Remembering Jahanara Imam: Forging a war amidst a war
"Alright, I concede. I sacrifice you to the country. Go, enrol in the war." These were the words of Jahanara Imam, known as "Shaheed Janani," to her eldest son Shafi Imam Rumi when the 20-year-old sought permission to join Bangladesh's Liberation War of 1971. To what extent will a mother go to protect her son and ensure his purpose in life and in death?
From the heart-wrenching sacrifice of her son during the Liberation War to her relentless pursuit of justice for the thousands of Bengali mothers who also lost their children, Imam's struggle and determination were unwavering. Her fight didn't end with the war; it continued with a revolution aimed at ensuring that the most despicable traitors in Bengali history, the war criminals, faced appropriate punishment. Her unwavering commitment transformed personal tragedy into a national movement for justice and accountability.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. 
From the mother of a freedom fighter, Imam's determination and lifelong battle as a mother, woman, and proud citizen of the country echo her name in every step of history that followed March 1971.
"Last night, all of us stayed up, again. Sounds of gunfire, columns of fire, smoke swirling upwards. In the morning, the sound of gunfire paused for a while… When at eight-thirty, they made a radio-announcement regarding the lifting of the curfew, Rumi and I set out in the car… When we reached the vegetable sellers' area of New Market, Rumi hit the brakes with 'Oh God!' The entire market was gutted by fire. Parts of it are still smouldering. I screamed, 'Look, there are charred human bodies too…' Rumi said, 'Amma, don't look,' and turned right on Mirpur Road, sped away…"
This is what Jahanara Imam recounted of the first blow of the Liberation War that continued for nine months in 1971. To this day, her memoir "Ekattorer Dinguli" stands as a vital historico-literary document of the Liberation War, offering firsthand accounts of the violence and the struggle for freedom.
Disguising it as a personal household journal, Jahanara Imam meticulously wrote "Ekattorer Dinguli," which metamorphosed into one of the most accurate, genuine, and sincere chronicles of the war. Widely recognised as the "Shaheed Janani," she fact-checked her entries using 80 audio tapes of interviews with Rumi's surviving comrades and other participants, particularly focusing on guerilla operations.
Imam interspersed her journal with irrelevant details, giving it the appearance of a bored housewife's musings. As crucial as it was to her, longing for her son, Rumi, her one true love, for whom she waited every day of the war, she also wrote in code, substituting "six sarees" for "six rifles," and used pseudonyms to protect soldiers' identities. She painted geometric patterns and used pens with different coloured inks to make the journal seem trivial and so that she could recall them exactly after the formidable war.
Beginning on March 1, 1971, and ending on December 17, 1971, the day after the Pakistani Army's surrender, Imam's daily entries intertwine domestic life with the political turmoil of the time, with her older son, Rumi, at the heart of the narrative.
Reviewing the English translation of "Ekattorer Dinguli," Philip Hensher writes in The Guardian, "Just as the Holocaust needed a Diary of Anne Frank that brought the numbing total of deaths down to an individual, human case, so the Bangladeshi massacres are brought down to the feelings of a mother for her son" (March 1, 2013).
Imam endured immense personal losses during the freedom struggle: the arrest and subsequent disappearance of her eldest son, the interrogation and torture of her younger son Saif Imam Jami, and husband, and the death of her husband Shariful Imam just three days before the war ended.
Imam continued her relentless pursuit of justice in the 1990s by organising the Ekattorer Ghatak-Dalal Nirmul Committee, which aimed to bring war criminals and collaborators of the 1971 genocide to justice. As the convener of this body, she faced severe repercussions; in 1992, the BNP government charged her with sedition. The following year, while addressing the public with the committee's updated findings, she was assaulted by the police.
Through her relentless activism and unyielding spirit, Jahanara Imam remains a beacon of courage and resilience in the face of immense adversity. Imam rose from becoming only Rumi's mother, to the mother of the war-stricken country, a leader who inspired love, respect and took authority of what should be done. The ever-lit wrath of the mother, a single voice amassed thousands and every political, cultural, and regional force together to voice one demand, the only cultural personality to unify people under her name after Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
Under her leadership, protestors, despite their diverse backgrounds, stood upright day and night to uplift their cause. As the nation holds war criminals accountable and strives to settle one of history's greatest debts, we remember with respect, pride, and reverence a mother, a woman, and a formidable force of the Liberation War: Jahanara Imam, on her 30th death anniversary today.
Dowel Biswas works for Arts and Entertainment at The Daily Star.
Views expressed in this article are the author's own.
Follow The Daily Star Opinion on Facebook for the latest opinions, commentaries and analyses by experts and professionals. To contribute your article or letter to The Daily Star Opinion, see our guidelines for submission.
Comments