To stay in Bangladesh, recognise Liberation War

The war of independence has always been an emotional matter for me. I have been to war. I pass my days carrying the pain of war. I still remember the scene – my friend has fallen. He has been shot. He jumped up suddenly and told me – “Mama, take care of my mother. No one is left for her.” Only son of a mother died becoming mad. I have crossed the river swimming; I was shot by the Pak army. The Pak army shot and killed 15,000 people in one day in Buriganga. The Buriganga turned red. Some 10,000 people were killed in Jinjira. In one day, 25,000 people have died in Keraniganj alone. On May 2, not a single house in Jinjira and Keraniganj was spared, the Pak army burned everything. In that liberation war, I crossed a river swimming with my rifle in hand. The Pak army shot hundreds of freedom fighters. They were crawling in bunkers. Some have lost their legs. Some have lost their eyes. Some have lost various body parts. Some have been violated. Thousands of freedom fighters had been martyred - only then the Pak army fled.

My area was 36 villages of Itna police station in Kishoreganj. Some 400 people were going to India by boat together. After passing in front of Itna police station, the Razakars and Pak army caught them up surrounding them with speedboats and killed 400 people. They shot 400 people in three hours and threw them into the water during the monsoon season. Some 400 people were in one village, not a single person was alive. Now it is in Kathkhali union under Mithamon police station, then it was in Kathkhali union 36 of Itna police station. Some 426 people died together in that village in one day.

Among the major incidents of the freedom struggle, the first battle is one that I will never forget. That battle was in Dawkipar at Tamabil in Jaflong bordering Meghalaya in India. It was in June. Our commander was Major Mir Shawkat Ali Bir Uttam. The Pakistanis were on this side and we were on the Indian side. In that first battle, I was in the bunker for three to four days. I was not that trained then. I went fearlessly to give my life. I thought that if I had to be a martyr, I would die in the first battle. In that battle, the Pakistani army retreated. We won within four days.

Another memorable battle of mine was my last battle. After that I did not fight again. It was the battle of Kalni-Kushiyara. When the Pakistani army was defeated in Sunamganj on December 7, they were coming towards Dhaka with steamers as all the roads were closed. They were coming with three steamers. The river through which they were coming from Sunamganj is the Kalni-Kushiyara river. No freedom fighter dared to stop them on the river route of about a hundred kilometers. The next police station after Sunamganj is Jamalganj. After Jamalganj is Biral, then Shalla and then Ajmeriganj. After Ajmeriganj, the place where I confronted them was Itna police station. No one stopped the Pakistani army after crossing five police stations; but I stopped. We defeated them in that battle too. There were only three main freedom fighters in that battle. I was the commander, with me was Deputy Commander Neharindu Debnath and another famous fighter Abu Taher Thakur. The public supported us. Among the public, Nurul Haque Bhuiyan, the chairman of Kakailcheo union of Ajmeriganj Police Station, and his brother Mejbah Bhuiyan helped with guns. Many people including Raisuddin Yusuf of Katkhal union lined up and lay down. They were seen at gunpoint. This was a guerrilla war. In this battle, 189 soldiers of the Pak army were captured by us. This is my last historical memorable war. These two battles are very vivid in my memory.

However, the country became independent. It would not be right to say that nothing has happened in 55 years. Many things have happened, both good and bad. We have become what we were not. Since 1958, I have seen that people had great difficulty wearing a shirt. When a new son-in-law went to his in-laws' house, he would find out if anyone else in the village had a pair of shoes. He would take the shoes in his hand and go to his in-laws' house and put them on - this was the rural situation for many of us.

The year 1971. ‘The bloody sun is rising, brave Bengalis have awakened’, or ‘Brave Bengalis, take up arms, liberate Bangladesh’ these were our slogans. What did we have then - a shirt, a pair of pants. We could not even eat, we were poor. No Bengali was a millionaire. It was said that only two Bengalis were millionaires. One was AK Khan from Chattogram, the other was Jahurul Islam from Mymensingh. What else! They were the owners of Tk 5 crore. Everyone used to say that Jahurul Islam was the owner of Tk 5 crore.

We fought; the country became independent. There was looting, banks were looted, money was smuggled abroad. The 22 families have left. If Pakistan existed today, I would have to stand on the streets of Gulistan and see who is passing? Adamji's grandson is going there. What is his name? His name is Rahat Khan. His car, oh my god! I would have to see Adamji's grandson's car, I would have to see Ispahani's car. I would have to see the cars of the Bawalis. Now we don't have to see that. Now we see the car of a Bengali, even if he is anti-people, the car belongs to a Bengali. The bank belongs to the Bengalis. Bengalis now own thousands of crores of taka. There was looting, corruption. In 1972, the annual budget was Tk 750 crore. When Tajuddin Ahmed presented the budget as the finance minister, the budget was Tk 450 crore. Now, last year, the budget was Tk 7.5 lakh crore - understand the difference. So, it would not be right to say that nothing has happened since independence.

No son of Bengali was above the colonel rank. Osmani was a brilliant officer of the world. British General Montgomery told Major Osmani, then British soldier who received a gold medal in World War II, “This boy one sees, you will be the General of India.” India was divided into Pakistan; but a Bengali son could not rise above the colonel rank. However, today, a Bengali son is General Waker-uz-Zaman. I cannot remember the names of hundreds of generals. Yet no Bengali son was a major general. Therefore; the war has made our Bengali sons major generals. The only son of Bengalis who became a general was Shafiul Azam. He was a Bengali secretary then. No Bengali son was above the rank of deputy secretary. Now there are hundreds of secretaries, joint secretaries, foreign secretaries, this secretary, that secretary, who has not got one? Now my secretary sits on an equal footing with the secretaries of Pakistan and India.

There were 19 districts during the liberation war. Out of the 19 districts, nine DCs were non-Bengalis. Numerous non-Bengalis were SDOs. I used to ask, where is your home? In Simanta Pradesh. Where is your home? Landikotal. Where is your home? Rawalpindi. Now, 100% of the Bengali sons are SDOs, DCs, UNOs, deputy secretaries, joint secretaries, additional secretaries, chief secretaries - the liberation war gave this to Bengalis. So, it would not be right to say that we did not get anything. If a Bengali son wanted to go abroad, he had to apply for a passport in Lahore, Rawalpindi or Islamabad. Now, about one crore Bengalis live all over the world. They send billions of dollars as remittances every month. They have no address in our country. Wherever you go in the world, you will find Bengalis. So, it is a very negative thing to say that independence did not give us anything.

Yes, we did not get as much as we needed. Our education system has deteriorated beyond what it was supposed to be. Our universities and colleges needed to be better. Our researchers needed to be more. Our scientific activities needed to be much more than this - we did not get that. We needed to rise much higher but we did not.

The honesty that we had even though we did not eat during the Pakistan period has been destroyed due to the looting economy. We are all chasing money and wealth. Some get it, some do not, some hope, some fail. Those who fail hide their faces and live. Those who succeed, without loving the country, build houses in Begumpara. We make second homes in Malaysia. We loot the money and buy houses in Singapore. It seems that our patriotism has decreased. Behind the decline in patriotism is greed, and behind greed is the economy, the lumpen economy.

On the other hand, the greatness of leadership has gone down. There is no Nelson Mandela of the past, no Yassir Arafat. There is no Gandhi of the past, no Nasser of Egypt, no Suharto of Indonesia, no Jawaharlal Nehru - you have to understand. The standard of leadership has gone down. That is why in our country, only power is obtained. Because after gaining power, the money comes to my fate. That is why bad things are happening in my country today.

So, as a result of independence, we have gained a lot. It is not that we have not gained much. We could have gained even more if the political leadership had been correct and if the country had been on the right path. We have been deprived of many things. We have also lost a lot. For whatever reason, we politicians could not run this country properly. The result of that is today's Yunus government.

My words are clear. To stay in Bangladesh, we must recognise the Liberation War. That is very true. Because if we exclude the Liberation War, Bangladesh does not exist. The Liberation War is the name of the mother of Bangladesh. This Bangladesh emerged from the belly of the Liberation War. Otherwise, it would have been East Pakistan. Therefore, those who deny their mother are not good children.

When I see those who talk negatively about the Liberation War, it hurts so much, I say to myself – “Oh God, why did you keep me alive? Why don't you let me die?” I am not supposed to hear these talks. There will be questions about Sheikh Mujib, there will be questions about the leaders, there will be questions about the rule, why will there be questions about the Liberation War?

O Bengalis, don't you understand anything, don't you know anything? You eat rice from this country, you wear clothes from this country, your children live in this country, will you forget the Liberation War?

Advocate Fazlur Rahman: Guerrilla freedom fighter