After 34 years 12 to be hanged for Bangabondhu murder

An article about Bangladesh.

By Jahangir Alam Akash, The nation has waited 34 years for the verdict in Bangabondhu murder case. But, on 19th November has ended of our disgraceful. The Supreme Court on that day upheld a High Court verdict that handed down the death sentence to 12 former army officers in the Bangabandhu murder case, sealing the grueling and long-disrupted proceedings of 21 years. A five-strong bench of the Appellate Division, headed by Justice Mohammed Tafazzal Islam, rejected the appeals of the five jailed convicts to have their sentences commuted.The five convicts are Syed Faruk Rahman, Mohiuddin Ahmed, Bazlul Huda, AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed and Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan.

Bangabondhu's personal assistant Mohitul Islam, who had survived the attack by a gang of army officers on the night in August 15 of 1975, filed the case for the killings on October 2, 1996. On January 15, 1997, the charge sheet was filed against 20 living and four dead persons--Khandakar Moshtaque, Mahbubul Alam Chashi, Capt Mustafa and Risalder Sarwar. As all except the dead were brought to trial, the court examined 61 witnesses and heard submissions for 151 days. On November 8, 1998, the trial court handed death sentence to 15 of the 20 accused. On December 14, 2000, a two-member High Court bench gave a split verdict on the trial court's judgment: one judge upheld the death sentences of all 15 convicts while the other upheld that of 10. The judges were also divided on which section of the Code of Criminal Procedure to be followed for the death sentence of one convict. On April 30, 2001, a third judge of the High Court resolved the matter and finally gave death sentence to 12 killers. Of them, the following are now in jail: Lt Col Syed Farooq Rahman, Lt Col Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, Maj Bazlul Huda, Maj (Lancer) AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed and Lt Col (Artillery) Mohiuddin Ahmed, who appealed with the Supreme Court against the High Court verdict.

The six absconding are: Lt Col Khandaker Abdur Rashid, Lt Col Shariful Haque Dalim, Lt Col SHMB Nur Chowdhury, Lt Col AM Rashed Chowdhury, Capt Abdul Mazed and Risaldar Mosleuddin Khan. The other convict Lt Col Abdul Aziz Pasha died in Zimbabwe in June 2001 where he took political asylum. Of the jailed convicts, Huda was brought to Dhaka from Bangkok in 1998 while AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed was brought from USA during the last caretaker government's rule. The other three were arrested in Dhaka. Soon the convicts in jail filed leave-to-appeal petitions with the Supreme Court against the High Court verdict.

But its hearing was stalled with the change in government in October 2001. After the BNP-led alliance government came to power, the Supreme Court did not hear the case even for a single day. The hearing of the leave-to-appeal petitions finally took place on August 7, 2007, and the appeals were granted on September 23 the same year.The hearing of the appeals against the High Court verdict began on October 5, 2009.

The killers murdered Bangabondhu and seven of his family members and three security personnel at his Dhanmondi residence on August 15, 1975. Soon after the killing, their accomplice Khandaker Moshtaque took over power as president and framed an indemnity ordinance to protect the killers. Later, subsequent military governments led by General Ziaur Rahman and General HM Ershad had rewarded the killers with various diplomatic posts.

The High Court on December 14, 2000 delivered a split verdict in the case. Justice M Ruhul Amin, the senior judge of the High Court bench, upheld the death sentences of 10 convicts while the other judge, ABM Khairul Haque, retained the death sentences for all the 15. Justice Fazlul Karim in the final High Court verdict in the case on April 30, 2001 upheld death sentences for 12 and acquitted three.

The Appellate Division bench of Justice Tafazzul Islam, Justice Joynul Abedin and Justice M Hassan Ameen on September 23, 2007 allowed the five death-row convicts to appeal against the High Court verdict, delivered in 2001, on five points. The army men sentenced by the sessions judge to death are Syed Faruque Rahman, Sultan Shahriar Rashid Chowdhury, Mohiuddin Ahmed, Khandaker Abdur Rashid, Bazlul Huda, Shariful Huq Dalim, Ahmed Shaful Hossain also named as Shariful Islam, Rashed Chowdhury, AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed, Nur Chowdhury, Md Aziz Pasha, who died after he had been sentenced, Md Kismat Hashem, Nazmul Hossain Anseri, Abdul Mazed and Moslemuddin. Shariful, Kismat and Nazmul were acquitted of the charges by the final High Court verdict.

The government, however, did not file any appeal against the acquittal.

Faruque, Shahriar, Muhiuddin Ahmed and Bazlul, who were in jail at the time, filed petitions with the Appellate Division seeking permission to appeal against the verdict. AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed filed a similar petition after the US government had deported him to Bangladesh from Los Angeles on June 17, 2007.

We should demand trial to General Zia and General Ershad. These two General has responsible for their activity after the killings of Bangabondhu to given prizes and promotion to the killers of Bangabondhu. Now nation is waiting to see the trial of war criminals.

Bangabondhu and Bangladesh
The life of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman is the saga of a great leader turning peoplepower into an armed struggle that liberated a nation and created the world's ninth most populous state. The birth of the sovereign state of Bangladesh in December 1971, after a heroic war of nine months against the Pakistani colonial rule, was the triumph of his faith in the destiny of his people. Sheikh Mujib, endearingly called Bangabandhu or friend of Bangladesh, rose from the people, molded their hopes and aspirations into a dream and staked his life in the long battle for making it real. He was a true democrat, and he employed in his struggle for securing justice and fairplay for the Bengalees only democratic and constitutional weapons until the last moment. It is no accident of history that in an age of military coup d'etat and 'strong men', Sheikh Mujib attained power through elections and mass movement and that in an age of decline of democracy he firmly established democracy in one of the least developed countries of Asia.

Declaration of independence: The violence unleashed by the Pakistani forces on 25 March 1971, proved the last straw to the efforts to negotiate a settlement. Following these outrages, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman signed an official declaration that read:

Today Bangladesh is a sovereign and independent country. On Thursday night, West Pakistani armed forces suddenly attacked the police barracks at Razarbagh and the EPR headquarters at Pilkhana in Dhaka. Many innocent and unarmed have been killed in Dhaka city and other places of Bangladesh. Violent clashes between E.P.R. and Police on the one hand and the armed forces of Pakistan on the other are going on. The Bengalis are fighting the enemy with great courage for an independent Bangladesh. May Allah aid us in our fight for freedom? Joy Bangla.

Sheikh Mujib also called upon the people to resist the occupation forces through a radio message.Mujib was arrested on the night of 25–26 March 1971 at about 1:30 a.m. (as per Radio Pakistans news on 29 March 1971). A telegram containing the text of Sheikh Mujibur Rahmans declaration reached some students in Chittagong. The message was translated to Bangla by Dr. Manjula Anwar. The students failed to secure permission from higher authorities to broadcast the message from the nearby Agrabad Station of Radio Pakistan. They crossed Kalurghat Bridge into an area controlled by an East Bengal Regiment under Major Ziaur Rahman. Bengali soldiers guarded the station as engineers prepared for transmission. At 19:45 hrs on 27 March 1971, Major Ziaur Rahman broadcast another announcement of the declaration of independence on behalf of our great national leader Sheikh Mujibur which is as follows.

This is Shadhin Bangla Betar Kendro. I, Major Ziaur Rahman, at the direction of Bangobondhu sheikh Mujibur Rahman, hereby declare that the independent Peoples Republic of Bangladesh has been established. At his direction, I have taken command as the temporary Head of the Republic. In the name of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, I call upon all Bengalis to rise against the attack by the West Pakistani Army. We shall fight to the last to free our Motherland. By the grace of Allah, victory is ours. Joy Bangla.

The Kalurghat Radio Stations transmission capability was limited. The message was picked up by a Japanese ship in Bay of Bengal. It was then re-transmitted by Radio Australia and later by the British Broadcasting Corporation. M A Hannan, an Awami League leader from Chittagong, is said to have made the first announcement of the declaration of independence over the radio on 26 March 1971[40]. There is controversy now as to when Major Zia gave his speech. BNP sources maintain that it was 26 March, and there was no message regarding declaration of independence from Mujibur Rahman. Pakistani sources, like Siddiq Salik in Witness to Surrender had written that he heard about Mujibor Rahmans message on the Radio while Operation Searchlight was going on, and Maj. Gen. Hakeem A. Qureshi in his book The 1971 Indo-Pak War: a Soldiers Narrative, gives the date of Zias speech as 27 March 1971. 26 March 1971 is considered the official Independence Day of Bangladesh, and the name Bangladesh was in effect henceforth. In July 1971, Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi openly referred to the former East Pakistan as Bangladesh. Some Pakistani and Indian officials continued to use the name "East Pakistan" until 16 December 1971.

Background: The Partition of India gave birth to two new states named India and PakistanIn August 1947. Areas containing the Muslim-majority became Pakistan while areas with Hindu majority states became India. The new nation of Pakistan included two geographically and culturally separate areas in the east and the west of India. The western zone was popularly (and for a period of time, also officially) termed West Pakistan and the eastern zone (modern-day Bangladesh) was initially termed East Bengal and later, East Pakistan. It was widely perceived that West Pakistan dominated politically and exploited the East economically, leading to many grievances. On the 25 March 1971, rising political discontent and cultural nationalism in East Pakistan was met by brutal suppressive force from the ruling elite of the West Pakistan establishment in what came to be termed Operation Searchlight.

The violent crackdown by West Pakistan forces led to East Pakistan declaring its independence as the state of Bangladesh and to the start of civil war. The war led to a sea of refugees (estimated at the time to be about 10 million) flooding into the eastern provinces of India. Facing a mounting humanitarian and economic crisis, India started actively aiding and organizing the Bangladeshi resistance army known as the Mukti Bahini.West Pakistan (consisting of four provinces: Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan and North-West Frontier Province) dominated the divided country politically and received more money from the common budget than the more populous East.

Year Spending on West Pakistan (in crore Rupees) Spending on East Pakistan (in crore Rupees) Amount spent on East as percentage of West

1950–55 1,129 524 46.4
1955–60 1,655 524 31.7
1960–65 3,355 1,404 41.8
1965–70 5,195 2,141 41.2
Total 11,334 4,593 40.5
Source: Reports of the Advisory Panels for the Fourth Five Year Plan 1970-75, Vol. I, published by the planning commission of Pakistan (Quick reference: crore = 107, or 10 million)

Although East Pakistan accounted for a majority of the country's population (14), political power remained firmly in the hands of West Pakistanis, specifically the Punjabis. Since a straightforward system of representation based on population would have concentrated political power in East Pakistan, the West Pakistani establishment came up with the "One Unit" scheme, where all of West Pakistan was considered one province. This was solely to counterbalance the East wings votes. Ironically, after the East broke away to form Bangladesh, the Punjab province insisted that politics in West Pakistan now be decided on the basis of a straightforward vote, since Punjabis were more numerous than the other groups, such as Sindhis, Pashtuns, or Balochs.

After the assassination of Liaquat Ali Khan, Pakistans first prime minister, in 1951, political power began to be concentrated in the President of Pakistan, and eventually, the military. The nominal elected chief executive, the Prime Minister, was frequently sacked by the establishment, acting through the President. East Pakistanis noticed that whenever one of them, such as Khawaja Nazimuddin, Muhammad Ali Bogra, or Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy were elected Prime Minister of Pakistan, they were swiftly deposed by the largely West Pakistani establishment. The military dictatorships of Ayub Khan (27 October 1958 – 25 March 1969) and Yahya Khan (25 March 1969 – 20 December 1971), both West Pakistanis, only heightened such feelings.

The situation reached a climax when in 1970 the Awami League, the largest East Pakistani political party, led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, won a landslide victory in the national elections. The party won 167 of the 169 seats allotted to East Pakistan, and thus a majority of the 313 seats in the National Assembly. This gave the Awami League the constitutional right to form a government. However, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (a Sindhi), the leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party, refused to allow Rahman to become the Prime Minister of Pakistan. Instead, he proposed the idea of having two Prime Ministers, one for each wing. The proposal elicited outrage in the east wing, already chafing under the other constitutional innovation, the "one unit scheme". Bhutto also refused to accept Rahmans Six Points. On 3 March 1971, the two leaders of the two wings along with the President General Yahya Khan met in Dhaka to decide the fate of the country. Talks failed. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman called for a nation-wide strike.

On 7 March 1971, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman delivered a speech at the Racecourse Ground (now called the Suhrawardy Udyan). In this speech he mentioned a further four-point condition to consider the National Assembly Meeting on 25 March:

1. The immediate lifting of martial law.
2. Immediate withdrawal of all military personnel to their barracks.

3. An inquiry into the loss of life.
4. Immediate transfer of power to the elected representative of the people before the assembly meeting 25 March.

He urged "his people" to turn every house into a fort of resistance. He closed his speech saying, "Our struggle is for our freedom. Our struggle is for our independence." This speech is considered the main event that inspired the nation to fight for their independence. General Tikka Khan was flown in to Dhaka to become Governor of East Bengal. East-Pakistani judges, including Justice Siddique, refused to swear him in.

Between 10 and 13 March, Pakistan International Airlines cancelled all their international routes to urgently fly "Government Passengers" to Dhaka. These "Government Passengers" were almost all Pakistani soldiers in civilian dress. MV Swat, a ship of the Pakistani Navy, carrying ammunition and soldiers, was harbored in Chittagong Port and the Bengali workers and sailors at the port refused to unload the ship. A unit of East Pakistan Rifles refused to obey commands to fire on Bengali demonstrators, beginning a mutiny of Bengali soldiers.

Bengalis were under-represented in the Pakistan military. Officers of Bengali origin in the different wings of the armed forces made up just 5% of overall force by 1965; of these, only a few were in command positions, with the majority in technical or administrative posts. West Pakistanis believed that Bengalis were not "martially inclined" unlike Pashtuns and Punjabis; the "martial races" notion was dismissed as ridiculous and humiliating by Bengalis.[15] Moreover, despite huge defense spending, East Pakistan received none of the benefits, such as contracts, purchasing and military support jobs. The Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 over Kashmir also highlighted the sense of military insecurity among Bengalis as only an under-strength infantry division and 15 combat aircraft without tank support were in East Pakistan to thwart any Indian retaliation during the conflict.

A planned military pacification carried out by the Pakistan Army — codenamed Operation Searchlight — started on 25 March to curb the Bengali nationalist movement by taking control of the major cities on 26 March, and then eliminating all opposition, political or military, within one month. Before the beginning of the operation, all foreign journalists were systematically deported from East Pakistan.

The main phase of Operation Searchlight ended with the fall of the last major town in Bengali hands in mid-May. The operation also began the 1971 Bangladesh atrocities. These systematic killings served only to enrage the Bengalis, which ultimately resulted in the secession of East Pakistan later in the same year. The international media and reference books in English have published casualty figures which vary greatly, from 5,000–35,000 in Dhaka, and 200,000–3,000,000 for Bangladesh as a whole.

According to the Asia Times, “At a meeting of the military top brass, Yahya Khan declared: "Kill 3 million of them and the rest will eat out of our hands." Accordingly, on the night of 25 March, the Pakistani Army launched Operation Searchlight to "crush" Bengali resistance in which Bengali members of military services were disarmed and killed, students and the intelligentsia systematically liquidated and able-bodied Bengali males just picked up and gunned down.”

Although the violence focused on the provincial capital, Dhaka, it also affected all parts of East Pakistan. Residential halls of the University of Dhaka were particularly targeted. The only Hindu residential hall — the Jagannath Hall — was destroyed by the Pakistani armed forces, and an estimated 600 to 700 of its residents were murdered. The Pakistani army denies any cold blooded killings at the university, though the Hamood-ur-Rehman commission in Pakistan concluded that overwhelming force was used at the university. This fact and the massacre at Jagannath Hall and nearby student dormitories of Dhaka University are corroborated by a videotape secretly filmed by Prof. Nurul Ullah of the East Pakistan Engineering University, whose residence was directly opposite the student dormitories.

Hindu areas suffered particularly heavy blows. By midnight, Dhaka was literally burning; especially the Hindu dominated eastern part of the city. Time magazine reported on 2 August 1971, "The Hindus, who account for three-fourths of the refugees and a majority of the dead, have borne the brunt of the Pakistani military hatred."

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was arrested by the Pakistani Army. Yahya Khan appointed Brigadier (later General) Rahimuddin Khan to preside over a special tribunal prosecuting Mujib with multiple charges. The tribunal sentenced Mujib to death, but Yahya caused the verdict to be held in abeyance. Other Awami League leaders were arrested as well, while a few fled Dhaka to avoid arrest. The Awami League was banned by General Yahya Khan.

Leaflets and pamphlets played an important role in driving public opinion during the war. At first resistance was spontaneous and disorganized, and was not expected to be prolonged. But when the Pakistani Army cracked down upon the population, resistance grew. The Mukti Bahini became increasingly active. The Pakistani military sought to quell them, but increasing numbers of Bengali soldiers defected to the underground "Bangladesh army". These Bengali units slowly merged into the Mukti Bahini and bolstered their weaponry with supplies from India. Pakistan responded by airlifting in two infantry divisions and reorganizing their forces. They also raised paramilitary forces of Razakars, Al-Badrs and Al-Shams (who were mostly members of Jamaat-e-Islami and other Islamist groups), as well as other Bengalis who opposed independence, and Bihari Muslims who had settled during the time of partition. The Bangladesh government-in-exile was formed on 17 April at Mujib Nagar.

Bangladesh Forces command reorganization and reinforcement conference on known as the Sector Commanders Conference 1971 11 July - 17th July was presided over by Prime Minister Tajuddin and Gen. Osmani. This conference was significant for shaping and organizing the freedom struggle. The official creation of Bangladesh Forces, its command structuring, sector reorganization, reinforcement and appointing war commanders was its principal focus. Colonel Muhammad Ataul Gani Osmani received his promotion to General and reinstated from retirement as active duty into the armed forces of Bangladesh as its senior most official. Principal participants of this conference were Squadron Leader M. Hamidullah Khan, Major Ziaur Rahman, Wing Commander Bashar, Major Jalil, Captain Haider, Lt. Col. Abdur Rab and Group Captain A.K. Khandaker. Lt. Col. Rab was appointed as Chief of Bangladesh Army Staff and Group Captain Karim Khandaker as Osmanis deputy and later Chief of Air Staff Bangladesh Air Force. In this meeting, Bangladesh was divided into Eleven Sectors under Sector Commanders. Each sector was further structured into a combination of sub-sectors, each commanded by a Sub-Sector Commander. The 10th Sector was directly placed under the Commander in Chief and included the Naval Commandos as the C-in-Cs special force. These commandos were later absorbed into the Bangladesh Navy. Sector Commanders directed the guerrilla warfare against West Pakistani forces. For better efficiency in military operations each of the sectors were divided into a number of sub-sectors.

Bangladesh was divided into Eleven Sectors each with a sector commander chosen from defected officers of Pakistan army who joined the Bangladesh Forces under General M A G Osmani to conduct guerrilla operations and train fighters. Most of their training camps were situated near the border area and were operated with measured assistance from India. The 10th Sector was directly placed under Commander in Chief (C-in-C) and included the Naval Commandos and C-in-Cs special force. Three brigades (11 Battalions) were raised for conventional warfare; a large guerrilla force (estimated 100,000) was trained. Guerrilla operations, which slackened during the training phase, picked up after August. Economic and military targets in Dhaka were attacked. The major success story was Operation Jackpot, in which naval commandos mined and blew up berthed ships in Chittagong on 16 August1971. Pakistani reprisals claimed lives of thousands of civilians. The Indian army took over supplying the Mukti Bahini from the BSF. They organized six sectors for supplying the Bangladesh forces.

Bangladesh conventional forces attacked border outposts. Kamalpur, Belonia and Battle of Boyra are a few examples. 90 out of 370 BOPs fell to Bengali forces. Guerrilla attacks intensified, as did Pakistani and Razakar reprisals on civilian populations. Pakistani forces were reinforced by eight battalions from West Pakistan. The Bangladeshi independence fighters even managed to temporarily capture airstrips at Lalmonirhat and Shalutikar. Both of these were used for flying in supplies and arms from India. Pakistan sent 5 battalions from West Pakistan as reinforcements.

Indian involvement: Wary of the growing involvement of India, the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) launched a pre-emptive strike on India. The attack was modeled on the Operation Focus employed by Israel Air Force during the Six-Day War. However, the plan failed to achieve the desired success and was seen as an open act of unprovoked aggression against the Indians.

Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared war on Pakistan and in aid of the Mukti Bahini, then ordered the immediate mobilization of troops and launched the full-scale invasion. This marked the official start of the Indo-Pakistani War.

Three Indian corps was involved in the invasion of East Pakistan. They were supported by nearly three brigades of Mukti Bahini fighting alongside them, and many more fighting irregularly. This was far superior to the Pakistani army of three divisions. The Indians quickly overran the country, bypassing heavily defended strongholds. Pakistani forces were unable to effectively counter the Indian attack, as they had been deployed in small units around the border to counter guerrilla attacks by the Mukti Bahini. Unable to defend Dhaka, the Pakistanis surrendered on 16 December1971.

The speed of the Indian strategy can be gauged by the fact that one of the regiments of Indian army fought the liberation war along the Jessore and Khulna axis. They were newly converted to a mechanized regiment and it took them just 1 week to reach Khulna after capturing Jessore. Their losses were limited to just 2 newly acquired APCs (SKOT) from the Russians. Indian Army's T-55 tanks on their way to Dhaka. India's military intervention played a crucial role in turning the tide in favor of the Bangladeshi rebels. India's external intelligence agency, the R&AW, played a crucial role in providing logistic support to the Mukti Bahini during the initial stages of the war. R&AWs operations, in then-East Pakistan, were the largest covert operation in the history of South Asia.

Pakistan launched a number of armored thrusts along India's western front in attempts to force Indian troops away from East Pakistan. Pakistan tried to fight back and boost the sagging morale by incorporating the Special Services Group commandos in sabotage and rescue missions. This, however, could not stop the juggernaut of the advancing columns, whose speed and power were too much to contain for the Pakistani Army.

The Indian Air Force carried out several sorties against Pakistan, and within a week, IAF aircraft dominated the skies of East Pakistan. It total air by the end of the first week as the entire Pakistani air contingent in the east, PAF No.14 Squadron, was grounded due to Indian airstrikes at Tejgaon, Kurmitolla, Lal Munir Hat and Shamsher Nagar. Sea Hawks from INS Vikrant also struck Chittagong, Barisal and Coxs Bazar, destroying the eastern wing of the Pakistan Navy and effectively blockading the East Pakistan ports, thereby cutting off any escape routes for the stranded Pakistani soldiers. The nascent Bangladesh Navy (comprising officers and sailors who defected from Pakistani Navy) aided the Indians in the marine warfare, carrying out attacks, most notably Operation Jackpot.

On 16 December 1971, Lt. Gen A. A. K. Niazi, CO of Pakistan Army forces located in East Pakistan signed the instrument of surrender. At the time of surrender only a few countries had provided diplomatic recognition to the new nation. Bangladesh sought admission in the UN with most voting in its favor, but China vetoed this as Pakistan was its key ally. However, the United States was one of the last nations to accord Bangladesh recognition. To ensure a smooth transition, in 1972 the Simla Agreement was signed between India and Pakistan. The treaty ensured that Pakistan recognized the independence of Bangladesh in exchange for the return of the Pakistani PoWs. India treated all the PoWs in strict accordance with the Geneva Convention, rule 1925. It released more than 90,000 Pakistani PoWs in five months.

Further, as a gesture of goodwill, nearly 200 soldiers who were sought for war crimes by Bengalis were also pardoned by India. The accord also gave back more than 13,000 km of land that Indian troops had seized in West Pakistan during the war, though India retained a few strategic areas; most notably Kargil (which would in turn again be the focal point for a war between the two nations in 1999). This was done as a measure of promoting "lasting peace" and was acknowledged by many observers as a sign of maturity by India. But some in India felt that the treaty had been too lenient to Bhutto, who had pleaded for leniency, arguing that the fragile democracy in Pakistan would crumble if the accord was perceived as being overly harsh by Pakistanis.

Short life history of Bangobondhu:
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was born in a respectable Muslim Family on 17 March, 1920, in Tungipara village under the then Gopalganj subdivision (at present district) of Faridpur district. He was the third child among four daughters and two sons of Sheikh Lutfar Rahman and Sheikh Shahara Khatun. His parents used to call him Khoka out of affection. Bangabandhu spent his childhood in Tungipara. At the age of seven, Bangabandhu began his schooling at Gimadanga Primary School. At nine, he was admitted to class three at Gopalganj Public School. Subsequently, he was transferred to a local Missionary School.

In 1934, Bangabandhu was forced to go for a break of study when, at the age of fourteen, one of his eyes had to be operated on. In 1938,

At eighteen, Mujib married Begum Fazilatunnesa. They later became the happy parents of two daughters, Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana, and three sons, Sheikh Kamal, Sheikh Jamal and Sheikh Russel. All the sons were to be killed along with their parents on 15 August, 1975. In 1939, Bangabandhu's political career was effectively inaugurated while he was a student at Gopalganj Missionary School. He led a group of students to demand that the cracked roof of the school be repaired when Sher-e-Bangla A. K. Fazlul Huq, Chief Minister of Undivided Bengal, came to visit the school along with Hussein Shaheed Suhrawardy. In 1940, Sheikh Mujib joined the Nikhil Bharat Muslim Chhatra Federation (All India Muslim Students Federation). He was elected Councilor for a one-year term. In 1942, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman passed the Entrance (currently Secondary School Certificate) Examination. He then took admission as an Intermediate student in the humanities faculty of Calcutta Islamia College, where he had lodgings at Baker Hostel. The same year Bangabandhu got actively involved with the movement for the creation of Pakistan. In 1943, Sheikh Mujib's busy active political career took off in the literal sense with his election as a Councilor of the Muslim League. In 1944, Bangabandhu took part in the conference of the all Bengal Muslim Students League held in Kushtia, where he played an important role. He was elected Secretary of Faridpur District Association, a Calcutta-based organization of the residents of Faridpur. In 1946,

Sheikh Mujib was elected General Secretary of Islamia College Students Union. In 1947, Bangabandhu obtained Bachelor of Arts degree from Islamia College under Calcutta University. When communal riots broke out in the wake of the partition of India and the birth of Pakistan, Bangabandhu played a pioneering role in protecting Muslims and trying to contain the violence.

In 1948, Bangabandhu took admission in the Law Department of Dhaka University. He founded the Muslim Students League on 4 January. He rose in spontaneous protest on 23 February when Prime Minister Khwaja Nazimuddin in his speech at the Legislative Assembly declared: “The people of East Pakistan will accept Urdu as their state Language". Khwaja Nazimuddins's remarks touched off a storm of protest across the country. Sheikh Mujib immediately plunged in hectic activities to build a strong movement against the muslim League's premeditated, heinous design to make Urdu the only state language of Pakistan. He established contacts with students and political leaders. On 2 March, a meeting of the workers of different political parties was held to chart the course of the movement against the Muslim League on the language issue. The meeting held at Fazlul Huq Hall approved a resolution placed by Bangabandhu to form an All-Party State Language Action Council. The Action Council called for a general strike on 11 March to register the protest against the conspiracy of the Muslim League against Bangla. On 11 March, Bangabandhu was arrested along with some colleagues while they were holding a demonstration in front of the Secretariat building. The student community of the country rose in protest following the arrest of Bangabandhu. In the face of the strong student movement.

In 1949, Sheikh Mujib was released from jail on 21st January. Bangabandhu extended his support to a strike called by the Class Four employees of Dhaka University to press home their various demands. The University authorities illogically imposed a fine on him for leading the movement of the employees. He rejected the unjust order. Eventually, the anti-Muslim League candidate Shamsul Huq won a by-election in Tangail on 26 April. Mujib was arrested for staging a sit-in strike before the Vice-chancellor's residence. When the East Pakistan Awami Muslim League was formed on 23 June. Bangabandhu was elected its joint Secretary despite his incarceration. He was released in late June. Immediately after his release, he began organizing an agitation against the prevailing food crisis. In September he was detained for violating Section 144, later, however, he was freed. He raised the demand for Chief Minister Nurul Amin's resignation at a meeting of the Awami Muslim League in October.

The Awami Muslim League brought out an anti-famine Minister Liaquat Ali Khan's visit to the province. Once again Bangbandhu was arrested and jailed, this time for two years and five months for leading the demonstration.

In 1952, On 26th January, Khwaja Nazimuddin declared that Urdu would be the state language of Pakistan. Though still in jail, Bangabandhu managed to play a leading role in organization a protest against this announcement. From prison he sends out a call to the State Language Action Council to observe 21st February as Demand Day for releasing political prisoners and making. Bangla the state language. He began a hunger strike on 14 February. On 21st February the student. Community violated Section 144 and brought out procession in Dhaka to demand the recognition of Bangla as the state language. Police opened fire, killing I the process Salam, Barkat, Rafique, Jabbar and Shafiur, who thus became Martyrs of the of the Language Movement. In a statement from jail, Bangabandhu condemned the police firing and registered his strong protest. He was on hunger strike for 13 consecutive days. He was moved from Dhaka Central Jail to Faridpur Jail to prevent him from making contact with the organizers of the movement. He was released from jail o 26 February.

In 1953, On 9 July, Mujib was elected General Secretary of East Pakistan Awami League at its council session. Efforts were made to forge unity among Moulana Bhashani, A.K. Fazlul Huq and Shaheed Suhrawardy with the objective of taking on the Muslim League at the general elections. To achieve this goal, a special council session of the party was called on 14 November, when a resolution to form the Jukta Front (United Front) was approved.

In 1954, The first general election were held on 10 March. The United Front won 223 seats out of a total of 237, including 143 captured by the Awami League. Bangabandhu swept the Goppalganj constituency, defeating the powerful Muslim League leader Wahiduzzaman by a margin of 13.00 votes. On 15 May, Bangabandhu was given charge of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forests when the new Provincial Government was formed. On 29 May, the Central Government arbitrarily dismissed the United Front ministry. Bangabandhu was again arrested once he landed at Dhaka airport after a flight from Karachi on 30 May. He was freed on 23 December.

In 1955, Bangabandhu was elected a member of the Legislative Assembly on 5 June. The Awami League held a public meeting at Paltan Maidan on 17 June where it put forward a 21 point programme demanding autonomy for East Pakistan. On 23 June, the Working Council of the Awami League decided that its members would resign from the Legislative Assembly if autonomy was not granted to East Pakistan. On 25 August, Bangabandhu told Pakistan's assembly in Karachi.

"SIR, YOU WILL SEE THAT THEY WANT TO PLACE THE WORD 'EAST PAKISTAN' INSTEAD OF 'EAST BENGAL' WE HAVE DEMANDED SO MANY TIMES THAT YOU SHOULD USE BENGAL INSTEAD OF PAKISTAN. THE WORD 'BENGAL' HAS A HISTORY, HAS A TRADITION OF ITS OWN. YOU CAN CHANGE IT ONLY AFTER THE PEOPLE HAVE BEEN CONSULTED. IF YOU WANT TO CHANGE IT THEN WE HAVE TO GO BACK TO BENGAL AND ASK THEM WHETHER THEY ACCEPT IT SO FAR AS THE QUESTION OF ONE-UNIT IS CONCERNED IT CAN COME IN THE CONSTITUTION. WHY DO YOU WANT IT TO BE TAKEN UP JUST NOW ? WHAT ABOUT THE STATE LANGUAGE, BENGALI ? BE WILL BE PREPARED TO CONSIDER ONE-UNIT WITH ALL THESE THINGS. SO, I APPEAL TO MY FRIENDS ON THAT SIDE TO ALLOW THE PEOPLE TO GIVE THEIR VERDICT IN ANY WAY, IN THE FORM OF REFERENDUM OR IN THE FORM OF PLEBISCITE."

On 21 October, the party dropped the word "Muslim from its name at a special council of the Bangladesh Awami Muslim League, making the party a truly modern and secular one. Bangbandhu was reelected General Secretary of party.

Forced by international pressure and the imperatives of its own domestic predicament, Pakistan was obliged to release Sheikh Mujib from its jail soon after the liberation of Bangladesh and on 10 January 1972 the great leader returned to his beloved land and his admiring nation.

But as he saw the plight of the country his heart bled and he knew that there would be no moment of rest for him. Almost the entire nation including about ten million people returning from their refuge in India had to be rehabilitated, the shattered economy needed to be put back on the rail, the infrastructure had to be rebuilt, millions had to be saved from starvation and law and order had to be restored. Simultaneously, a new constitution had to be framed, a new parliament had to be elected and democratic institutions had to be put in place. Any ordinary mortal would break down under the pressure of such formidable tasks that needed to be addressed on top priority basis. Although simple at heart, Sheikh Mujib was a man of cool nerves and of great strength of mind. Under his charismatic leadership the country soon began moving on to the road to progress and the people found their long-cherished hopes and aspirations being gradually realized.

But at this critical juncture, his life was cut short by a group of anti-liberation reactionary forces who in a pre-dawn move on 15 August 1975 not only assassinated him but 23 of his family members and close associates. Even his 10 year old son Russel's life was not spared by the assassins. The only survivors were his two daughters, Sheikh Hasina - now the country's Prime Minister - and her younger sister Sheikh Rehana, who were then away on a visit to Germany. In killing the father of the Nation, the conspirators ended a most glorious chapter in the history of Bangladesh but they could not end the great leader's finest legacy- the rejuvenated Bengali nation. In a fitting tribute to his revered memory, the present government has declared August 15 as the national mourning day. On this day every year the people would be paying homage to the memory of a man who became a legend in his own lifetime. Bangabandhu lives in the heart of his people. Bangladesh and Bangabandhu are one and inseparable. Bangladesh was Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's vision and he fought and died for it.

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman dedicated his life to establishing a democratic, peaceful and exploitation-free society called "Sonar Bangla" - Golden Bengal. He sacrificed his life to liberate the Bangalee nation, which had been groaning under the colonial and imperialist yoke for nearly 1,000 years. He is the founding father of the Bangalee nation, generator of Bangalee nationalism and creator of the sovereign state of Bangladesh. But, before fulfill his dream the killers killed him with his almost all family members. That was our great tragedy. His political life began as a humble worker while he was still a student. He was fortunate to come in early contact with such towering personalities as Hussain Shaheed Suhrawardy and A K Fazlul Huq, both charismatic Chief Ministers of undivided Bengal. Adolescent Mujib grew up under the gathering gloom of stormy politics as the aging British raj in India was falling apart and the Second World War was violently rocking the continents. He witnessed the ravages of the war and the stark realities of the great famine of 1943 in which about five million people lost their lives. The tragic plight of the people under colonial rule turned young Mujib into a rebel.

This was also the time when he saw the legendary revolutionary Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose challenging the British raj. Also about this time he came to know the works of Bernard Shaw, Karl Marx, Rabindranath Tagore and rebel poet Kazi Nazrul Islam. Soon after the partition of India in 1947 it was felt that the creation of Pakistan with its two wings separated by a physical distance of about 1,200 miles was a geographical monstrosity. The economic, political, cultural and linguistic characters of the two wings were also different. Keeping the two wings together under the forced bonds of a single state structure in the name of religious nationalism would merely result in a rigid political control and economic exploitation of the eastern wing by the all-powerful western wing which controlled the country's capital and its economic and military might.

In 1948 a movement was initiated to make Bengali one of the state languages of Pakistan. This can be termed the first stirrings of the movement for an independent Bangladesh. The demand for cultural freedom gradually led to the demand for national independence. During that language movement Sheikh Mujib was arrested and sent to jail. During the blood-drenched language movement in 1952 he was again arrested and this time he provided inspiring leadership of the movement from inside the jail.

In 1954 Sheikh Mujib was elected a member of the then East Pakistan Assembly. He joined A K Fazlul Huq's United Front government as the youngest minister. The ruling clique of Pakistan soon dissolved this government and Shiekh Mujib was once again thrown into prison. In 1955 he was elected a member of the Pakistan Constituent Assembly and was again made a minister when the Awami League formed the provincial government in 1956. Soon after General Ayub Khan staged a military coup in Pakistan in 1958, Sheikh Mujib was arrested once again and a number of cases were instituted against him. He was released after 14 months in prison but was re-arrested in February 1962. In fact, he spent the best part of his youth behind the prison bars. March 7, 1971 was a day of supreme test in his life. Nearly two million freedom loving people assembled at the Ramna Race Course Maidan, later renamed Suhrawardy Uddyan, on that day to hear their leader's command for the battle for liberation. The Pakistani military junta was also waiting to trap him and to shoot down the people on the plea of suppressing a revolt against the state. Sheikh Mujib spoke in a thundering voice but in a masterly well-calculated restrained language. His historic declaration in the meeting was: "Our struggle this time is for freedom. Our struggle this time is for independence." To deny the Pakistani military an excuse for a crackdown, he took care to put forward proposals for a solution of the crisis in a constitutional way and kept the door open for negotiations.

The crackdown, however, did come on March 25 when the junta arrested Sheikh Mujib for the last time and whisked him away to West Pakistan for confinement for the entire duration of the liberation war. In the name of suppressing a rebellion the Pakistani military let loose hell on the unarmed civilians throughout Bangladesh and perpetrated a genocide killing no less than three million men, women and children, raping women in hundreds of thousands and destroying property worth billions of taka. Before their ignominious defeat and surrender they, with the help of their local collaborators, killed a large number of intellectuals, university professors, writers, doctors, journalists, engineers and eminent persons of other professions. In pursuing a scorch-earth policy they virtually destroyed the whole of the country's infrastructure. But they could not destroy the indomitable spirit of the freedom fighters nor could they silence the thundering voice of the leader. Tape recordings of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib's 7th March speech kept on inspiring his followers throughout the war.
Source: Internet