Published: 12:48 AM, 26 March 2026
From Sangsaptak to Sacrifice: The Defiant Life of Martyred Intellectual Shahidullah Kaiser
Today marks the 99th birth anniversary of the eminent literary figure, writer, journalist, and martyred intellectual Shahidullah Kaiser. He was born on 16 February 1927 in Majupur village of Nawabpur Union under Sonagazi Upazila of Feni district. His full name was Abu Nayeem Mohammad Shahidullah. As he used to write under the pen name “Shahidullah Kaiser,” he became widely known by that name. His father was Maulana Mohammad Habibullah and his mother was Syeda Sufia Khatun.
In his early academic life, Shahidullah Kaiser studied at Government Model School and later enrolled in the Anglo-Persian Department of Alia Madrasa. In 1942 he passed the Entrance Examination with distinction. For higher education he enrolled at Presidency College, Calcutta. In 1946 he graduated with a BA (Honours) in Economics from there and later enrolled at the University of Calcutta to pursue a master’s degree in Economics, which he did not complete.
At the same time he began studying law at Ripon College (now Surendranath Law College). After the Partition of India in 1947, his father moved to Dhaka and Shahidullah Kaiser enrolled in a master’s program in Economics at the University of Dhaka. However, before completing the degree he ended his formal education.
Shahidullah Kaiser was simultaneously a politician, literary figure, writer and journalist. He entered politics at the age of just fourteen through the movement launched by Mahatma Gandhi known as the Quit India Movement. However, he fully entered politics in 1947 by joining the Communist Party of Pakistan. Within four years—by 1951—he obtained party membership and later became a member of the Central Committee of the East Pakistan Communist Party.
Shahidullah Kaiser entered journalism at the age of only twenty-two in 1949 through the weekly newspaper the Daily Ittefaq, edited by Tofazzal Hossain Manik Miah. At that time Ittefaq was published as a weekly, whose founding president was Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani. Shahidullah Kaiser wrote sub-editorial columns titled “Rajnoitik Porikroma” under the pseudonym “Deshpremik” and “Bichitra Katha” under the pseudonym “Bishwakarma.” His uncompromising writings reflected the rights of oppressed Bengalis and their aspiration for liberation. Due to his political role in the Language Movement he was arrested on 3 June 1952. After trial he was sentenced to three and a half years in prison. Soon after his release in 1955, he was arrested again.
When he was released from prison again in 1958, Shahidullah Kaiser joined the editorial department of the Daily Sangbad as an assistant editor. But within a week of the declaration of martial law on 7 October of that same year, the Ayub government arrested him again under the Public Safety Act on 14 October and sent him to prison. He was released nearly four years later, in October 1962. After his release in 1962 he rejoined the Daily Sangbad and remained associated with it until his disappearance during the War of Independence.
Much of Shahidullah Kaiser’s life was spent inside prison cells. Yet even there he devoted his time and life to creativity. During imprisonment he always kept a diary with him. While confined in the Dhaka Central Jail he would write throughout the night. Sitting inside the prison he wrote his famous novel Sareng Bou. Only one month after his release from prison, the novel was published in November 1962. Reflecting on this incident, he once remarked, “Ayub sent me to jail, and I emerged as a litterateur.” Besides Sareng Bou, he also wrote two of his other famous works—Sangsaptak and Rajbandir Rojnamcha—while in prison.
Sangsaptak is the famous novel of Shahidullah Kaiser which was published in 1965. It is his finest creation and a timeless novel in Bengali literature. The word Sangsaptak means “either victory or death.” Set against the political backdrop of the subcontinent, the novel’s central theme is the shared life, culture, and secular humanism of Hindus and Muslims in this land. The protagonist of the novel, Jahed, is a university graduate and a young revolutionary. He always stepped forward during crises facing people and society and raised his voice in protest. Despite immense disorder he remained hopeful about humanity and about his own life. Through the character of Jahed, Shahidullah Kaiser seems to have portrayed himself. That is why throughout his life he fought relentlessly, never compromising on the questions of truth and justice. Ultimately, like a true Sangsaptak, he sacrificed himself.
The novel Sangsaptak reflects the struggles of ordinary people in this land and their determination to survive through resistance. As Shahidullah Kaiser stated unequivocally: “Human life does not flow in a single stream but in many. If one stream dries up or is blocked, life flows through another toward fulfillment. That is the nature of life. In thousands of streams life develops; in countless paths it finds completion.” The novel teaches one profound lesson: life may end, but the struggle never ends.
On the dreadful night of 25 March 1971, when the Pakistani occupation forces unleashed a massacre against Bengalis under the brutal operation known as Operation Searchlight, many poets, writers, artists, journalists, and intellectuals left the country and took refuge abroad. But Shahidullah Kaiser did not leave the country. He continued his routine work at the Daily Sangbad office. On that very night the Pakistani forces burned down the office of the newspaper. At that time many of his well-wishers advised him to leave the country. Some said it was not safe for him to stay; he should go to India and return when the situation normalized. He had also heard about the killing of intellectuals beginning in the early hours of 26 March. Communist leader Moni Singh advised him that it would be better for him to leave and work from India. In response Shahidullah Kaiser clearly said: “If everyone leaves, who will help the freedom fighters? And these events will also be useful for my novel.”
Ultimately he remained in the country. According to the book reference Ekattorer Shahid: Shahidullah Kaiser written by his wife Panna Kaiser and the documents in the eighth volume of Bangladesher Swadhinata Juddho Dalilpatra edited by Hasan Hafizur Rahman, during the Liberation War when he stayed outside Dhaka he would leave his ration card with poet Sufia Kamal. She would collect food supplies with the ration card, and when Kaiser returned to Dhaka he distributed those supplies among the freedom fighters. Moreover, his house itself served as a shelter for freedom fighters during the war, from where they were also provided food.
From 10 December, when the planned annihilation of intellectuals intensified, his family became increasingly worried. Especially on 10 December, the Al-Badr militia abducted Ittefaq’s news editor Sirajuddin Hossain. Within an hour they took away PPI’s chief reporter and Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) correspondent Syed Nazmul Haque from his Purana Paltan residence. At six in the morning, they abducted the chief reporter of Dainik Purbodesh, ANM Golam Mostafa, from his Gopibagh residence. On 12 December, several members of Al-Badr abducted PPI’s general manager and BBC correspondent Nizamuddin Ahmed from his home at Koltabazar in Old Dhaka.
On 13 December, under family pressure for safety, Shahidullah Kaiser left home intending to go into hiding somewhere in Dhaka. But half an hour later he returned. He told his wife Panna Kaiser, “I will not stay alone. I will stay together with you all.”
That night after dinner he wrote a letter to his wife. The language of the letter was: “Dear Supanna Kaiser, please take care of my children. I know you can. Stay well. I will never truly disappear from you anywhere.”
The date was 14 December. Evening was approaching. In his Kayettuli residence in Old Dhaka, Shahidullah Kaiser lit a candle and was waiting to listen to the BBC. His wife Panna Kaiser was feeding milk to their infant daughter Shomi Kaiser. Just then there was a knock at the door. Kaiser’s younger brother Obaidullah came and asked him, “Borda (Elder Brother), someone is knocking at the door. Shall I open it?”
Shahidullah Kaiser thought perhaps freedom fighters had come. He replied, “They must be freedom fighters. Open the door quickly.” He himself opened the cupboard and began counting the money he had collected for them. But not that happened. Four-five young men with their faces wrapped in black cloth entered and asked, “Who is Shahidullah Kaiser?” Kaiser replied, “I am Shahidullah Kaiser. What do you want?”
One of them said he had to go with them and grabbed him. His sister and wife asked where they were taking him. As the men were going down the stairs they replied, “We will release him shortly.” But once he left, Shahidullah Kaiser never returned. Before leaving he only softly said, “Stay well.”
Outside, a curfew gripped the streets. In the depth of the night’s darkness, the vehicle carrying him slowly disappeared into the shadows. Shahidullah Kaiser never returned. While the bodies of many martyred intellectuals were identified at the Rayerbazar Mass Killing Site, the body of Shahidullah Kaiser has never been found. Searching for his elder brother, another bright star of Bangladesh, the legendary filmmaker and writer Zahir Raihan, also never returned.
In the independent Bangladesh, the bodies of these two brothers were never found. One brother was martyred just two days before the country’s independence, on December 14, 1971. The other was martyred after independence, on January 30, 1972. Such a brutal and heartbreaking episode is almost without precedent in history. By losing both Shahidullah Kaiser and Zahir Raihan, the nation suffered an immense setback—one whose burden Bangladesh continues to carry to this day.
On a golden afternoon of February 17, 1969, Shahidullah Kaiser and Panna Kaiser were united in marriage. They had two children: Shomi Kaiser and Amitabh Kaiser. Panna Kaiser is an educator and writer, while Shomi Kaiser is a celebrated actress. For his extraordinary contributions to the nation, Shahidullah Kaiser was honored with several prestigious awards, including the Adamjee Literary Award (1962), the Bangla Academy Award (1969), the Ekushey Padak (1983), and the Independence Award (1998, posthumously).
A distinguished son of Feni, Shahidullah Kaiser possessed a remarkable range of talents. He was simultaneously a writer, journalist, and political activist. In politics, literature, and journalism alike, he never compromised his principles. In his hometown of Feni, the road stretching from Khejur Chattar on Trunk Road to Mohipal has been named “Shaheed Shahidullah Kaiser Road (S.S.K. Road)” in his honor. His uncompromising and illustrious life continues to inspire generations.
Emran Emon is an eminent
journalist, columnist and a global
affairs analyst. He can be reached
