Maj Gen (Retd) Syed Muhammad Ibrahim Bir Protik :
Not a planner, not an actor, not a gainer, yet I became part of history being created on the fateful morning of the 7th of November 1975. Mobile phones were not yet born, wrist-watches were the more popular means of confirming date and time. But there was an exception. When the entire sky over the Dhaka Cantonment became lighted because of bullets and illuminating fire in the sky, and the deafening noise of dozens of Machine Guns spitting out bullets at the rate of minimum a hundred per minute, I knew that the date in the calendar has changed from the 6th of November to the 7th. I had to take a decision. This was not the first time that, decisions involving my life and profession had to be taken quickly.
Mutinies are no unknown matter, but all mutinies are not highlights in a history. The mutiny on HMS Bounty on the 28th of April 1789 involved less then 50 people; yet is a popular name and date. Compared to that, a date not known much is the 19th of March 1971. I was only twenty one and half years old, a Second Lieutenant with only six and a half months of service. I was serving in the Second Battalion of the East Bengal Regiment located at Gazipur, the place as we know now, about 30 km north of Dhaka city. Back then, it was known as Joydebpur, and the battalion was housed in the famous palace of the Zamindars of Bhawal. Political situation in the-then East Pakistan was as tense as one could imagine. The Pakistani Military high command suspected the allegiance of the battalions of the East Bengal Regiment then located in East Pakistan. The Pakistani high command suspected that, in times of deep crisis, the battalions may side with the Bengali population as opposed to continued loyalty to the Pakistani military high command. Their suspicion proved right. On the 19th March, Brigadier Jahanjeb Arbab commanding the 57 Infantry Brigade of the Pakistan Army in Dhaka, led a contingent of about 70 officers and soldiers, heavily armed, to Joydebpur. Their mission: to disarm the second battalion. The local people were agitated and buttressed the agitation of the soldiers. The Brigadier ordered Bengali officers of the second battalion to bring fire upon the agitating locals, specifically saying, “I want dead bodies; only then I will be sure whether you are with us or with them.” The senior and junior officers: Lieutenant Colonol Masudul Khan, Major Shafiullah, Major Moinul Hossain Chowdhury, Captain Nasim, Captain Azizur Rahman, one by one disobeyed the command of the Brigadier to fire bullets the Bengali locals. Youngest officer Ibrahim also decided to disobey. It was indeed, a mutiny. The stage was set for the mutiny to become a massive rebellion.
In the early hours of 26th of March 1971, Pakistani Military Forces launched, what they called the ‘Operation Search Light’. Bengali people decided to resist. In Joydebpur, we had to decide. We recalled our mutiny of the 19th March. We decided the expand. I was the youngest officer, so according to the tradition of the Bengal Regiment, I was the ‘Intelligence Officer’ of the battalion. Duty and tradition demanded that the intelligence officer is always with the Commanding Officer. So was I. The Commanding Officer on that day was one Lieutenant Colonel Abdur Rakib, who regretted and said, he cannot lead the battalion into rebellion against Pakistan. The Second in Command of the Battalion Major K M Shafiullah took over the onerous task of leading the battalion. I accompanied the new Commanding Officer Shafiullah. Second East Bengal Regiment opened a new chapter and a new front in the war of liberation of Bangladesh on the 26th of March 1971. During the following 266 days of the war of liberation, fondly called nine months of the war, I remained with the battalion, commanding troops and fighting the enemy, in the process earning the gallantry award ‘Bir Protik’, for actions in December, in Akhaura near the Eastern border of Bangladesh. The bondage among comrades which develops in the battle field is usually unbreakable. So is the case with me and my battalion: the Second Battalion of the East Bengal Regiment.
Late in the evening of 6th November 1975, we knew that soldiers will be rebelling. Leaflets circulated by the leaders of the prospective rebellion, lashed out at the officers of the army. The sponsor of the rebellion was ‘Secret Soldiers Organization’ (in short SSS) which was growing over last two years or so. They had their own vision. They were linked to a young political party named Jatio Somajtantrik Dol, in short JSD. The political slogan of JSD was ‘Scientific Socialism’. The tried their level best on the streets of Dhaka city to cow-down the political government of Bangladesh which was being headed by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman; they failed. Late in the year 1973 or very early 1974, the party, JSD, concluded that efforts on the streets must be simultaneously or at the final moment, supplemented by the entire military or part of the military or armed soldiers. With this in mind, JSD contacted the SSS.
After taking birth, the SSS had made much progress and consolidated itself among soldiers. Poor governance by the political government, corruption by politicians at all levels, neglect to the military by the political government, neglect to the security of the borders of the country and awful high-handedness by the law-enforcing agencies influenced the minds of the soldiers to go against the government of the day. The soldiers did not stop at that; they thought political co-operation from politicians will be needed in their armed-efforts to dislodge the government. Or, at the minimum, political co-operation will be urgently needed to sustain the situation should the SSS be able to dislodge the political government by armed-efforts. Thus the SSS looked for political cohorts; they found it in the JSD. It was a historic coincidence and confluence of interest of JSD and SSS. It therefore became a combined effort of the JSD and SSS. The mutiny or the rebellion of the soldiers of SSS began at the zero hour of the 7th of November 1975 in Dhaka Cantonment. They began by firing bullets towards the sky and parallel to the ground along all roads and streets, so that no movement can take place.
I was not in command of any body or section of troops in those days. Although I was an infantry officer, in 1975 I was a young major serving in the Army Headquarters of Bangladesh Army as a Staff Officer. We are now in 6th of November 1975. The buzz-word of the day travelling from mouth to mouth of soldiers here and there was, soldiers are brothers, soldiers will rule, kill officers. Rebellious soldiers were likely to kill any officer whom they might encounter during the night. They had declared their marauding intentions earlier. As an officer, that to one who fought for his country, I did not want to die casually. I wanted to make sure an honorable death for me. How do I do it? Finding an answer and acting on it, at the midnight of a terribly frightening dark night was not easy. I pondered, what might be the attitude of the soldiers of the Second Battalion of the East Bengal Regiment, with whom I had taken part in the war of liberation. I decided to take a chance. If my death was inevitable, let it be in the hands of soldiers most dear to my heart. The soldiers will also have to think several times before killing their one-time commander in the battle field.
The Dhaka Cantonment is spread more North-South than East-West. The main communication artery was a wide road, in those days only two lane, ran North-South in the center of the cantonment, with barracks and establishments spread on either side. In the Northern part of the cantonment there is an East-West road called ‘Staff Road’ in Pakistan days. In independent Bangladesh it was named Shaheed Bashar Road. In the Western end of this road, was the Signal Officers Mess were I had a room to stay. Towards the East, the road crossed the railway line to link with the new airport road. The railway line was, as everywhere in the country, a piece of high ground or like an embankment. I took the help of Abdus Shukur who was a senior attendant in the officers mess and a close buddy during the war also. With Shukur beside me, I approached the railway line, then literally ran northwards. Barracks of soldiers in the extreme Eastern part of Dhaka Cantonment, were abuzz with activities of rebellious soldiers. They were firing bullets in all direction. The railway line protected us because I was in the Western slope in the railway line. In few minutes I reached Second East Bengal. I was prepared to be shot by the first soldier who will encounter me. But providence and events proved otherwise. I was surprised, and it appeared that the battalion was waiting for a senior officer. My length of service was less than six years but emotionally I was very senior to the troops because I have fought with them.
In total darkness, I reached their command center and found two Captains, Kamrul and Enam, already there. They were relieved to find me in their midst at that crucial hour of their profession. The senior most soldier in an infantry battalion used to be called the Subedar Major. In this instance, it was Subedar Major Abdul Mannan. Abdul Mannan had joined the British-Indian Army 1945, saw through the 1971 war and was now at the fag end of his soldiering-career. Mannan came to meet me along with another dozen senior soldiers.
I asked them, “what do you want to do with me and the two Captains? Soldiers elsewhere in this very cantonment are killing officers. I am ready for death, should you order or else I will order and you will obey.” In one voice they said, “the Bengal Regiment honors its traditions. We fought under your leadership, we will again fight if needed tonight, under your leadership. We have not been contaminated. They, the SSS, dared not even approach us.” Now that, I found my protection in the battalion that I was born in, in the battalion that I fought with, it was my duty to protect the battalion at this tumultuous hours. I will now make a departure from intimate details of me and the battalion towards, higher and different plane of events.
(The writer is a Liberation War veteran, columnist and now heads a political party)
