Forgotten war heroes

Photo: STAR

With the trial of war criminals in the offing, those now in their 30s and above must know the full background of the liberation war, especially the calculated genocide that was launched by the Pakistani occupation forces from the night of March 25, 1971, which continued for nine months.
Just two days before victory, the most heinous, cruel and sinister crime, aimed at crippling the very backbone of the nation, was committed by the occupation army and their collaborators, the Al Shams, Al Badr and Razakars. The genocide was the "cleansing process" the occupation army carried out as a solution to the political problem. The targets were teachers, students, Awami Leaguers, and intelligentsia.
After being subjected to more than two decades of exploitation and humiliation and with the ultimate brutality inflicted on a sleeping nation on that gory night of March 25, 1971, the people, although unarmed, rose in rebellion against the brute perpetrators. The nation responded to the call Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman issued in his historic address at Race Course Maidan (now Suhrawardy Uddyan) on March 7, 1971.
The founding premise of Pakistan, protecting Islam and keeping the two parts of Pakistan intact even when the exploitation was at its worst, was shattered. Nothing could stop the 75 million people of the then East Pakistan from going their separate way after that fateful night of March 25, 1971. The genocide plan, "Operation Searchlight," was launched after General Yahya Khan, the then president of Pakistan left Dhaka after the failed talks between him and Bangabandhu.
Bangabandhu was taken from his Dhanmondi residence that night and flown to West Pakistan the next day. Maj. Gen. Tikka Khan, Governor and Martial Law Administrator of East Pakistan, ordered his army commanders to start the cleansing process, wiping out the Bengalee intelligentsia and valiant Bengalees demanding equitable share in business, finance, development and educational opportunities.
It is pertinent to recall what some top brass in the Pakistan army said at that time: "We are determined to cleanse East Pakistan once and for all of the threat of secession, even if it means killing two million people and ruling the province as a colony for 30 years." That was the military regime's "final solution" of the East Pakistan problem.
At about 11-30 that night I got a telephone call from Abdul Gaffar Chowdhury, telling me that the army was advancing towards Bangabandhu's house. Until then it was not clear that they would raid the student halls and kill the students and teachers. The stillness of the night was shattered by the sound of gunfire and the night sky was bright with the glare of flames. The carnage in Peelkhana and Dhaka University went on for two days.
Many colleagues were leaving university quarters and fleeing to safer places. I, along with my mother, wife, and children went to my brother-in-law's house. The carnage wrought for two days and night in the Jagannath Hall was apparent by the roadside.
If blood is the price of independence then the people of Bangladesh paid it fully during the nine-month long war. At the cost of three million lives the nation got its cherished freedom.
My eldest brother Md. Khalilullah Khan, a Second World War veteran and a businessman in Satkhira, was picked up on May 13. He never returned.
The occupation forces reasoned that intellectuals were a major threat to them. It was here that the seeds of rebellion were sown. It was from here that the voices of protest got the loudest and from here the courage to defy authority stemmed. So if the source of strength could be cut off, the remaining task of keeping them under subjugation would be easier. 40 years after the terrible day, we not only mourn the loss of the brilliant minds but also the intellectual and psychological void created by their untimely deaths.
Occasions like Independence Day, Martyred Intellectuals Day and Victory Day, despite being recurring annual events, are far from repetitive experiences. And each year they carry an emotional load. Not only did we win freedom, we paid an enormously high price for it and also proved to the world that we were capable of exacting our freedom from an absolutely tyrannical regime.
Forty years after that day, the hour of reckoning has arrived once again. Unhappily, the saga written in blood and enormous sacrifice has not been faithfully recorded and commemorated. Speaking about my own family, my eldest brother was killed by the occupation forces on the first day the crack troops arrived in Satkhira. He left behind his wife and five children, the eldest one then just 14 years old, and old parents.
The whole family, with my eldest brother as the sole earning member, became pauper overnight. The only recognition my family or my sister-in-law got was a token gift cheque of Tk.2,000 from Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman after liberation of the country. My nephews and nieces were not even listed as children of a freedom fighter. Shockingly, that gift of Tk.2,000 was the first and last they ever got from the governments that have ruled the country so far.
To be very specific, history was distorted, lies introduced, and false heroes were invented with every passing year. And this doctoring of history has been going on till this day. Official insincerity is flagrantly demonstrated when it comes to recognising or honouring those who were killed, or even those who survived but were permanently consigned to the wheelchair. They symbolise in their persons the price that was paid for our freedom.

The writer is a former teacher of physics and Controller of Examinations, BUET.
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