<i>Road-32 soaked in grief </i>

Wreaths at the portrait of Father of the Nation Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in front of Bangabandhu Memorial Museum on Road 32 of Dhanmondi in the capital on the National Mourning Day yesterday.Photo: STAR

Holding his father's hand, Chirantan Mahip Shanan was asking one question after another as he stared at an array of photographs inside the Bangabandhu Memorial Museum in Dhanmondi.
"Who are those men beside Bangabandhu, baba?" the nine-year-old boy asked, standing in front of a huge photograph showing the father of the nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman surrounded by his Awami League colleagues on his historic homecoming day.
Bangabandhu returned home on Jan 10, 1972 after being released by Pakistan following Bangladesh's independence.
"This is Tajuddin Ahmed, that is Syed Nazrul Islam and the man on left is Khandaker Moshtaque Ahmed. This Moshtaque is one of those who helped Bangabandhu's killers," replied his father Mojibur Rahman while commenting on the photographs with historical references.
"Baba, was he [Moshtaque] with the terrorist group that killed Bangabandhu?" Shanan, a student of standard three at Darland International School, queried. "Not exactly. But he helped the group," his father answered.
When this correspondent asked the kid what in the museum had attracted him most he said "I saw the staircase in my own eyes which I used to watch on television.”
“Bangabandhu was killed on the staircase by a group of terrorists," Shanan said.
"Besides, I saw the marks of bullets and the room Bangabandhu used to live in," he said excitedly.
A resident of Mirpur, Mojibur Rahman took his son to the museum at Bangabandhu's residence to present to his son a glimpse of the black night of August 15, 1975 when Bangabandhu along with his wife, two newly-wed daughters-in-law and three sons was assassinated.
"My son still believes it must have been terrorists who assassinated Bangabandhu. I brought my son here to let him know the real history," said Mojibur. "I want him to know the person [Bangabandhu] without whom our independence would not have been possible."
Whenever my son watches Bangabandhu or his photographs on TV, he asks a volley of questions: "who killed Bangabandhu, why did they kill him, where are the killers now" and so on, he said.
"This trip has helped him resolve many questions," he added.
Mojibur and his son were among thousands of people who visited Bangabandhu's residence on Road-32 in Dhanmondi yesterday as the nation paid tribute to the great man on his 36th death anniversary.
Since the assassination, the nation had to wait for justice for thirty-four years until January last year when the Supreme Court upheld death sentences to 12 killers.
Five convicts have already been hanged, while six are still fugitives abroad. One has died.
Black banners and posters covered Road-32 and its adjacent areas. Like elsewhere in the city the areas reverberated with the historic speeches of Bangabandhu being played on tape recorder through mike.
Wearing black badges, thousands of mourners representing government and non-government organisations, educational institutions and sociocultural institutions placed floral wreaths at the portrait of Bangabandhu.
A number of people visited the museum and went around every room and corridor of the residence solemnly.
A photo exhibition styled "History Speaks up" was also arranged in a makeshift podium outside the residence where photographs indicating a brief history of the sub-continent between 1947 and 1975 were put on display.
The exhibition attracted a huge crowd of children, party activists, students and parents who read the captions attentively as they watched each photograph in queues.
Sirajud Doula, a freedom fighter in his 60s, was viewing the photographs. "Every year I come here to pay respect to Bangabandhu. Whenever I come here, I walk down the paths of memories that take me to our war of liberation against the Pakistani forces under his leadership."
Inside the podium were hung effigies of the five leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami and one of BNP who are accused of committing crimes against humanity during nine months of liberation war.
Septuagenarian Wahed Mia, who came from Tongi, said he wanted to see the war criminals punished.
He said he was not yet fully happy, as the fugitive killers of Bangabandhu along with the people involved with war crimes have yet to be brought to justice.
"We want to see the fugitive killers be hanged in our lifetime," he said.
Retired government official Abdul Gani echoed his feelings. "The nation would not be relieved of the liability and shame unless the fugitive killers are brought to justice," he said.