Behind the Scene

From Sylhet

Monu Miah, 1966

Iqbal Siddiquee

IT was June 7, 1966, a red letter day in the country's history. As a hartal was pressed for a historic 6-point demand, Dhaka as well the whole country was in a standstill. The Pakistan government cracked down on the innocent people for stopping the mass upsurge.

As many as 11 people throughout the country sacrificed their lives to the cause of establishing masses' rights that day. Among them was Shahid Monu Miah, hailing from Beanibazar upazila in Sylhet. He was an employee of the Seven Up Company at the Tejgaon industrial area. The police and other forces fired gunshots even as his body was being taken from the place of occurrence that day. People of the country remember those heroic sons of the soil. People of the new generation of his home upazila feel proud of Monu Miah and others too.

This year too, local organisations like Swadesh Sahitya Sangskriti Parishad of Beanibazar upazila of Sylhet arranged programmes to recall the life of Shahid Monu Miah, who hailed from this area. The Awami League and others held meetings to observe the day in Sylhet and elsewhere in the country.

Fokhrul Moula Khan aka Monu Miah was the second among 9 children of Manohar Ali Khan of Noyagram of Beanibazar Sadar. He could not continue his studies after primary school mainly due to financial constraints and shifted to the then provincial capital Dhaka to work at the age of 23. He learned to drive and joined the beverage company at Tejgaon.

After Liberation, Bangabandhu's government established an institution named Shahid Monu Miah High School at Nakhalpara in the capital Dhaka. However, no attempt has yet been taken to build a small memorial at his village of Beanibazar yet.

People feel that history should reflect the sacrifice of those valiant sons, who made the ultimate sacrifice there is. Discussants at the meeting held on June 7th at Beanibazar wanted to name the road near his village house at Noyagram after him. They were also in favour of building a memorial at the place where he was shot to pay homage to this martyred son of the soil.

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