[intoXIcated]

all of these are nothing but some statistics today. I am not a pessimistic but telling the real scenario.

tao bhalo j yet there are some people left who still talks and share their knowledge regarding the history, the freedom, the liberation war, and the most importantly ........ still there are some anti-pakistani persons left in Bangladesh. ajkal jei dike-e takai, shob khane-e khali shuni Pakishtan jindabad. Cricket dekho, Pakistan jindabad, Afridir chehara shundor, Marry me, Pakistan jindabad.

[cYcLone]

into yes ur right. chotobelai khub pak support kortam! cricket a. boro hoye gyan howar por theke r korina....jotodin life thakbe totodin r korbo na

[blue&birdy]

desh k valobashi.sarata jibon basbo

[intoXIcated]

eshke bhalo beshe ki hobe ? aamader bap-dada ra desh k bhalobeshe kisu ekta kore jete parse, aamader jonno ekta shadhin seal mara platform rekhe jete parse. aamra bhalobeshe ki kortesi ? ei ta k bola jay " noshto hocche bhalobeshe bhalobasha"

[Son Of Bangla]

shabash meye @ cyclone


r pirate ei statistics khub ekta onakankhito na. beshir bhag school e to eng medium. oder kas theke r ki asha korbo, ora to robon hood er kahini pore, motiur rahman k kemne chinbe.
khali NDC r VNC er chele meye ra jodi ei shobgula na hoileo atleast 80% ques er ans na korte pare tobe oder chabkano uchit dhore dhore. ekhaneo kotha ase, ami amar boite je itihash porsilam amar ek bosorer choto bon tar ulta itihash porse. Ami class 6 e ja porsilam class 7 e tar ulta porsi. shadhinotar ghoshok k tai niyei to confused thakbo unless school er bairer boi pori

r eto statistics bairer desher polapain o jane na. ami australia ashar pore 10-12 jon k jiggesh korsilam australia day ta ki ? ei dine ki hoisilo, dukhkher bishoi keu amare clearly bolte pare nai.

[cYcLone]

atota bochor amar ma baap dekhse desher shorbonash! akhon caretaker govt eshe jodi amader atotukuo ashar alo dekhaite pare shetai amader jonno onek!

[pipra]

Nice to read this section of the forum. Desh ke valo bashte hobe ... baap-dada ra desh ke valobeshe amader BANGLADESH dise... bola jay amader ekta ghor dise, ekhon sundor kore sajano-guchanor duty amader.

[cYcLone]

35 yrs por ajke amra ektu ashar alo dekhte paitesi! ami bhabi ei desh tare niye ki korse atota bochor! taka khaite khaite akhon manush gorib hote chai! rastar moddhe gari takar bosta felai diye jai! r ki dekhbo ei deshe!!

[intoXIcated]

baccha kaccha polapain er shathe ashole ei shob topic niya kotha koiya kono moja nai.

listen cYcLone: gorib hote chay jinish ta kichu na, think like this or use language like this j ek jon manusher ki porimar taka thakle bosta bhorti taka r koti taka dam er gari rastay falay diya ashte gaye lage na. you and some other people talk and comment just like immatured in this thread which really you are.

r about ashar aalo ? aami kono ashar alo dekhte pacchi na, 2/4 ta re arrest korar moddhe ashar aalo dekha jay na. this is ur illusion. our illution. ultimately what USA or the donator's or the other unions want........ that will happen someday. this is practical. we are on a big gas bomb, they conquired oil, now they are after gas.

ekhon aamra Fakhruddin and gong er karnama dekhe pulokito hoi. keno hoi ? karon boro boro leader der bibhinno jinish potro ber hoye asha shuru hoise. that's very nice. but see........ M. Noor Ali ......... Sheikh Hasinar against-a case korse chada bajir. Sheikh Hasina naki Party-r jonno chadar binimoye Noor Ali k tender jatiyo bibhinno shujog shubidha dise. ekhon kotha hocche BNP in power and aami shujog shubidhar jonno AL te keno chanda dibo ? aamar to BNP ke-e chanda deya uchit chilo, tai noy ki ? Noor Ali gave money to AL because he himself is a man in AL. so aamar taka aami aamar party k disi, but ekhon shei jinish ta-e hocche case. Noor Ali one of the top 10 rich man in BD, he has some ei dik sheidik with income and income tax, so take bibhinno bhabe bhacte hobe, so he did a favour to Caretaker Govt. aami AL kori, aami AL theke nomination chai, aami AL re tai chanda dei, its so simple, ei ta emon na j corruption, ei ta emon na j public er taka. ei ta emon na j kono shorkari kormokorta k ghush diye onner jinish aami niye nilam, aami NSUCC k donate korte pari, aamar ichcha. NSU is a private UNI, it has its own authority, if the authority allows, i can donate and get admitted. but if it is public University, then it is an illegal thing. like this, I run my political Party, I am the boss here, I can do whatever I want inside my party. but if my party is in power and i misuses it, then its illegal, unethical. Noor Ali gave chanda to the party, not a brive to the government and did not take advantages like Tenders. He just wanted Nomination. ekhon kake aami nomination dibo na dibo its my party decesion, er jonno aamake karu kase jobabdihita korar kotha na. aamar jodi Noor Ali k posondo na hoy, tahole aami take vote dibo na. Noor Alir Maximum taka ashe tar manpower er business theke and tar ei business legal, jei taka chanda dey, very little to him. ei tar jonno tar case korar kotha na jeta shey nijer ichchay dey. believe me, I know him personally for a very long time, he is a very close person to Sheikh Hasina and AL. shey taile keno case korse ? nishchoi er pochine-o kono karon ase. tobe jai houk, Noor Ali manush ta khub-e kharap ekta manush.

jeta boltesilam, ei dhoroner kahini ekhon hocche, nana bhabe jake jake target kora hocche ei bhabe kono na kono clue theke atkaiya deya hocche. r aamra hat-tali dicchi.

dhorle dhoro Nasim re, khomotay thakar shomoy koti koti taka ei dik sheidik korse, dhorle dhoro Nazmul r Tarek re. Party te k chanda dise r tumi keno niso this is not a big issue. dhorle dhoro power sector re, 25 thousnad koti takar budget approve hoy r 5 koti takar-o kaj hoy na. oder re dhoro.

r cYcLone, 35 bochor na, its more that 36 years

[cYcLone]

yah ur right into! ashole bepar ki jano?? ami je kothata likhsi je gorib hote chacche eta amar kotha na, bolse amar ak uncle. obak hocchi je eta thik je amjonotara thik ebhabei chinta kore. koijon amra bhitorer khobor jani bolo?? jara shikkhito tader 90% manush paper a ja likhe tai chokh bondho kore bishash kore. etai kore ashchi. last 20 yrs dhore ami jeshob dekhsi sheta nogonno. kintu ja boyojoshthora dekhse shetar tulonai eshob kisuina. hoito ami immatured hoito baccha kintu kothai ki hocche sheta thiki jani. hoito mukhe prokash korina.ajke je sheikh hasina bollo caretaker govt. naki chada r chadabajir moddhe parthokko janena. khaleda nijer godi bachanor lokkhe hat pattese mannan bhuiyar kase. eshob to paper a pora. khaleda hasina keu e nijer doler gopon kotha joto kharap shomoi jak na kano tader amader kache prokash korbena. tomader moddhe koekjon jara bhaggoban tara hoito gopon kotha jante pare. tumi ajke akta bolla kintu jara jane tara koijon amader eshob bolse? etai holo bangladesher niyom. ja gelano hoi amra tai bujhi. she joto uchu shikkhito manushi hok na kano.

[intoXIcated]

hah hah hah, boka meye....... tumi thik-e bolso, Hasina ba Khaleda keu-e gumor fash korbe na, but Mannan Bhuiya korbe.

ei gula khub beshi pff topic hoye jacche mone hoy. ei khane aamader muktijuddho r tar itihash niye alap korar kotha, desher politics niye alap korar kotha na. jai houk kibhabe kibhabe jeno continue korte korte ei porjonto ashche.

I tell you an interesting story. in Sylhet AL politics there are two major groups. Samad group (Abdus Samad Azad) and Sen group (Surangit Sen Gupta). but Sen group er khub ekta bail chilo na cause Samad Azad was the foriegn minister and thus his group did hold more power. When Samad Azad died, Sen wanted to came out. Samad Azad mara jawar por bibhinno dhoroner alochona onusthan, kimba shok shova, shok michil, ei jatiyo jinish gula te ......... Sen k invite na kora hole paper-a ei ta nia bodnam kora hoito r shey present thakle Samad er fan ra khub mind korto. so jinish ta k aamader khub thanda mathay tackle dite hocchilo, ei ta chilo ekta cold war. abar Suranjit Sen 2004 er age last 12/15 years Sunamgonj main city te kokhono dhukte pare nai, but he entered there with Samad Azad's dead body @ 2004 for the first time after a long. ei bhabe shey abar lime light-a asha shuru korar cheshta kortesilo Samad Azad er absence-a.

by this time Samad Azad's son Azizus Samad Dawn came into politics. to aamra tokhon elakay chilam, ei dhoroner ekta shok shova r kichu local formalities shesh kore Sylhet er dike return kortesilam. aamader gari te onek gula newspaper chilo. bibhinno paper-a aamader chokh-a ekta news dhora porlo regarding this issue j ei shok shova te Sen k daka hoy nai, Sen k insult kora hoise ei type kotha barta. oi shomoy ei ta chilo ekta negetive news against Samad group. aamra Sylhet back korar pore ei ta niye khoj khobor lagaisi. jante parlam j ei news er pichone Sen Gupta-r kono hat nai. ei news ta choraise Sultan MD. Mansur Ahmed, another big leader of Sen group under Sen. bujha gelo j shey Sen r Samad group er ei clash ta k use kore nije arekta big name hoite chay. This is politics.

Dawn er shathe khub bhalo liaison maintain kora shuru korlo Sultan Mansur. pichone pichone shobar moddhe onno kahini, shamna shamni shobai bhai bhai. aami jokhon Sen Gupta-r area Dherai te jai tokhon Sen er speed boat use kori, tar group er polapain der shathe cholafira kori, aamra bhai bhai. keu kauke chetaite chay na, khepaite chay na. aabar aami jokhon Samad Azad er elaka jagannathpur-a thaki tokhon I am a very big face. you come with me to that areas, you'll find that khomota jinish ta ki ? this is what our politics is. you know one thing, jokhon Samad Azad mara jay, tokhon jabotiyo logistics I mean lash carry korar jonno gari, elaka te niye jawar jonno helicopter, ei gula k provide korsilo ? BNP Leader and former finance Minister Saifur Rahman. keu kauke shorashori khepay na, khepaite chay na, public sentiment-a hurt korte chay na. nanan koushol-a they just use media. onek shomoy hoyto aamar for-a kimba aamar against-a news ashche, but aami kichu-e jani na, ei gula arekjon tar sharther jonno apply kore. so tomar kotha thik @ cYcLone, Khaleda ba Hasina keu-e media te ba media-r shamne kisu fas korbe na. Ultapalta Statement dibe na. keu kono kisu dile sheita purata aamra kokhono dekhi na, kimba dekhanu hoy na, news bananur jonno jototuku lage tototuku-e dekhi.

once I was going to Derai from Sylhet with Shah Alam, a Sen Group worker. aamra ekta bridge par hocchilam, shei bridge er moddhe folok er moddhe likha chilo j Udvodon korse Abdus Samad Azad, aamar shamne-e Shah Alam boltesilo j khomotay aso, nam likhso, er pore aamra nam change koira Surangit Sen likha falabo, dekhi tomra kisu korte paro kina. ei gula aamader kase khub-e normal. aamra ek gari te kore jaite jaite hashte khelte ei gula niye kotha barta r debate kortesilam. obossho ei ta thik j aami boila-e ei rokom khub beshi poriman-a shombhob, onno keu hoile hoyto kotha barta hoito normally but debate ba jhogra hoito na, shorashori maramari.

Khaleda Zia bidesh jaite chaile take atkabe na, but ekbar Hasina k deshe firar jonno atkaise, ekhon bidesh jawar jonno atkacche. keno ? cause Khaleda bidesh gele-e ki r na gele-e ki, or cheler karon-e ultimately tar reputation er 12 ta already baija gese. but Hasinar chele-r to emon kono record nai, moreover Hasina ekbar bidesh giya jei khela dekhaise, ore abar bidesh jaite deya ta risky, dekha jabe j abar kono na kono bideshi TV channel-a giya shundor moton interview ditese jeta Khaleda zia Smartly parbe na. Hasina is very much risky. so take beshi beshi atkanu dorkar. This is really fun when you think of it. tobe jai houk, ei govt besh kisu jotil jotil khela dekhaise jeita keu kono din parto na. we should appritiate.

[cYcLone]

lastly maybe forum eta first article jeta ami top to bottom porlam into!
abdus samad r surangiter ghotonata pore ami ektu dhakkai khailam! ajob amader desher politics. politics manei ashole ke kar upore jete parbe r ke koto beshi dhandabaji hote parbe. asholei garite je shah alam kothata tomake bolse sheta onno kauke bolle hoito tokhon kichu bolto na kintu pore thiki kisu akta kharap korto. karon amader desher politics er niyom holo ja koro shob bhitor bhitor ..je mukh khulbe tari nistar nai. ami akta jinish bhabi je jara akhon mukh khultese ,dhoro hasina ba khelada khomotai jodi ashe oderke r charbena. shedin akjon boltesilo je akhon jara mukh khultese tader nirapottar jonnoi maybe nirbachon pisaitese.

[intoXIcated]

o accha, tumi tar mane top to bottom na poira-e shob bigger moton comment korar cheshta koro ?

[cYcLone]

arre nah...boltesilam forum a onek post ase jegula bore kore amake! ami comment korle bujhe shune kori! naile abar boro bhaira boka dei ;)

[pirate_of_da_caribbean]

ehhe..........muktijuddher topic a recent politics........eigula eikhane na dewai valo.........amra recent politics tare muktijuddho theke shorai rakhi...

[cYcLone]

hmm pirate....into bollo na?? eshob cholei ashe at last! anyways r politics na!

[intoXIcated]

j ja khushi koro re bhai, doya koira aamar matha ta gorom koiro na ulta palta comment koira. kisu bujhe na polapain, but khub sheirokom comment korte thake. r shobai aamra hat-tali dite thaki.

P_O_C: Muktijuddho nia kotha bolte bolte ultimately kotha ghure jabe, for example: Muktijuddho > desh shadhin > ekhon ki hocche ? > eto bochore aamra ki korlam ? > aamra ekhon itihash keno jai na ? so ei bhabe jinish gula ashte thake. r aamar-o Allar ichchay ekta matha ase sheita gorom hoite thake

[Son Of Bangla]

Dr. Geoffrey Davis passes away


Dr. Geoffrey Davis, an Australian doctor, who helped thousands of Bangladeshi women raped by the
Pakistani Army during the Liberation War in 1971, has passed away in Sydney on Friday 3-Oct-2008.

http://bangla-sydney.com/20082/Geoffrey-Davis-1972.jpg
Dr. Geoffrey Davis visited Bangladesh in 1972 to help the victims with abortion and to assist the management of war babies. He also helped thousands of women who contacted venereal disease and developed complications due to trying indigenous methods of abortion.

This is great loss for the grateful people of Bangladesh. Our heartfelt condolences go out to his bereaved family.

The funeral of Dr Davis will be held at 1 pm on Monday the 13-Oct-2008 at the Roockwood Crematorium. Bangladeshi Community is welcome to attend Dr.
Davis's Funeral in order to pay tribute to his noble departed soul.


Photo: Dr Geoffrey Davis, in Bangladesh, 1972

[Son Of Bangla]

Translation of an interview of Dr. Geoffrey Davis published in Prothom Alo in 2005.

http://bangla-sydney.com/20082/Geoffrey-Davis-1972.jpg

(With Kamrul Ahsan Khan and Dr. Abul Hasnat Milton)



1. When did you go to Bangladesh?

As best I can recall, in February of 1972.

I have not got my passport from that era, so I cannot be precise as to the date but I was on the first flight from Dum Dum with the BBC team which was rather exciting because the portside wheel outside my window would not come up and would not lock into place.

We circled Dhaka to use up the fuel because the crew was certain that we would not be able to land very well. As we went over the perimeter fence at Dhaka the wheel clicked into place so we landed uneventfully.

2. How did you get involved with Bangladesh?

Planned Parenthood Federation in London had heard of the West Pak program to impregnate Bengali women on the grounds that a good Muslim will fight anyone except his father. I am told that this idea came from Tikka Khan. This was apparently given as an order to officers as we discovered during debriefing of some of the officers after the war in Comilla. This idea really got up the nose of the people trying to help the Bengali women.

Authorities in Western Europe began to look for somebody who could terminate advanced pregnancies and I had just published the first paper on this in the Lancet (medical journal in England) and they came to me.

I had just met people from Population Services International and they said it would be a good idea if I went so on very short notice I packed my instruments and went to Dhaka.

The project was under the joint flag of the United Nations Family Planning Association (UNFPA), Planned Parenthood International and World Health Organisation (WHO).

The whole project was fairly covert because nobody wanted to be associated with an abortion program. International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) paid my fares and per diems but no salary, so I had a fairly lean time. I was eventually paid these expenses about six months after my return to England.

3. What did you do?

My main activity was to establish termination clinics in what was left of the hospitals outside Dhaka. In Dhaka there was an established clinic in Dahnmundi (suburb of Dhaka).

Its activities continued during my stay and I had very little to do with it.

I organized teaching cadres for doctors in the regions and demonstrated techniques, which I must say astonished most of them. After one very large meeting I was taken aside by the predisent of the local medical association who said, ‘Of course you know what you are doing is illegal’. And I said, ‘No it isn’t. I have been assured that the law has been changed’.

I went then straight back to Dhaka to see the secretary of state Rab Chaudry to be reassured about this. I said, ‘You might have made some announcement but nobody knows about it’. So he then said, ‘I will give you a letter clarifying your position while we notify all concerned as to the change in the law’.

I carried this with me and cannot recall ever being called upon to show it.

In addition to terminating pregnancies (and it was estimated that at the end of the war there were one million pregnant women in Bangladesh so it was a fairly large project) and in the course of this it became obvious that most of these women had multiple sexually transmitted diseases of varying severity and these had to be treated.

I have no data on the aftermath of these infections, but their very nature suggest that they have interfered grossly with the fertility of the women involved.

In addition to the termination of pregnancies there were a lot of very young infants with sick or absent mothers and we handed these over to a variety of agencies. A lot of these children are now enjoying life in the United States, Canada, Australia and elsewhere.

4. How long were you there for?

I was there until, I think, the end of August 1972.

6. How did you feel working in Bangladesh?

The work was something that had to be done.

I think there is no precedent for a program of this kind. One wonders what happened to the German women overrun by Stalin’s troops at the end of World War II. No one ever speaks of this. There is no literature, no nothing.

I felt that Tikka Khan’s program was an obscenity, comparable to Heinrich Himmler’s Lebensborn ministry in Nazi Germany (q.v.)

It gave me some satisfaction to know that I was contributing to the destruction of the policies of West Pakistan.


7. Are you still in touch with Bangladesh?

Yes, I am still in touch but only episodically.

I have not been back to Bangladesh, but I have been to India several times since this episode.

8. What do you think about current Bangladesh?

I feel they deserve better luck with government than they appear to have now and I think it will require very drastic action on the part of someone to correct things.

Perhaps an appeal to the Russians might help, having regard for their great interest in the past in getting their hands on an Indian Ocean port. At the time that I was there Chittagong Harbour was crammed with Russian ships and not just salvage ships. It is also the case that in every hotel or guest house we stayed in in the provinces the register (if they had one) contained page after page of Russian names from the middle 1960’s on.

9. Memorable events

My introduction to the Hotel Inter-Continental was very memorable. As we got to the lobby there was a sound of automatic gunfire very close to us and the unmistakable smell of cordite. As we discovered later that day, the kitchen staff had all been shot in their kitchen on the grounds of political unsuitability. I have no idea who shot them and didn’t care to ask questions about it.

Another memorable event was on the road to Rangamati (the most beautiful town site I have ever seen in my life). We were driving past a very large rock and suddenly came under fire from a machine gun. We stopped the Land Rover which had been hit quite a bit, got out and shouted, ‘What do you think you’re doing?’ A very shamefaced Bengali came out from behind the rock carrying his machine gun and said, ‘I am so sorry. I thought you were Americans’.

The third thing is I wanted to see Cox’s Bazaar because the only place in Bengal whose name I knew was Cox’s Bazaar because in the first atlas I ever got in Preparatory School I found it on the bay of Bengal coast with the most unexpected name.

We set out to drive down there and we encountered the Indian Army. All of it. Mile after mile after mile of tents and trucks. They were there to stop the Burmese from coming across the border. Indian troops are terrifying to behold.

10. Have any Bangladeshi government officials ever contacted you to recognize your work?

No. The only contact I have had has been recent, and this has not been with the government.

[ocean]

Bangladesh had such great friends at the time of the war.......... kintu okritoggo amra............. war er por tader kaukei mone hoy thik shomman deya hoy nai...............

like him.............. i didn't heard of him ago, before this post................

thanx SoB for this post..............