The hero of the liberation war

For over two decades Mujibur Rahman spearheaded the movement, first for autonomy and later for freedom for what is now Bangladesh.

KABIR CHOWDHURY

THE assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was masterminded by a small group of conspirators who were opposed to the values that underlay the Bangladesh liberation struggle, which Bangabandhu lived and fought for. They could not accept the notion of a sovereign Bangladesh that adhered to secular principles and was committed to building a just and equitable society.

Mujibur Rahman spearheaded the movement in East Pakistan, first for autonomy, and later for the freedom of Bengalis, for over two decades. He was repeatedly imprisoned by the autocratic regime of Field Marshal Ayub Khan of Pakistan; every attempt was made to crush his spirit, but his resolution was rock-like. His leadership of the mass upsurge of 1969-70 and the non-cooperation movement launched in early 1971 was unforgettable. His historic speech at a public meeting in Dhaka on March 7, 1971 - in which he asked Bengalis to turn every home into a fortress and fight the enemy with whatever they could lay their hands on, for the struggle this time was the struggle for independence - will remain an inexhaustible source of inspiration for Bengalis.

On the night of March 25, 1971 the Pakistani military junta unleashed on the unarmed people of Bangladesh violence on an unprecedented scale. Early on March 26, Mujibur Rahman proclaimed the independence of Bangladesh. He knew full well that his life was in serious jeopardy, but he refused to flee the country, although he advised his colleagues to do so and carry on the freedom struggle. Mujibur Rahman was arrested by the Pakistani Army that night and whisked away to a jail in West Pakistan. All through the nine-month-long liberation war, he was placed in solitary confinement there. From inside his cell, he could hear the sound of shovelling outside: his grave was being dug. But his spirit remained indomitable.

THE HINDU PHOTO LIBRARY
Mujibur Rahman addresses a rally in Dhaka on March 7, 1971. It was a historic rally, at which he announced a programme of non-cooperation with the Central Government, marking an intensification of the struggle for independence.

Recalling those terrible days, he said:

"They had my body in their possession. They could, in a moment of utter desperation, do anything with it. But I was confident that if they took my life, my people would carry on the liberation struggle.

"If I had to be a victim of their mad fury following the eventual victory of the Bengalis, I would have no regret. If I had more than one life and if I were required to give all of them for the fulfilment of my cherished dream called Bangladesh, I would gladly do so. They could kill me only once..."

World opinion and the domestic political imperatives of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto led to Mujibur Rahman's release after Bangladesh became a sovereign independent people's republic when the 93,000-strong Pakistan Army accepted defeat at the hands of the Allied Forces - the Mukti Bahini of Bangladesh and the fraternal Indian soldiers.

Bangabandhu came back to his motherland on January 10, 1972. He was given a hero's welcome. The country, however, was a shambles. After the Pakistan Army had gone on the rampage in late March and early April of 1971, cities looked as if they had been subjected to a nuclear attack, a team of inspectors from the World Bank observed. The war had claimed the lives of three million Bengalis.

Mujibur Rahman took up the task of reconstruction. Under his guidance, phenomenal progress was made in several areas. He gave the country a modern, progressive Constitution barely nine months after Bangladesh was born, and the first general elections within a year and a half. (Pakistan was born in 1947, but its leaders took nine years to draw up the country's Constitution; the first general elections were held 23 years later.) At Bangabandhu's request, the Indian Army, which had fought side by side with the freedom fighters, promptly left the country.

But the enemies of the liberation war, the forces of reaction and counter-revolution and the communal and fundamentalist elements of the country went on with their relentless plotting until they succeeded in assassinating Bangabandhu. And then Bangladesh began its journey backward. From August 1975 until June 1996, a systematic campaign was carried out by successive reactionary regimes to tarnish the image of the Father of the Nation and to block all attempts to put his killers on trial. History was shamelessly distorted. Secularism and socialism, two cardinal values which inspired freedom fighters during the war of liberation and which were incorporated in the Bangladesh Constitution of 1972, were abandoned.

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Jubilant Mukti Bahini fighters in Dhaka after the surrender of Pakistani forces in East Pakistan.

However, in June 1996 a Government which believed in the ideals cherished by Bangabandhu came to power. Headed by his daughter Sheikh Hasina, the Government is trying to undo the evils perpetrated during the past 21 years and usher Bangladesh into the new millennium as a democratic, progressive, economically self-sufficient country. The Government of Sheikh Hasina is looking to build a civil society and, naturally, the establishment of the rule of law is one of its priorities.

Soon after assuming power, the new democratic Government initiated various measures to establish the rule of law. On November 12, 1996 the infamous Indemnity Ordinance was repealed by Parliament; this paved the way for the trial of the assassins. Despite attempts by the conspirators to thwart the process by various means and demands to set up a special tribunal to try the case so that no time would be wasted, the Government stuck to its decision to have the case heard in an open court under the existing laws after given the accused who had absconded a chance to be heard. It made it clear to the people of Bangladesh and to the world that the trial was no act of revenge. In contrast, the regimes of Gen. Ziaur Rahman and Gen. H.M. Ershad had hurriedly framed charges against a large number of Army officers who had taken part in the liberation war; after in-camera trials in military courts in different cantonments of the country, the accused were executed in the darkness of the night.

Now the way is clear for other trials. On November 3, 1975, four national leaders of Bangladesh, all close associates of Bangabandhu, were murdered inside the Dhaka Central Jail. The trial proceedings in that case will start soon. One hopes that the assassinations of some others - Gen. Ziaur Rahman, Col. Abu Taher, Gen. Manzoor - will be investigated at an early date and that justice will be done in all these cases.

Prof. Kabir Chowdhury is a leading figure in the anti-fundamentalist movement in Bangladesh.

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