Independence Day Special 2018

Independence Day Special 2018

BANGLADESH'S INDEPENDENCE / Only Sheikh Mujib could deliver

The month of March is a turning point in our history for this is the time when we achieved our independence from colonial Pakistani rule. Incidentally, this is also the month in which (on March 17) was born the father of the Bengali nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

6y ago

“Bangabandhu” - An illustrious leader

In 1973 at the Algiers Non-Aligned Summit, embracing Bangabandhu, Cuba's Fidel Castro remarked, “I have not seen the Himalayas. But I have seen Sheikh Mujib. In personality and in courage, this man is the Himalayas. I have thus had the experience of witnessing the Himalayas.”

6y ago

INDEPENDENCE DAY SPECIAL 2018 / Editor's note

As we step into our 47th year of independence, we commemorate March 26 with joy and gratitude. Our becoming independent was the inevitable conclusion of decades of struggle against subjugation that had left us bereft of our most fundamental cultural, economic and political rights. It is a day that is remembered as a monumental transition from a state of oppression to that of an independent state which was

6y ago

The Liberation War and the Provisional Government

In the wake of the crackdown on March 25, the Awami League leaders felt bereft and were left to their devices. Senior leaders fled from their houses to take shelter either in remote villages or in India. Among them was the Awami League General Secretary Tajuddin Ahmed. The Indian authorities gave them safety and shelter. On the evening of April 1, Tajuddin and Barrister Amirul Islam were put aboard a Russian-

6y ago

Indian army's support structure

If your house is set on fire, and my house is adjacent to yours, I cannot rest in peace. That was precisely the case for India in March 1971, when East Pakistan was set on fire by the Pakistani brute military. There were massacres, rapes, destructions and lootings in East Pakistan, forcing millions of Bengali people to search for safety elsewhere.

6y ago

BOOK REVIEW / 1971: Resistance, Resilience and Redemption

1971: Resistance, Resilience and Redemption by Major General Md Sarwar Hossain, BSP, SGP, ndc, ldmc, psc, PhD is another addition to the existing literature on the most glorious phase of our history—the Liberation War.

6y ago

Memories of the angry March

February 1971 President Yahya Khan in a military conference had directed his subordinates “Kill three million of them and the rest will eat out of our hands”. Quoted from Massacre: The tragedy at Bangladesh and the phenomenon of mass slaughter throughout history by Robert Payne.

6y ago

Operation Kalachara Tea Garden

After a series of delaying battles at Ujanishar, Akhaura, Kharampur, Rajapur in April, 1971, my forces i.e. D Company, 4E, Bengal and two assorted platoons consisting of EPR, Mujahid and volunteers were forced out of Bangladesh. We crossed the border at Narsingarh opposite Singerbil of Bangladesh in the first week of May, 1971. For obvious reasons we were battle-fatigued and exhausted.

6y ago

Why should a hero remain unsung?

I came across a facebook positing of Mrs. Bilkis Mohiuddin, wife of an illustrious diplomat Mr. Mohiuddin Ahmed, that a veteran of diplomatic front in 1971 has not yet been recognised by the State for his historical contribution in the diplomatic front of the war. He is no other than Mr. Amjadul Huq, an Assistant Press Attaché of Pakistan Embassy in New Delhi in 1971.

6y ago