Volume 2 Issue 57 | May 9, 2009 |



  
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Behind the Scene

From Jhenidah

Freedom Fighter Abdul Aziz

Azibor Rahman

HE carried the body of Bir Sreshtha Hamidur Rahman and was wounded in the Liberation War. He now makes a living selling tea. He lives a life of great hardship and struggles to take care of his family.

Burdened with age, he runs his tea stall by the side of the road from dawn to dusk. This freedom fighter has not received any land for his services. He has been living for the last 38 years in a slum on a piece of government-owned land. Abdul Aziz now lives with his family at Haat Khalishpur under Moheshpur upazila, Jhenidah.

Aziz said that when he was an SSC examinee in 1969, he got a chance to join the Ansar camp in Jessore Jhumjhumpur under Bengal No-1. His father had been an Ansar. After two years of service, he returned home on January, 1971. In that time, a group of Ansars led by Habildar Abdul Latif and Abdul Hye came to Khalishpur.

In the first week of April the Pakistani occupation forces invaded Jessore. Aziz, along with Bir Sreshtha Hamidur Rahman and the late freedom fighter Afsar Ali set out for Jessore. They were also the members of the Jessore Ansar camp. On the way to Jessore they fought against the occupation army at Kotchandpur. Later, they reached Chowgacha and met a group of No-1 regiment fighters. At the time Captain Hafiz, more recently water resource minister, was in charge of the group. They learnt that the Pakistani forces were waiting at Mashila camp. After undergoing adequate preparation, they attacked the camp and gained control of it.

Later, they crossed the border and took shelter at Petropol in India. On the first week of June they fought fiercely at the Benapole border. In this fight, Aziz was seriously injured; he checked in to a hospital and received seven stitches. After some days the unit had been moved to Tora Hill under Assam Meghalaya. They trained there and the unit had been divided up into three. Aziz was in unit A and his commander was Lt. Anis. Hamidur Rahman was in unit C and his commander was Lt. Qaiyum. Later they fought in different parts of Sylhet including Mymensingh, Jamalpur, Shaestaganj, Moulavibazar, Habiganj, Atgram and Gouripur. Afterwards, all units got together and attacked the stronghold of Pakistani occupation forces in Dhalua by the side of the Surma River. Hamidur died in this battle. It was November 28th and the month of Ramadan. Hamidur was fasting that day. The Pakistani forces were defeated completely. Aziz and his comrade buried Hamidur at Ambahsa in Meghalaya, India. The injured fighters submitted reports to the camp in Dhaka. Many years have passed since the war, and Aziz's life hasn't gone too well. In the 38 years that have gone by since, countless people have come to him to listen to his stories about the war.

Aziz has a family consisting of six members. One son and one daughter are going to school. He doesn't earn nearly enough. He has tried to meet up with his commander captain Hafiz and Lt. Anis. He requests either of these two people to get in touch with him.

 

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