Faruque Ahmed :
Every nation have some glorious national level events participated by its entire citizens irrespective of colour, cast, creed and religion. These events are necessarily history making to be remembered by its
citizens from all walks of life.
All the people of the county feel proud to be participated spontaneously as if a national duty and some may consider it as if religious rites followed by the pious people.
I feel proud to have the rare opportunity to attend the three national events such as, March 7 speech delivered by the father of our nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1971. Mock Trail of war criminals of 1971 headed by Jahan Ara Imam held on March 26, 1992, and lastly, the National Anthem participated by atleast 5/6 Lakh people this year (2014) in its national and victory day on March 26 at the National Parade Square, Tejgaon in Dhaka.
Now let me describe these events one by one and the feeling an individual had, to be a part of history making. As a young man of early twenties, I had the highest enthusiasm while participating political/cultural meetings, slogans etc arranged by the general mass against
Pakistani ruler. The time was
different, we the young people would smell the rising glow of ammunition in the air everyday,
and preparing for war in all fronts against the oppressor, the Pakistani military junta. For the young, things seemingly were easy, fight out and liberate in whatever manner possible, be it straight war or any other means which is not known to us,
liberate the country with any thing available with us or fight to the last without any question whatsoever. We have been moving toward that goal; no way out to come back. One leader, one country, one goal, one vision and the nation united under one banner, the independence at whatever cost. We have been counting days, hours, minutes for the final sermon from the mouth of our undisputed leader Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the final words, declaration of independence. These words may come out any time, any moment, waiting, waiting, and waiting! And waiting is as painful as death. Finally it was announced that our leader would deliver his verdict on March 7 in the Suhrawardy Udyan, Dhaka in the afternoon. People from all walks of life started pouring in from midday in hundreds and thousands from different parts of the county to hear the final words from his mouth directly. At 12:00 noon, the Udyan was full of human heads of all ages.
I along with few of my young associates and friends started from Shantibag (Mailbag area, Dhaka)
on foot and reached Suhrawardy Udyan through Ramna Park before midday and have our seats nearer
to the big podium.
A bamboo fence was erected just adjacent to the podium in order to accommodate the women attending the meeting. I, along with my
associates found a suitable place touching the bamboo fence so that we can have the closer look of the leader and hear his speech
distinctly and conveniently.
And the leader ascended the
podium with all his exuberance and charismatic gesture and
posture. With his usual loud tone and courageous voice he started his historical speech quite unmatched to the contemporary speeches
delivered by the world renewed political/social leaders.
My associates and myself were enthusiastically very much fond
of classical poems of world reputed poets around the world. But we were extremely stunned at the words and sentences delivered by
this poet of politics.
It was totally unmatched, not heard of by the contemporary world political leaders of his time. Seven and half crore population of this soil grasped these words, these sermon from a man of extraordinary height, as if the tall man at his stature has touched the sky with his might and no one could climb up to his rising hands, he is so big, so huge, so gigantic and so magnificent as we could imagine at that moment. It was unparalleled in the history, a speech to be accepted by all men, women old and young together pledged to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman of the fullest
support and start war against the oppression of Pakistani military
junta. All united hand to hand, shoulder-to-shoulder, fight against Pakistani military and win the
war at any cost.
I have in my collection few speeches of world renowned political leaders and social reformers. I have carefully read all these speeches including Gettysburg speech
delivered by the great American presidents Abraham Lincoln, John
F Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon, Barrack Obama, republican leader Jhon Maccain.
These all speeches are full of
intellect, political wisdom
foresightedness and leadership quality. While comparing the speech of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman alongside the above speeches of leaders as narrated above, I can unhesitatingly say, with all my honesty, that to me, speech
of Bangabandhu appeared more appealing, appropriate, logical,
poetic and suiting to the situation having all norms and ethics,
intellect and political leadership.
The speech, we often refer to as world famous, the Gettysburg speech by Abraham Lincoln, was
a written version prepared earlier while taking lunch in the house of local leader of his party and
delivered the same in the afternoon. I would like to mention here the speech of Martin Luther king Jr, which appears to be widely known through out the world, to me, one
of the best in all the
speeches, I have referred.
To start with “I have a dream” – a rhythmic, poetic, emotion oriented and, above all, a call for unity among all Americans and over the world, have a different meaning and
inspiring for all suffering humanity around the world. This speech will remain a masterpiece for mankind of all times, a bold and brave call against discrimination amongst all men and women of all ages irrespective of colour, creed and religion.
But the speech of March 7 of 1971 has tremendously inspired 7½ core Bangalee of that time to wage war against Pakistan oppressor and fight out the independence of our beloved motherland is, rare and unparalleled in the contemporary history of mankind. And here the essence of this speech is different, in order to achieving a goal for liberation of a country. This speech is unique and not to be compared with any other delivered by any statesman
of the world till date.
Now I come to the event that
bear the extra-ordinary courage,
foresightedness and deep rooted love for the country. The essence, aim and object of independence of Bangladesh were about to forget by the young generation in absence of learning of real history of war of independence, specially by the
students. In view of unfavourable administration in power for long time, it was not possible to instil the values associated with the liberation of Bangladesh. The situation was unbearable for the freedom loving and patriotic people of the country. In order to get rid of this condition, freedom fighters and general mass were looking for ways and means
to overcome these crises.
Jahan Ara Imam, an extra-ordinary brave person stood at her feet straight and called upon all the patriotic people of Bangladesh to come up with firm determination for trial of war criminals and bring back the essence and spirit of our liberation war. She was a person with a difference. Because of her leadership quality and courageous determination, she could unite the nation under one banner and started her struggle for achieving the mission.
I was her fan and had the highest regards for her book titled Ekatturer Dingulo, a masterpiece, a unique book on our liberation war. She described the events in 1971 vividly with her honesty and integrity; the conditions then prevailed in occupied Dhaka. She narrated in her book in a manner just unparalleled in the contemporary world of literature. She won the hearts of millions through her book and younger generation started to call her ‘Mother’ in the manner her son Rumi, a guerrilla freedom fighter, who was caught by the occupation Pakistani military and was brutally killed in the
concentration camp. Her husband Engineer Shareef was also taken away by the occupation force and tortured mercilessly and with his injuries he expired just after the
liberation of Bangladesh. She bore these two tragedies in her heart silently and consumed it without informing others the pains she
suffered for these great loss in her family she encountered. I believe for this book she has written, she will be remembered for thousand years in the history of Bangladesh. She was widely respected and highly
accepted by the people for her
sacrifice for the cause of
liberation of Bangladesh.
Rumi her beloved son, a guerrilla freedom fighter, became a legend to us as we grew a generation of liberation war veteran of this country. We gather courage in the crisis of the nation at his name and shed tears for his tragic loss in disguise not to be shown to others in line with his fellow freedom fighters. When this tall beloved lady mother of millions of freedom fighters and their associates, stood up and called us all to attend at the Suhrawardy Udyan on the March 26, 1992 for Mock Trail of War Criminals comprising of 12 judges for committing crimes at the time of war of independence of Bangladesh. I was then serving in a government Corporation as senior officer. Despite unfavourable situation and in spite of knowing the danger of attending the event as a govt. officer, I ventured and wholeheartedly participated the event along with lakhs of patriotic people in the Suhrawardy Udyan. This is one of the memorable events in my life.
After the lapse of 43 years from 1971 and 22 years from 1992, of the above events I participated, another clarion call came to attend at national parade Square (old Tejgaon
Airport) for singing of national Anthem to be participated by lakhs of people of this soil on the Independence and National Day on March 26, 2014. To be honest, I should admit that I at my mid sixties feel the same enthusiasm as I had while participated the above two events. But my physical ability at this age is obviously different from those days, and was afraid to attend this national programme singly. But my desire was so intense, so deep, so inspiring that it was not possible on my part to be confined in the house.
Necessity knows no bound.
I thought on the matter seriously regarding my participation in the event and asked one of my young relatives Titu to accompany me to the ground early in the morning.
He gladly accepted the offer and we both attended right in time in the morning. Though the management committee asked for 3 lakhs people to participate, the attendance was around 5/6 lakhs in my estimation in and around the parade Square.
In order to make a world record, when right at 11:00am lakhs of people stood straight on their feet, the entire venue took a different shape, so disciplined, so emotion oriented, we started singing our national anthem at the highest of our voices, it was a scene beyond description as if something divine happened and as if the entire Bangladesh is standing on its feet raising the voice to resist any evil whatsoever come on our way. My heart filled with divine joy and happiness finding no words
to define the event.
Before leaving this world for my eternal home, I can say with pleasure and happiness that participation in these three events undoubtedly gave me the highest satisfaction
I have ever got in my whole life. In this connection I would urge all my fellow countrymen to be patriot and love this country from the core of their hearts and make this county a beautiful place for living of our next generation with pride and dignity. n
Every nation have some glorious national level events participated by its entire citizens irrespective of colour, cast, creed and religion. These events are necessarily history making to be remembered by its
citizens from all walks of life.
All the people of the county feel proud to be participated spontaneously as if a national duty and some may consider it as if religious rites followed by the pious people.
I feel proud to have the rare opportunity to attend the three national events such as, March 7 speech delivered by the father of our nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1971. Mock Trail of war criminals of 1971 headed by Jahan Ara Imam held on March 26, 1992, and lastly, the National Anthem participated by atleast 5/6 Lakh people this year (2014) in its national and victory day on March 26 at the National Parade Square, Tejgaon in Dhaka.
Now let me describe these events one by one and the feeling an individual had, to be a part of history making. As a young man of early twenties, I had the highest enthusiasm while participating political/cultural meetings, slogans etc arranged by the general mass against
Pakistani ruler. The time was
different, we the young people would smell the rising glow of ammunition in the air everyday,
and preparing for war in all fronts against the oppressor, the Pakistani military junta. For the young, things seemingly were easy, fight out and liberate in whatever manner possible, be it straight war or any other means which is not known to us,
liberate the country with any thing available with us or fight to the last without any question whatsoever. We have been moving toward that goal; no way out to come back. One leader, one country, one goal, one vision and the nation united under one banner, the independence at whatever cost. We have been counting days, hours, minutes for the final sermon from the mouth of our undisputed leader Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the final words, declaration of independence. These words may come out any time, any moment, waiting, waiting, and waiting! And waiting is as painful as death. Finally it was announced that our leader would deliver his verdict on March 7 in the Suhrawardy Udyan, Dhaka in the afternoon. People from all walks of life started pouring in from midday in hundreds and thousands from different parts of the county to hear the final words from his mouth directly. At 12:00 noon, the Udyan was full of human heads of all ages.
I along with few of my young associates and friends started from Shantibag (Mailbag area, Dhaka)
on foot and reached Suhrawardy Udyan through Ramna Park before midday and have our seats nearer
to the big podium.
A bamboo fence was erected just adjacent to the podium in order to accommodate the women attending the meeting. I, along with my
associates found a suitable place touching the bamboo fence so that we can have the closer look of the leader and hear his speech
distinctly and conveniently.
And the leader ascended the
podium with all his exuberance and charismatic gesture and
posture. With his usual loud tone and courageous voice he started his historical speech quite unmatched to the contemporary speeches
delivered by the world renewed political/social leaders.
My associates and myself were enthusiastically very much fond
of classical poems of world reputed poets around the world. But we were extremely stunned at the words and sentences delivered by
this poet of politics.
It was totally unmatched, not heard of by the contemporary world political leaders of his time. Seven and half crore population of this soil grasped these words, these sermon from a man of extraordinary height, as if the tall man at his stature has touched the sky with his might and no one could climb up to his rising hands, he is so big, so huge, so gigantic and so magnificent as we could imagine at that moment. It was unparalleled in the history, a speech to be accepted by all men, women old and young together pledged to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman of the fullest
support and start war against the oppression of Pakistani military
junta. All united hand to hand, shoulder-to-shoulder, fight against Pakistani military and win the
war at any cost.
I have in my collection few speeches of world renowned political leaders and social reformers. I have carefully read all these speeches including Gettysburg speech
delivered by the great American presidents Abraham Lincoln, John
F Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon, Barrack Obama, republican leader Jhon Maccain.
These all speeches are full of
intellect, political wisdom
foresightedness and leadership quality. While comparing the speech of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman alongside the above speeches of leaders as narrated above, I can unhesitatingly say, with all my honesty, that to me, speech
of Bangabandhu appeared more appealing, appropriate, logical,
poetic and suiting to the situation having all norms and ethics,
intellect and political leadership.
The speech, we often refer to as world famous, the Gettysburg speech by Abraham Lincoln, was
a written version prepared earlier while taking lunch in the house of local leader of his party and
delivered the same in the afternoon. I would like to mention here the speech of Martin Luther king Jr, which appears to be widely known through out the world, to me, one
of the best in all the
speeches, I have referred.
To start with “I have a dream” – a rhythmic, poetic, emotion oriented and, above all, a call for unity among all Americans and over the world, have a different meaning and
inspiring for all suffering humanity around the world. This speech will remain a masterpiece for mankind of all times, a bold and brave call against discrimination amongst all men and women of all ages irrespective of colour, creed and religion.
But the speech of March 7 of 1971 has tremendously inspired 7½ core Bangalee of that time to wage war against Pakistan oppressor and fight out the independence of our beloved motherland is, rare and unparalleled in the contemporary history of mankind. And here the essence of this speech is different, in order to achieving a goal for liberation of a country. This speech is unique and not to be compared with any other delivered by any statesman
of the world till date.
Now I come to the event that
bear the extra-ordinary courage,
foresightedness and deep rooted love for the country. The essence, aim and object of independence of Bangladesh were about to forget by the young generation in absence of learning of real history of war of independence, specially by the
students. In view of unfavourable administration in power for long time, it was not possible to instil the values associated with the liberation of Bangladesh. The situation was unbearable for the freedom loving and patriotic people of the country. In order to get rid of this condition, freedom fighters and general mass were looking for ways and means
to overcome these crises.
Jahan Ara Imam, an extra-ordinary brave person stood at her feet straight and called upon all the patriotic people of Bangladesh to come up with firm determination for trial of war criminals and bring back the essence and spirit of our liberation war. She was a person with a difference. Because of her leadership quality and courageous determination, she could unite the nation under one banner and started her struggle for achieving the mission.
I was her fan and had the highest regards for her book titled Ekatturer Dingulo, a masterpiece, a unique book on our liberation war. She described the events in 1971 vividly with her honesty and integrity; the conditions then prevailed in occupied Dhaka. She narrated in her book in a manner just unparalleled in the contemporary world of literature. She won the hearts of millions through her book and younger generation started to call her ‘Mother’ in the manner her son Rumi, a guerrilla freedom fighter, who was caught by the occupation Pakistani military and was brutally killed in the
concentration camp. Her husband Engineer Shareef was also taken away by the occupation force and tortured mercilessly and with his injuries he expired just after the
liberation of Bangladesh. She bore these two tragedies in her heart silently and consumed it without informing others the pains she
suffered for these great loss in her family she encountered. I believe for this book she has written, she will be remembered for thousand years in the history of Bangladesh. She was widely respected and highly
accepted by the people for her
sacrifice for the cause of
liberation of Bangladesh.
Rumi her beloved son, a guerrilla freedom fighter, became a legend to us as we grew a generation of liberation war veteran of this country. We gather courage in the crisis of the nation at his name and shed tears for his tragic loss in disguise not to be shown to others in line with his fellow freedom fighters. When this tall beloved lady mother of millions of freedom fighters and their associates, stood up and called us all to attend at the Suhrawardy Udyan on the March 26, 1992 for Mock Trail of War Criminals comprising of 12 judges for committing crimes at the time of war of independence of Bangladesh. I was then serving in a government Corporation as senior officer. Despite unfavourable situation and in spite of knowing the danger of attending the event as a govt. officer, I ventured and wholeheartedly participated the event along with lakhs of patriotic people in the Suhrawardy Udyan. This is one of the memorable events in my life.
After the lapse of 43 years from 1971 and 22 years from 1992, of the above events I participated, another clarion call came to attend at national parade Square (old Tejgaon
Airport) for singing of national Anthem to be participated by lakhs of people of this soil on the Independence and National Day on March 26, 2014. To be honest, I should admit that I at my mid sixties feel the same enthusiasm as I had while participated the above two events. But my physical ability at this age is obviously different from those days, and was afraid to attend this national programme singly. But my desire was so intense, so deep, so inspiring that it was not possible on my part to be confined in the house.
Necessity knows no bound.
I thought on the matter seriously regarding my participation in the event and asked one of my young relatives Titu to accompany me to the ground early in the morning.
He gladly accepted the offer and we both attended right in time in the morning. Though the management committee asked for 3 lakhs people to participate, the attendance was around 5/6 lakhs in my estimation in and around the parade Square.
In order to make a world record, when right at 11:00am lakhs of people stood straight on their feet, the entire venue took a different shape, so disciplined, so emotion oriented, we started singing our national anthem at the highest of our voices, it was a scene beyond description as if something divine happened and as if the entire Bangladesh is standing on its feet raising the voice to resist any evil whatsoever come on our way. My heart filled with divine joy and happiness finding no words
to define the event.
Before leaving this world for my eternal home, I can say with pleasure and happiness that participation in these three events undoubtedly gave me the highest satisfaction
I have ever got in my whole life. In this connection I would urge all my fellow countrymen to be patriot and love this country from the core of their hearts and make this county a beautiful place for living of our next generation with pride and dignity. n
