A bastion of the region’s war efforts

Right  after Bangabandhu's historical March 7 speech, where he asked  Bangladeshis to get ready for resistance, the teachers of Chattogram  College held a meeting on March 9.

The meeting was chaired by its principal Abu Syrian. In his presence,  the teachers expressed their solidarity with the freedom struggle.

From thereon, throughout the tumultuous month of March 1971, students  and teachers of the college played a pivotal role in the Liberation War,  from organising the people to active participation in the war.

On March 15, a rally was organised at Laldighi Maidan in the city by  Shilpi Sahityik Sangskritisebi Protirodh Sangha. At the rally, Mamtaz  Uddin Ahmed, a professor of Bangla Department of the college, delivered a  speech demanding freedom for Bangladesh. After the rally, a play named  "Ebarer Sangram" written by Prof Mamtaz was staged on the ground.

Later on March 24, 1971, a rally was organised at the college's ground,  popularly known as Parade Maidan, by Chittagong University Teachers'  Association. After the rally, another play named "Swadhinotar Sangram"  written by Prof Mamtaz was staged. It is reported that around 80,000  people attended the rally and the play.

As the play was on progress, news spread among the people in the ground  that the Pakistani military were unloading arms in Chattogram Port,  recounted Prof Anupam Sen, then a teacher of Chittagong University.  Around 8:30pm another information broke. Unarmed locals who went to the  port to resist the unloading were being shot at by the Pakistani army.

"As soon as the news reached the ground, people who were enjoying the  play left their spots and rushed towards the port, loaded with patriotic  zeal," Prof Anupam said. Their arrival at the port helped out the  locals' fight with the army.

Echoing the same, freedom fighter Dr Mahfuzur Rahman, a group leader of  Bangladesh Liberation Force, Karnaphuli Contingent-3, said teachers and  students of Chattogram College played a significant role in the ensuing  months. The progressive teachers and students of the college organised rallies and cultural programmes supporting the freedom struggle from the  beginning of March, he said.

Numerous students of the college also took  part in the Liberation War actively, he added.

The college also has a bloodied history during the war. As the  resistance piled up, the Pakistan army lifted Abani Mohan Dutta, a philosophy professor at the college, from his quarter at Perceval Hill  on May 8, 1971. He was later killed brutally, the martyr's body never reaching his family.

His student Dr Shafiqul Alam, a retired professor of Chittagong  University's Department of Philosophy, told The Daily Star that the Pakistan army marked Abani Mohan Dutta as a target as he was a  progressive teacher who professed his support for the Liberation War  loudly.

"I was an HSC student at Chattogram College at the time. Abani sir was  my direct teacher," said Dr Shafiqul. "He was such a nice person;  everybody loved him. But he became a target of the Pakistan army in no  time, due to his influence and his support for the Liberation War."

 Information for this piece was also collected from the articles "Aaj o  Diptimoy Chattogram College" by Belal Hossain, published in Prothom Alo  on January 09, 2019, and "Muktijuddhe Chattogram Bishwobidyaloy" by  Anupam Sen published in Bhorer Kagoj, February 28, 2019.