REMEMBERANCE
Published: 12:31 AM, 14 August 2018
Bangabandhu, war and my father
It is a habitual matter that we turn to Bangabandhu issues more seriously when the black month of August arrives, but I have very personal meaning about the man who gave us this land called Bangladesh.
He wanted to turn this land into a Golden Bengal, but instead the land was soaked with his blood in 1975 and the Golden Bengal he dreamt of has remained a patch of uncultivated land that still yearns to turn gold.In my book "Muktijuddho: Ajana Oddhyay" (Jagriti, 2nd edition, 2017 Ekushey Boi Mela) I have narrated these few incidents which I am mentioning here again.
In 1974, I met the man I love to call Bangabandhu from my heart as he is a super achiever and only his elder daughter, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, to whom I am eternally indebted, could get close so far and pray she crosses her great father or OUR great father in achieving a real Golden Bengal free from Razakars, pro-Pakistanis and sycophants.
Myself, my late mother Hasna Hena Qadir and my loving baby brother Naweed in the lap barged our way to the famous house on road 32, Dhanmondi in Dhaka. Here, I mentioned that the security for such a great man was slack that we could push our way through by mother identifying herself as the wife of martyred Lt. Col. M. Abdul Qadir.
Then again Bangabandhu so dearly believed that no Bengalis, who were all his loving children, would harm him and killing him was impossible. Some pro-Pakistanis betrayed him on 15 August 1975.
As Bangabandhu got down the stairs from the first floor with his trademark pipe, I told him "Bangabandhu, Ammu is here." He in turn asked "Who is your Ammu?" I then gave my father's identity and as Ammu came forward from the ground floor guest room, the great man said "Come with me to the (old) Ganobhaban" and then instructed his aides to ensure we could meet him at his office. We did.
Bangabandhu wanted to see a photograph of my father as he held me close to him and took Naweed on his lap. "O him. He has been killed," the great leader exclaimed and burst into tears.He then told us the most important and historical information.
"He met me soon after I was released from the Agartala Conspiracy Case with (late General) Osmani. He was true Bengali nationalist. He took great risk in seeing me secretly despite being in active service," Bangabandhu told us.
He continued in the presence of betrayer Khandaker Mostaq Ahmad and a few others: "Qadir asked me what he can do to get what the Bengalis were demanding and kept on saying Bangla, Bangladesh. I told him to get connected with other Bengali officers and soldiers so that if need be they are at least mentally prepared for a military option."
I was nearly 14 years old at that time and did not understand that how important the information was for me and history.It clearly slaps those who say Bangabandhu did not have a military option plan and thus more people were killed than one could estimate in the nine-month 1971 war.
The other was my father's loyalty to Bangabandhu, his leadership and commitment to the orders of the great leader - the greatest Bengali of a thousand years - and finally joining the liberation War on his directions. NO ONE ELSE as some try to twist history.
My martyred father did not confide these matters to my mother as she was expecting Naweed, who was born 10 days after he (my father) was killed by the Pakistani army on 17 April 1971.
Myself and my mother then discussed how my father had risked his life and it also became clear why he refused to go to Jordan as the Military Attaché and chose to come to the then East Pakistan on a two-year deputation. My mother hated to be in East Pakistan as she felt on retirement most of the time would be spent in this part of Pakistan.
Before leaving Ganobhaban that day, my mother requested Bangabandhu to give her a posting abroad and do something in my father's memory. Bangabandhu instantly arranged a job first in the Social Welfare Ministry and, on further request from my mother, to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
He also asked for a place to be named after my father to recognise his contribution to the war. Col. Qadir held regular meetings in Chittagong, where he was posted at that time, with Awami League leaders like M. R. Siddiqui and Nurul Islam, while kept a bridge between those inside Chittagong Cantonment and in the city by visiting them socially frequently.
He kept ready explosives and experts from his office store used in gas fields, diverted explosives coming from Sylhet to Sitakundu Gas Field. Those were the first explosives used in the war to blow away important bridges, including Shubhapur, to stop the Pakistani army from entering the port city.
He flew the proposed Bangladesh flags at his office and with us our home with great joy. He was confident that Bangladesh would emerge shortly.My mother lost her job and nothing was done in my father's memory between 1975, when Bangabandhu was assassinated, and 1982.
It was General Hussain Muhammad Ershad who agreed to name the Corps of Engineers Centre in Natore as "Qadirabad Cantonment" following a request by mother but pushed by former army chiefs, among others, General M. Noor Uddin Khan, General M. Mahbubur Rahman and late General Mustafizur Rahman, besides a few others including late Major General M. Muzammel Hussain.
The job was not pursued by my mother as she either kept herself busy with some private one, selling her amateur paintings or importantly bringing up her children alone.
"Ma (daughter), do not cry and be strong. He has given his life for his country and you should feel proud. You are not alone, I am always there for you and my other children."
Those were Bangabandhu's last words to us that still ring in my mind.Col. Qadir was arrested by the Pakistani army on 17 April 1971 when he came to see his pregnant wife after leaving to join his comrades at the fag end of March, 1971.
Incidentally, he was buried with full state honours in 2011 in Qadirabad Cantonment on the orders of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina after I found his grave in 2007, ending my 36-year search.
It is still the only internal movement of remains of martyr since 1971 and the only cantonment where the hero is buried in a place named after him.May Bangabandhu and his other family members killed on that night in 1975 rest in eternal peace.
The writer is Roving Editor,
The Asian Age
