A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
(Full Story)
Search This Blog
Back to 500BC.
==========================
Thiranjala Weerasinghe sj.- One Island Two Nations
?????????????????????????????????????????????????Thursday, February 1, 2018
Bangladesh: Mirpur liberated us from darkness to walk in the glorious light
Brutal and heavy acts must be fought back suitably and vanquished by the patriotic forces. Our people stood up as best they could to the disgusting stupidity and brutality of Pakistani Military.
by Anwar A. Khan-
( February 1, 2018, Dhaka Sri Lanka Guardian) More
than two decades, the Pakistani rulers used fear, intimidation and
murder to brutally oppress over the Bengalis who sought justice and
equality from them. But the most brutal, ugly, desperate, and vicious
form of aggression happened due to them in our history in 1971. Never
before in history has such a sweeping fervour for freedom expressed
itself in great mass movements and mass armed struggles which drove down
the bastions of Pakistani President Yahya Khan’s empire. This wind of
change blowing through out Bangladesh was no ordinary wind. It was a
raging hurricane against which the old order of the Pakitani Military
Junta and their local brutal collaborators could not stand. The great
millions of Bangladesh grew impatient of being hewers of wood and
drawers of water, and were in an armed rebelling against the oppressive
Pakistan’s Army. The year 1971 saw the emancipation of the Bengali
nation which finally witnessed the total liberation of the
country-Bangladesh from the brutal Pakistani rule and their exploitation
except Mirpur area of Dhaka.
M.E. Estemil said, “National freedom is an expensive gift always worth
fighting for. Even if it costs us!” And undoubtedly, we paid a very high
price to gain our motherland. Bangladesh was born on December 16, 1971
after a 9-month long war having or covered with or accompanied by blood
because of large-scale massacre by the brutal Pkakistan’s Army and their
local cruel mango-twigs. But Mirpur, an important part of the
metropolitan Dhaka city, was occupied by the Bihari (non-Bengali)
butchers from early March to January 30, 1972. The place of Mirpur was
finally liberated on January 31, 1972. Hence, January 31 is generally
known as the Victory Day of Mirpur.
But this year, the day should not pass silently like the previous years.
So many precious lives including the lives of eminent journalist
Shahidullah Kaiser, noted film maker & novelist Zahir Raihan, and
famous poet Meherunnisa were brutally slaughtered in Mirpur area before
it was liberated from the cruel clutches of the non-Bengalees (the
Bihari people) and some Bangla speaking Pakistanis like Qader Molla and
the likes of him belonged to the criminal organisation, Jamaat-e-Islami.
It is very sad that no words for it were from any corner in the country
on this very important day of our History of War of Liberation in the
past. But we had to bear witness to the worst of human brutality and
atrocity during that time in that important area and throughout
Bangladesh. Like John Burns, we wish to say, “We are depressed rather at
the wave of brutality sweeping over the country” during our nine months
of long struggle to achieve Bangladesh. During the past years, I only
heard the roaring voice of Syed Shahidul Haque Mama (died a few months
back) from abroad, the 1971 war veteran and who actively participated in
all operations to free Mirpur from those hyenas.
The biggest threat against the survival of humanity is not brutality and
unkindness, it is stupidity and selfishness but we really encountered
horror, terror, brutality, mass killing, and genocide from an opposing
Pakistan’s military force and a hostile group of local people supported
by them who used our holy religion-Islam to annihilate us from this
sacred soil of ours. The war against the tyrannical rule of the
Pakistani commands in 1971 was truly our mankind’s war of liberation. We
are sorry for those who have never had the experience of seeing the
victory of a national liberation struggle, and we should feel cold
contempt for those who jeer at it.
According to the Asia Times, at a meeting of the military top brass in
March 1971, Pakistan’s military dictator President Yahya Khan declared,
“Kill 3 million of them and the rest will eat out of our hands.”
Accordingly, on the night of 25 March, the Pakistani Army launched
“Operation Searchlight” to crush Bengali resistance wherever found in
this country; the Bengali members of military services were disarmed and
killed, students and the intelligentsia were systematically liquidated
and able-bodied Bengali males just picked up and were gunned down.
The biggest threat against the survival of humanity is not brutality and unkindness, it is stupidity and selfishness but we really encountered horror, terror, brutality, mass killing, and genocide from an opposing Pakistan’s military force and a hostile group of local people supported by them who used our holy religion-Islam to annihilate us from this sacred soil of ours.
Mama Guerilla Bahini Chief Syed Shahidul Haque Mama recounted, “On March
27, 1971, Abdul Quader Mollah, Hasib Hasmi, Abbas Chairman, Akhter
Gunda, Nehal and many others killed poet Meherun Nesa, her brothers and
mother and chopped their bodies into pieces in Mirpur. Akhter Gunda and
his accomplices forcibly brought one Pallab from Thathari Bazar to
Muslim Bazar in Mirpur. Then Akhter and his accomplices cut his fingers
and hung him up on a tree and killed him mercilessly.” He also said,
“Quader Mollah and his accomplices took part in the election campaign in
1970 for the “infamous” Ghulam Azam, the then Ameer of East Pakistan
Jamaat-e-Islami and a candidate of the Mirpur area for membership of the
Pakistan National Assembly.”
The enemies were the Pakistan army personnel, Jamaat-e-Islami men,
Al-Badr men, Al-Shams men and Razakars. At the fag end of our glorious
War of Independence in 1971, the Biharis, Pakistan’s Military personnel,
Jamaat-e-Islami along with the members of Islami Chhatra Sangha (now
Islami Chhatra Shibir), the-then student wing of Jamaat built a strong
resistance in Mohammadpur and Mirpur areas. Jamaati gangsters convinced
the Biharis that Bangladesh would turn into a part of Pakistan once
again. A fearless freedom fighter Mama recollected from abroad that on
December 17, 1971, he recovered the bodies of martyred intellectuals
from the Rayerbazar killing field; and he said, “I found a small sack
full of human eyes.” He further added that they picked up many killers
who were hiding in Mohammadpur and following their information, they
recovered the bodies of hundreds of intellectuals from the brick kilns
of Rayerbazar. We know very well that the martyred intellectuals were
our best sons of the soil of Bangladesh. The killing of intellectuals
was a clear manifestation of the grave brutality unleashed by the
Al-Badrs, Al-Shams and the Razakars.
According to the celebrated Journalist and columnist Syed Badrul Ahsan
(SBA), “Let us get the facts straight. When Bangladesh stood liberated,
as a whole, on December 16, 1971, there were yet small pockets where
Pakistan’s defeated soldiers were putting up last ditch resistance. That
resistance would come to an end within days. But there was,
unbelievably, one small portion of the country which non-Bengali
collaborators of the Pakistan occupation army kept in their grip for
about one and a half months after liberation.” And it was the place of
Mirpur. SBA further added, “There is Quazi Rosy to tell you all about
it. And there is Syed Shahidul Haque, popularly known as Mama, to remind
you of the gathering gloom which would descend on the Bengalis
inhabiting Mirpur in the stirring times that were in 1971. Even as a
resurgent Bengali nation, led by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman,
brought Pakistan to a grinding halt in March 1971, the non-Bengalis in
Mirpur went on a spree of coercion and intimidation of the Bengali
population in the locality”.
According to Christopher Hitchens, “Freedom is the decision to live and
die, doing what you love” and we decided to die; we decided to live and
we decided to do what we loved in 1971. And we loved to attain
independence from the shackles of the Pakistani rule marked by unjust
severity or arbitrary behaviour and we finally achieved Bangladesh.
Mirpur was a heartless terror in 1971 till the end of January, 1972.
Yes. Terrible, and…A wise saying has spelt out, “When somebody
challenges you from the wrong path, fight back.” And our freedom
fighters fought back those cruel devils valiantly with patriotism and
liberated Mirpur. It was a milestone in the annuals of our struggle for
freedom from the Pakistani regime.
In man – in the history of mankind, this has happened many times, and
occupation leaders cling on to the land that they are occupying. People
fight to liberate their land. But in the end, the people’s will is what
achieves victory. Brutal and heavy acts must be fought back suitably and
vanquished by the patriotic forces. Our people stood up as best they
could to the disgusting stupidity and brutality of Pakistani Military.
It was a fight to the bitter end, one in which we are defending our
ideals or beliefs. Eons of suffering, brutality and struggle have paved
the way through the corridors of time to create this moment, where we
now exist as an exalted expression of lives. According to George Weah,
“My fellow revolutionaries; liberation is a noble cause. We must fight
to obtain it” and our people took it as a noble cause and so, we have
won it.
Mirpur liberated us from darkness to walk in the glorious light. We
should not miss to celebrate the good days like Mirpur Victory Day with
pureness and due solemnly because there were brutal days in the past.
Like Paulo Freire, we wish to say, “Looking at the past must only be a
means of understanding more clearly what and who they are so that they
can more wisely build the future.”
In closing, we wish to use the words of eminent journalist Zulfikar Ali
Manik of Dhaka Tribune, “It is impossible to forget the grief of the
gruesome killings of 1971 but this time we at least have the consolation
that we could ensure justice.” And justice has been happening in the
country though belatedly. We should pray for the departed souls to
reside in Heaven in peace who were brutally murdered by those lummoxes
before the liberation of Mirpur on 31st January 1972. We also should
commiserate for the families of those victims.
-The End –