A Teacher, a Freedom Fighter

Dr. Abdul Mannan Choudhury

During my student life, I was a student as well as a cultural activist. We started working for regional autonomy from the year of 1959 and had to undergo minimum punishment in the form of cancellation of scholarship right from the school days. Most of our activities till 1965 were camouflaged. But, events went in a different way after the announcement of the Six Point Programmme by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. It took a different form when he instructed us to observe general strike throughout the province on 7th June, 1966.On the same day, I was shot from point blank range but narrowly escaped death as Mr. Abdur Razzak pushed me down on the ground near the Curzon Hall area. But on that day, as an individual, I decided to sever all relationship with Pakistan. On my part, I became an ardent supporter of total independence instead of provincial authority. I participated actively thereafter in all the movements including the 11 point.

In 1971, I was a Dhaka University lecturer but I continued my relationship with my previous colleagues in student politics and cultural arena. I spearheaded a resolution for independent Bangladesh on 4th march, 1971 in a meeting of Dhaka University teachers at Bat-Tala. During the 60s, I became closely associated with Sheikh Fazlul Haq Moni, who subsequently became my commanding officer during the war. Since we had arms training and knowledge of guerilla warfare, we organised training, looting of arms and limited ambush of Pakistani forces even before the crackdown on 25th March, 1971.

On the day of the crackdown, I was in Comilla and was waiting to receive instructions. We came to know that Bangabandhu did declare independence and we received the instruction that we would have to build up all out resistance. Since we were very close to the Comilla Cantonment our resistance broke on the same night. I along with some of my friends had to retreat towards the border. We organised members of ansars, deserted members of the police and the then EPR. We were engaged in several encounters in several places to the south of Comilla Town. Failing to hold ground for long and with an urge to procure arms and ammunition, I crossed the border and went to Shonamura, India on 7th April hoping that the Indian Army would help us.

This turned out to be a failure. I had to spend about 11 days without any solid food. Then I came back, picked up a large number of students, peasants and political workers for training in Mujib Bahini previously known as BLF (Bangladesh Liberation Front). Side by side, we also initiated to publish a four-page weekly in the title “Shaptahik Bangladesh”. Our jobs were confined to recruiting fighters, sending them for training, procuring arms and money, instructing the fighters and keeping their track, and coordinating the guerilla warfare. Since I was trained earlier, I did not go for any further training till late September, 1971. At the turn of the events, we had to go for training to acquaint ourselves with more sophisticated arms and strategies of guerilla warfare. I was fortunate enough to receive training at the Dehradoon Military Academy. I was the only fortunate person to involve myself among the university teachers of Bangladesh in the direct warfare as well as psychological manouvres.

There are hundreds of memories of the war. Initially we fought it alone in the name of different forces. Then we aligned with our Indian friends. At the fag end of the war, a Coordination Committee, especially in the eastern sector was formed. At that time I was the temporary chief of our force in the Eastern Sector and representative of Mujib Bahini in the Coordination Committee.

There were several occasions while I could be killed. Let me cite just an example. It happened in an encounter with the Pakistani forces. We made an ambush but got surrounded by the enemy forces. We left our arms in the nearby bushes and took shelter in the nearby village. The enemy however captured us and started interrogating. We pretended ourselves as cowboys and they almost believed us to be so. There was no problem with others but I looked very much an urban gentleman. They did not believe my story and consequently they wanted to pick me up. All on a sudden, some of my co fighters and villagers raised 'Joy Bangla' slogan. The enemy became terribly frightened and confused. Taking advantage of their confusion, I dived into a ditch and swam to safety. Thereafter, my commanding officer only allowed me limited access to frontal fight and kept me apparently reserved for the central command and the reconstruction of the country after the Liberation War.

For that I always felt indebted. This is one of the reasons, I always tried to repay this debt and I have been working relentlessly for the realisation of the spirit of the Great Liberation War. I have seen more difficult days than what we encountered in 1971.

We wanted to create an exploitation free and democratic society. Now our days are numbered. But as a nation we still have a long way to go. I will urge our young generation to prepare themselves to uphold the spirit of the Liberation War. The new generation must learn to hate the collaborators as much as they must learn to love the country. They should pay homage to them who sacrificed their present for the bright future of the new generation.

(The writer is a Professor of Department of Management Information Systems, University of Dhaka)

Copyright (R) thedailystar.net 2006