Published: 02:05 AM, 09 April 2020 Last Update: 01:22 PM, 09 April 2020
Capt Majed gang behind my black days
Almost the whole world has been experiencing the lashes of the deadly coronavirus for more than three months. Panic on account of the bug has spread to every nook and cranny of Bangladesh too, pushing people indoors. However, the arrest of Bangabandhu's killer Captain (dismissed) Abdul Majed on Monday gave the nation a sigh of relief.
Captain Majed is one of the 12 ex-military men who were sentenced to death for brutally killing the Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and many of his family members.
The bloody misdeeds of these military men knew no bounds. On August 15, 1975, they put me in house arrest in the capital. I was the political secretary to Bangabandhu. Later, they took me to police control room where I saw Awami League leader Zillur Rahman, Abdur Razzak and renowned journalist Abidur Rahman.
A little while later, they took me to Dhaka Radio Station where I was seriously tortured and they left me in a state of unconscious for long. Hours later, they took me back to police control room but still I was unconscious. At one stage, police called in doctors and treated me. Afterwards, they sent me and journalist Abidur Rahman to Mymensingh jail while Zillur Rahman and Abdur Razzak were sent to Cumilla jail.
In the mean time, I came to know that my personal secretary Shafiqul Alam Mintu who was an admin cadre officer of 1973 BCS, got disappeared. But he did not come back any more. There were allegations that Captain Majed gang killed him.
During my 33 months jail period, they tortured me in different ways.
One of my closest aides was Abdul Mabud PPM. He was a freedom fighter and an officer of 1973 batch and was serving as SDPO of Bhola. On August 26, Majed went to Mabud's office and hurled abuses at Bangabandhu when he saw a picture of Bangabandhu hanging there. Mabud charged Majed with baton and detained him.
After that day, Mabud was picked up by an armed group linked to Majed and tortured him in their custody for 53 days. Mabud is now engaged with The Asian Age and the Sector Commanders' Forum.
While I was in jail, I also came to know that a gang of the killers equipped with sophisticated arms and instructed by Captain Majed attacked my elder brother Ali Ahmed's business office at Khayer Haat Bazar in Bhola and gunned down him on the spot.
In the meantime, several coups and counter coups had taken place in the military which helped Major General Ziaur Rahman to seize state power.
Captain Majed is one of the 12 ex-military men who were sentenced to death for brutally killing the Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and many of his family members.
The bloody misdeeds of these military men knew no bounds. On August 15, 1975, they put me in house arrest in the capital. I was the political secretary to Bangabandhu. Later, they took me to police control room where I saw Awami League leader Zillur Rahman, Abdur Razzak and renowned journalist Abidur Rahman.
A little while later, they took me to Dhaka Radio Station where I was seriously tortured and they left me in a state of unconscious for long. Hours later, they took me back to police control room but still I was unconscious. At one stage, police called in doctors and treated me. Afterwards, they sent me and journalist Abidur Rahman to Mymensingh jail while Zillur Rahman and Abdur Razzak were sent to Cumilla jail.
In the mean time, I came to know that my personal secretary Shafiqul Alam Mintu who was an admin cadre officer of 1973 BCS, got disappeared. But he did not come back any more. There were allegations that Captain Majed gang killed him.
During my 33 months jail period, they tortured me in different ways.
One of my closest aides was Abdul Mabud PPM. He was a freedom fighter and an officer of 1973 batch and was serving as SDPO of Bhola. On August 26, Majed went to Mabud's office and hurled abuses at Bangabandhu when he saw a picture of Bangabandhu hanging there. Mabud charged Majed with baton and detained him.
After that day, Mabud was picked up by an armed group linked to Majed and tortured him in their custody for 53 days. Mabud is now engaged with The Asian Age and the Sector Commanders' Forum.
While I was in jail, I also came to know that a gang of the killers equipped with sophisticated arms and instructed by Captain Majed attacked my elder brother Ali Ahmed's business office at Khayer Haat Bazar in Bhola and gunned down him on the spot.
In the meantime, several coups and counter coups had taken place in the military which helped Major General Ziaur Rahman to seize state power.
Ziaur Rahman was highly cosy toward the killers. He gave a free hand to the gang of Bangabandhu's self-confessed killers --- Faruque-Rashid-Dalim-Shahriar-Majed and others. Captain Majed was made first secretary at the Bangladesh mission in Senegal. One and a half years later, he was promoted to Deputy Secretary and given a posting at the Shipping Ministry in Dhaka.
Tofail Ahmed, VP of Dhaka University Central Students' Union (Ducsu) conferred Sheikh Mujibur Rahman with the title 'Bangabandhu' at a sea of people at Suhrawardy Udyan on February 23 in 1969, a day after he got released from jail in false 'Agartala conspiracy case.'
Military ruler H M Ershad was also sympathetic to the killers of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. During the regime of this autocratic ruler, the Colonel Faruque-Colonel Rashid-Major Huda gang floated the armed-cadre based 'Freedom Party' which took part in parliamentary elections.
During my 33 months in jail, I never thought that another bad chapter was waiting for my family. Nobody was willing to rent a house to my wife for fear of retribution from the killers of Bangabandhu and the regime of Ziaur Rahman. They had to stay at others' houses for one and a half years like gypsies.
The year 1975 was just a curse in my life. My eldest brother Ashraf Ali passed away on July 11. Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman took part in his Namaz-e-Janaza in Dhaka and went to the helipad to see off the body of my brother. I still remember the nerve-wracking, terrible days resorted to by the killers of Bangabandhu after August 15, 1975.
However, the arrest of Captain Abdul Majed helps ease my pains and a quick implementation of the court's order sentencing him to death will largely heal my bruises. Before it, he should be put on interrogation, if there is any scope, to know whereabouts of other fugitive killers.
I would like to thank India as it did not shelter the killers of our Father of the Nation on its territory. I hope New Delhi will stand beside Bangladesh in the days to come as it did in our great liberation war in 1971.
Bangladesh is celebrating the birth centenary of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Our Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, also the daughter of Bangabandhu, has invited Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi with high importance to join the program as a mark of propound relation between the two nations.
Joy Bangla! Joy Bangabandhu!
The writer, a leading student leader in the Mass Upsurge of 1969, political secretary to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, former minister, is Member of Parliament (Bhola-1) and Chairman, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Ministry of Commerce
Correction: We made the story based on telephone conversations with Tofail Ahmed and inadvertently there were some mistakes in our print version. We regret it.
----News Editor
