Had Russel lived today, he might have become his "Hasu Apa's" fellow soldier in nation building and politics, where to find trusted people is not easy and sycophants are all around
The Bangladesh coup on 15 August 1975, which left Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman killed, along with most of his family members and next to kin, can only be likened to the military rule of General Augusta Pinochet of Chile between 1973 and 1990.
The coup ousted elected president Salvador Allende, who killed himself, along with 3,000 others murdered or gone missing. The coup in Chile was aimed at killing political opponents, but it also eliminated a large number of children, some of whom were physically abused in secret jails.
In the 15 August 1975 coup, carried out by a handful of pro-Pakistani disgruntled officers, brought joy to Bengalis who still wanted to live as slaves of the former West Pakistan, but shocked most Bangladeshis. It was clear that the coup leaders' sole enemy was Bangabandhu and his ruling Awami League, which led the nation to its independence in 1971.
The killing started with Bangabandhu at his private home, on Dhanmandi's Road 32. The killers wiped out all the members of the Sheikh family, while smaller units moved to kill the nearest relatives of Bangabandhu. It was possibly from a fear that if one member of the family survived, the Awami League would return to power again.
The fear was correct. Bangabandhu's elder daughter, Sheikh Hasina, brought the party back to power in 1996 after 21 years in political wilderness. She is currently the Prime Minister for a total of 15 years and if voted back in the December parliamentary polls, she would become the longest serving head of government since 1971 with a total of 20 years in office. General Zia, who is alleged to have had a hand in the 1975 coup, was in power until 1981, while his successor General Hussain Muhammad Ershad until December 1990.
Pinochet's soldiers, instead of showing mercy to the children, had targeted them in a bizarre and an unprecedented strategy in history. Hitler's forces killed Jews en masse but did not only target children. The other example is Argentina.
The Pakistani army had taken a policy of killing male members of every Bengali family in 1971 irrespective of their age. Thus it will not be wrong to say that the 1975 coup leaders were cohorts of Pakistan.
The 1975 coup leaders led by executed colonel Faruq Rahman and fugitive Colonel Rashid, among others, did not spare Bangabandhu's most loving child, 10-year-old Sheikh Russel. They also killed little Arif Serniabat and Sukanto Abdullah, kin of Bangabandhu, possibly because they were male heirs of the Sheikh family and future leaders.
Bangabandhu's youngest son, Sheikh Russel, was born in Dhaka on 18 October 1964. At the time of his death, Russel was a student of Class Four at Dhaka University Laboratory School. According to articles written by those close to the family, including Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina herself, Russell did not get much of his father due to the latter's political activities that sent him to jail again and again.
On 15 August 1975, Russel pleaded to the coup leaders that he be taken to his mother, not knowing she had already been killed. "The killers, in a macabre moment, made him walk past the bodies of his close ones. Finally, when he confronted his mother's body sprawled in the lobby, he burst into tears.
Take me to Hasu Apa (Sheikh Hasina),' he said. But Sheikh Hasina and her younger sister, Sheikh Rehana, were abroad at that time, meaning Russell wanted to live very much and had possibly thought he would survive if he could go abroad to his sisters.
But, instead of having a little mercy or pity on a child begging for his life, they shot him. He was the last person to be killed on that dark night, the most shameful chapter in the country's history. Sheikh Kamal, the eldest son, was the first man to be shot dead.
Muhitul Islam, personal assistant to Bangabandhu, in his deposition to a court in the Bangabandhu Murder Case, said that some army men consoled Russel saying that he was being taken to his mother.
"Russel was trying to take shelter in my lap," Muhitul said. But the army men snatched him and at one point took him upstairs as he was crying to go to his mother, Begum Fazilatunnesa Mujib. They brought him back downstairs." Before killing, they showed Russel the lifeless body of his father and our dear Bangabandhu.
Dr M A Wazed Miah, the prime minister's late scientist husband, gave a description of Russel's killing in his book, 'Some happenings surrounding Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib and Bangladesh.'
He wrote "Amidst the killing spree, Russel ran downstairs and sought refuge in the Staff Room of the President (Bangabandhu). Abdur Rahman Roma, who had been taking care of Russel for long, held the child's hand at that moment. After some time, one soldier took Russel away saying he would be sent out of the house. Russel cried and begged to spare his life for the sake of Allah.
A sentry couldn't stand this heart-touching begging anymore and hid him in the sentry box at the main gate of the house. But after about half an hour, an army Major saw Russel and took him upstairs and killed him in cold blood with a revolver."
"Allah's sake, please spare my life. My Hasu Apa is in Germany with my brother-in-law. Please I kneel before you, please send me to Germany to them." This was the last appeal of this 10-year-old boy.
Sheikh Russell's birth, upbringing and some other remarkable things about his life have been illustrated by A F M Modasser Ali in his book of poems. According to a review of the book in The Asian Age some time back, Bangabandhu was in Chittagong when Russell was born. Another poem says that Bertrand Russell was Bangabandhu's favorite philosopher and thus he named his youngest son after the philosopher.
"A F M Modasser Ali depicted the colorful boyhood of Sheikh Russel. Russel loved to play with pigeons. Bangabandhu used to release pigeons as symbols of peace on different occasions. Russel loved his pet dog called Tommy and spent a lot of time playing with him.
Russel's closeness to his father was another vital dimension of his life and that he liked to eat semai or vermicelles made by his dear Hasu Apa (Sheikh Hasina).
When people asked Russel what he wanted to become after growing up, he often answered that he wanted to become an army officer. What an irony that men who killed him were from the army, which is now a pride for the country due to his elder sister 'Hasu's' relentless efforts to have a modern as well as professional army.
Had Russel lived today, he might have become his "Hasu Apa's" fellow soldier in nation building and politics, where to find trusted people is not easy and sycophants are all around.
I remember the horror of being close to death. On 17 April 1971 after arresting my martyred freedom fighter father, the Captain and soldiers laughed mischievously when they pointed machine guns at me and my mother. They then pocketed cash and gold from the Wardrobe and wanted to take me away. They did not as I screamed in fear and my mother begged to leave me alone.
The Pakistanis too had some mercy, but Bangabandhu's killers were nothing less than beasts.
The writer is Roving Editor,
The Asian Age
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