The ballad of Rowmari

Do we know about Rowmari? I mean to say do we know about the role of Rowmari in our Great War of Liberation? Some of us old-timers will recall how often Rowmari and Bhurungamari used to hit the headlines of news sent by our wartime correspondents to Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra and newspapers of India and sometimes even the whole world. The area sings the valor of our golden boys, the Freedom Fighters. It was free of occupation Pak army from beginning till the end of our Muktijuddha. Rowmari thana (Police Station) is comprised of around 200sq km.

An area of approximately 1000sq km centering Rowmari of Kurigram Subdivision (now a district) of the then Rangpur remained liberated throughout the whole Liberation war. Pakistanis tried in many ways and many times to take hold of the area but never could penetrate much. It was possible to establish our Government's first Civil Administration in this area which ran successfully during the nine months of our armed struggle and was a sore point of failure for the Pak army who claimed to have established their full control over every inch of their dear East Pakistan.

The success of our Freedom Fighters came due to their dedication, selfless fight for Motherland, unequivocal support of the local population, joining in thousands by the youth(students, peasants, workers, common men) to the Mukti bahini, help coming from friendly neighbors India and of course the topography of the region. Most of the area was islands (big and small) made by the rivers Teesta, Dhorola, Dudhkumar, and Brahmaputra/Jamuna and their tributaries.

As we all know, Pakistanis are not comfortable in waterlogged terrain and that went to our advantage. Since our Wartime Government could run its administration in the area with success, it became a hub of freedom-seeking youth from different areas of North Bengal who flooded the area seeking to be recruited as a Freedom Fighter to fight the blood thirsty vultures of Pakistan who swooped down on us Bangalees from 25/26th March in the infamous Operation Searchlight. Reception and selection centers were set up at several places and the main training camp was organized at C G Zaman School.

The playground of the school became the parade ground of Mukti bahini and a shooting practice range was also set nearby. During the whole period of our War of Liberation, it is estimated that about 60 thousand Freedom Fighters got training here in Rowmari and dissipated into the masses in different areas of the country to run a protracted guerrilla war.

A part of them remained as a part of the regular Bangladesh Armed Forces, thus reinforcing the backbone created by the East Bengal Regiment, Rifles Jawans, and members of Police and Ansars who joined the Muktijuddha since the beginning. The Pak forces and their associates enforced their authority over Dhaka first on the concluding days of March. Then came Chittagong, Khulna, Rajshahi, Sylhet, and other district towns. After they consolidated their strength in Rangpur, Saidpur, and Dinajpur they turned their attention to smaller towns and thanas (which are Upazilas nowadays).

When the turn came of Rowmari, they found it a hard nut to crack. By then, Bangladesh Forces were also getting organized. This area fell under Sector 11 of our Liberation War which was commanded eventually by the valiant Freedom Fighter Major Abu Taher (later Lt Col). Later when brigade strong S, K, and Z Forces were formed our Rowmari and Sector 11 under its commander Col Taher came under Z Force of Gen Ziaur Rahman with its HQ at Teldhala in India.

From Sector 11 a force for frontal fights was deputed to Rowmari under Lt Nurunnabi Khan and Lt Mudassar. These two Mukti bahini Officers planned and ran the training of the newcomers and battles in the area so efficiently that numerous attacks of different magnitude carried out by the enemy forces were always subdued and all those turned into failures. One more name has to be mentioned here.

That is of Subedar Altaf Ali. This daredevil NCO made a well-trained team of FFs under him and they carried out successful operations against the enemy where they expected it the least. Altaf became the name of a terror to the Pak forces and their boot-lickers. Due to the above mentioned activities of the FFs, our wartime red and green flag with a yellow map of Bangladesh at the center flew all the nine months of our Great War of Liberation in the Rowmari Liberated Zone.

It was a very convenient and prestigious performance of our Government and Mukti bahini. The big chunk of land which remained Liberated and under the control of our Government was a pinch in the shoe for Pakistan and a prestigious feat for our Freedom Fighters. Many foreign journalists visited the area to see for themselves that Bangladesh existed in reality and not only in words and papers.

The Mukti bahini and the Civil Administration were bold enough to receive our Ministers Capt Mansur Ali and Mr. Kamruzzaman in Rowmari during the Liberation war. It proves the strong control of our Government and Armed Forces over the area. Such tight grip made possible trips by Gen Osmani, General Zia, and Col Taher in the area for inspection of the troops, to encourage them and enhance their morale, and to hold strategic meetings.

Worth mentioning here is the story of Taramon Bibi. She came from a poor family of Char Rajibpur, adjacent to Rowmari and her parents were compelled to let her work as a domestic help at the house of well to do people to earn a living. She was only 14 when the war broke out. Everything was uncertain. Luckily Hav Muhib, in charge of Doshghoria camp of Freedom Fighters needed a hand to cook for his men.

By some connection, young Taramon was taken in for the job. Because of her sweet nature, Muhib developed a liking for the young girl and they developed a sacred father-daughter relationship. Muhib's family was very far away as he hailed from Moulavibazar. Taramon thought she was not born only for cooking and feeding the FFs. She had some more roles to play.

In her free times, she infiltrated the enemy-held areas in different disguise to collect information which was invaluable for the Mukti bahini in planning their actions. Meantime, she also learned how to operate weapons from her God-father Muhib. She was too young but war cannot wait for abiding by laws. Her learning paid the dividend. Soon, on one day their camp was attacked by the Pak army who came on two gunboats.

Everyone in the camp had to take a defense position. So did Taramon with a weapon. When they were ordered to fire, she too did and to her joy and surprise, she saw her target fall. After that, the exchange of fire continued and she could hold her position till the remaining alive Pak army decided to abandon the fight and flee.

So, in her first action, she was a victorious soldier and Freedom Fighter. After that, she cooked, did the housekeeping of the camp, and jumped into action like a tigress whenever the unit fought. Her name remained famous as an integral part of the unit and Sector 11 till the end of our Freedom Struggle. After the war, she bade farewell to her God-father Muhib and went back home.

Nobody kept any track of her. She continued with her family's poverty-stricken life, got married, and started having her own family life. Meantime, in 1973 the Government of Bangladesh declared the titles for valiant performance during the War of Liberation. Taramon Bibi was adjudged to be one of the only three ladies who came on the list. One was Dr. Capt Sitara Begum who was the CO of Bangladesh Field Hospital under Sector 2 near Melaghar in Tripura.

Taramon was the second and the third too was a simple lady Kakon Bibi from Sylhet area under Sector4. Nobody cared to find out this valiant lady and Taramon knew nothing about it. Her mentor Hav Muhib was by then transferred to some other area and he too knew nothing and as time passed Muhib lost contact with his wartime daughter. It was only in 1995 she was brought to the limelight by Prof Bimal Kanti Dey of A M College, Mymensingh.

The Professor while researching on the Muktijuddha War Medal holders found out that people and the Government only knew about Dr. Capt Sitara Begum as a Bir Protik. The other two Bir Protiks were not traced. He took upon him the task of finding Taramon Bibi and after a lot of hard work and with help of many organizations and individuals Taramon Bibi BP was found out. She got her due honor 25 years after it was declared. Still, as one would say, better late than never. She had already contracted Tuberculosis and was in poor health.

Arrangements of her treatment were made and she recovered. She became well known all over the country. Our war heroine of Rowmari Taramon Bibi BP led an average Bangladeshis life thereafter until her death 3 years ago. She used to be invited to many functions to speak about their achievements and to reminisce about the war days. She got State Honours during her burial as a Muktijoddha is supposed to have.

There had been other pockets of liberated areas in our Motherland during our glorious War of Liberation but Rowmari was the biggest and free all through. Others either changed hands with the enemy or were smaller pockets near the Indian border. Life was made miserable for the occupation army by our regular Bangladesh Forces along the entire borderline of Bangladesh and India with their sudden pre-planned attacks. More important were the guerilla activities of a part of the Mukti bahini disrupting communication of the occupation Pak army and Government by destroying bridges and culverts, disrupting electricity supply, sudden attacks on Pak army posts, ambushing army convoys, etc.

Key point installations (KPI) of the Pakistanis were attacked and raided at regular intervals which became a nightmare to them. But Rowmari, as discussed was a different type of success story. Such a big chunk of our Motherland, which we considered to be Independent of 26 March, remained really independent proudly flying our own Flag.

Two big towns of Bangladesh, namely Kurigram and Jamalpur were not very far from the area but the riverine approach and nature of the terrain made it impregnable for the Pak forces and they could not succeed in conquering it despite innumerable efforts. This success story in our Sector11 encouraged and worked as a tonic to the Freedom Fighters of other Sectors and the citizens of Bangladesh(refugees in India, numbering 10 million; internally displaced numbering 30 million and all other freedom-loving Bangladeshis at home and abroad).

It is thought that Rowmari was one of the biggest training grounds of freedom-living youth of the country, if not the biggest, inside Bangladesh. The others being at different spots in Tangail/ Mymensingh (Kaderia Bahini), Madaripur/ Shariatpur/ Barisal (Hemayet Bahini), etc. The new entrants were first given physical exercises, then drill with Sticks-Dummy Rifles, in that order, and finally assault weapons when they were ready for combat. Meantime, they were given other required instructions/training for defense/ survival and attack. Some of them were also trained in explosives including grenades.

Rowmari is still alive in the memories of those Freedom Fighters who got trained there and fought in Sector 11 or went inside the occupied territories as guerilla fighters. It also glitters in the memory of those people who passed through this liberated zone of the country en route to refugee camps in India to save their lives and chastity of their female family members.

The locals however bear pain in their minds. It seems that the country has forgotten Rowmari and its contribution during the Liberation War. There was no official recognition or even mention in any textbook so that our new generation will come to know about the glorious not so old past (50 years is not a big-time in terms of history).

The Dummy Rifles with which the trainees had their first drills, a cyclostyle machine with which news bulletins and hand bills were printed for circulation in the liberated area (which often found their way up to Calcutta), heaps of papers related to administration and operations reports are still reported to be stored in Zaman High School. The Government may think about the construction of a memorial and a small museum to preserve the rich Liberation time history of Rowmari.

We should think and work fast before it is too late, because probable exponents of the museum may disappear or get decayed to the stage of being unrecognizable. Moreover, many of the participants and eye witnesses have already answered the call of the Almighty. In hardly 10 more years it will be hard to find any. Joy Bangla!


The writer is a travel enthusiast and history buff.