'It was then 2.15 am...March 26 in 1971'

At 2:15 am on March 26 in 1971, Shaheed President Ziaur Rahman revolted against Pakistani military junta, mobilising Bengali troops under his command at the port city of Chattogram. March 26, 1971 is the Bangladesh's Independence Day, while in a reflective articleZia later described the day that "etched in the Bangalee's heart in blood letters".

Ziaur Rahman, a major in Pakistan army, revolted against Pakistani military junta at that very hour from the battalion of 8 East Bengal Regiment where he was posted as the second in command. Coinciding with the first anniversary of the country’s independence on March 26, 1972 he got an article titled "Birth of a Nation" published in now defunct the Dainik Bangla, when he was the deputy army chief having the elevated rank of major general as a senior 1971 veteran.

Weekly Bicitra, a sister concern of the same newspaper, reprinted the piece on the same day in 1974. "The time was very precious. I called the (Bengali) officers, JCOs (junior commissioned officers and the jawans (ordinary soldiers) . . . I directed them to appear in armed struggle. They unanimously accepted the order willingly," Zia wrote. Ziaur Rahman then moved the troops to Kalurghat area on the outskirts of the port city where the Bengali radio employees by then set up the makeshift clandestine Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra from where he proclaimed the Independence of Bangladesh. In that reflective article, Zia recounted the Bengalis cultural repression and political marginalisation under the Pakistani rule, particularly the prolonged military regimes, as he grew up as a student and exhausted the earlier part of his army career.

"After the creation of Pakistan when (Pakistan's founder) Mr. Jinnah declared in historic Dhaka city that 'Urdu and only Urdu' would be the state language of Pakistan, in my opinion from that day the Bengali nationalism was sewed in the hearts of Bengalis," he wrote. Zia added: "The founder of Pakistan himself had sewed the seed of destruction of the unnatural country on that very day on this field of Dhaka."  He said the actions of the Pakistani junta made imperative as well as inevitable the Bengali armed resistance. The article recounted that the chronological political developments - the 1952 Language Movement, the 1954 general elections, the military rule under Ayub Khan, the1965 Pak-India War, the nationalist movements of 1960s and the subsequent 1970 general elections as major events that shook his mind. Zia particularly noted Pakistani rulers' deliberate attempts to obstruct East Pakistan's development, despicable attitude towards Bengalis and actions to suppress the nationalist uprising as the phenomenon that led Bengalis towards their eventual Liberation War.

The 1969 mass uprising and the Agartala conspiracy case accusing Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as the prime suspect pressed home the demand for independence.  "The fate of the case (resulting in unconditional release of Sheikh Mujib) forged the unity of Bengali soldiers, sailors and airmen . . . in solidarity with the Bengali (civilian) population," Zia wrote. Awami League's landslide victory in 1970 elections was a major setback for the Pakistani rulers, but their deliberate delay and conspiracies to halt transfer of power heated up the political situation leading to the start of the nationwide Non-Cooperation Movement in March 1971.

Zia wrote Pakistani army began to secretly strengthen military preparedness for the crackdown and in that backdrop Sheikh Mujib delivered his landmark March 7 address. "The historic March 7 (1971) of Sheikh Mujib's speech at Race Course Maidan appeared to us as the 'green signal'. We gave our plan its final shape . . . then appeared the black night in between March 25 and 26," the article read.  Zia wrote on the night of March 25, Pakistani forces carried out a brutal massacre of unarmed Bengalis in Dhaka and other major cities making the horrific hours a pivotal moment for the Bengalis to take a "right decision" for waging the Liberation War.

He wrote at 1 am of that black night, his commanding officer ordered him to report to Pakistani general Ansari at Chittagong Port in a navy truck where he awaited him possibly like an ambush predator "perhaps to receive me forever (for killing)". He recalled that on way to the port, Bengali major Khalequzzaman Chowdhury intercepted him and informed about the launch of the Pakistani crackdown, prompting him to return to his battalion where he saw Bengali soldiers by then detained all Pakistani officers in a room. Zia wrote reaching his office he tried to communicate with Bengali Lt. Colonel MR Chowdhury and Major Rafiqul Islam but he could not get them and after failing to reach the military officers he called the telephone operator of the civilian service.

"I requested him to inform the Deputy Commissioner, Police Superintendent, Commissioner, DIG (police) and the Awami League leaders that the 8 Battalion of the East Bengal regiment revolted and they would fight for independence of the country," he wrote. Zia also wrote initially he tried to contact all of the civilian officers by phone but could reach none forcing him to approach the telephone operator "who gladly agreed to keep my request".  He then turned to the Bengali soldiers of the unit and delivered a speech addressing them.

"They knew everything. (Yet) I briefly told them everything," Zia wrote describing the moment of the revolt.  The article, available on the internet, contained over 3,650 words while he said a journalist encouraged him to write the piece ahead of the first anniversary of the independence although Zia was initially a bit skeptical about his own writing skill. "I am a soldier. Writing is a God-gifted art and soldiers don't naturally possess that rare artistic ability. But that historic moment was so emotional that I too had to write something. I had to pick up the pen," he wrote.