August 15: Darkest chapter on the moon

Mirza Nahid Hossain

August 15 is a day of national mourning. It is a day when the air and nature of Bengal will become tearful. Because on this day of seventy-five, August and Shravan were united together in the flood of Bangabandhu’s blood and tears that tore the heart of the sky.

Durning Subeh Sadiq, when Bangabandhu was shot dead by his family in his residence at Dhanmondi number 32, the rain that was falling was like nature’s tears. Wet air is crying all over Bengal. In front of the weapons raised by the assassins, Bangladesh was shocked and shocked by the suddenness of the unexpected incident. The fire of mourning will burn from tomorrow to tomorrow. August 15 is the day of reading the sad words, the 47th martyrdom anniversary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the architect of independence, the father of the nation.

It is a National Mourning Day. The worst, most brutal murder in history took place on this dark night in 1975. On this day, the entire Bengali nation was tarnished by some wayward members of the army. That night, the father of the nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib was pierced by the merciless bullet of the assassin in the historical building of road number 32 of Dhanmondi.

Fearless Bangabandhu stood in front of the killer’s bullet and wanted to ask the killers ‘What do you want? Where will you take me?’ Even seeing Bangabandhu, the hands of the murderers did not tremble. Shots were fired at Khune Chahni.

On that day Bangabandhu’s consort Bangamata Begum Fazilatun Nesha Mujib, Bangabandhu’s eldest son Sheikh Kamal, Sheikh Jamal, Sheikh Russell, daughter-in-law Sultana Kamal, Rozi Jamal, brother Sheikh Nasser, Colonel Jamil lost their lives.

Bangabandhu’s nephew freedom fighter Sheikh Fazlul Haque Mani, his pregnant wife Arju Mani, brother-in-law Abdur Rab Serniabat, Shishu Babu, Arif Rintu Khan and many others lost their lives in the bullets of the killers. Bangabandhu’s eldest daughter and current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her younger sister Sheikh Rehana survived as they were not in the country at that time.

The nation will remember all the martyrs today with deep mourning and respect.
Bangabandhu was physically killed but not dead. He is eternal. Because he is the dreamer and architect of a nation state. As long as this state exists, he is immortal. He prepared the entire nation with the motivation of Bengali nationalism to jump into armed struggle against the colonial ruler-exploiting Pak army. So he is immortal in the consciousness of this nation. Bangabandhu is not just a person but the name of a great ideology. The ideal that inspired the whole country. Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib, the greatest Bengali architect of a thousand years, formulated the country’s constitution in Bengali nationalism, democracy, socialism and secular philosophy. Bangabandhu was on the side of the exploited in the world reality of that day divided into exploiters and exploited.

Bangabandhu ‘s call for freedom in his historic speech at Suhrawardy Udyan on March 7, 1971, in the continuation of the long 24-year movement and struggle against Pakistani rule and exploitation , is unforgettable. Millions of oppressed Bengalis jumped into the freedom war with the immortal call of his thunderous voice, ‘This time is our struggle for freedom/this time is the struggle for freedom’. Bengalis became a nation of fighters and heroes in that magical declaration.

Bangabandhu engaged himself in the work of building the war-torn country after returning to the country and involved the people of the country in the process of development. He had a firm belief that the people of his country will never forget his sacrifices and contributions in this struggle of nation-building. Don’t be ungrateful. Bangabandhu, the head of state of the newly formed Bangladesh, therefore lived in the ordinary house on road number 32 in Dhanmondi instead of the official residence.

The conspiracies of the defeated evil forces of the liberation war did not stop. To avenge the defeat they are getting one plot trap after another.

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman won the 1970 Pakistani general election but was denied by the Pakistani military dictatorship the position of the Prime Minister of Pakistan; this was a result of long time political oppression of Bengali citizens of Pakistan who were vocally opposed to the authoritarian tyranny of The Establishment (Pakistan). As the democratic demands and protests continued, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman delivered the speech on 7 March that brought the Bengalis together to become prepared for things to come. On 25th March of 1971, the Pakistan Army, launched an armed operation killing intellectuals in Dhaka University and the next day on 26th March 1971 Sheikh Mujibur Rahman declared Bangladesh’s independence from Pakistan, triggering the 9-month Bangladesh Liberation War that ended with the surrender of Pakistani forces in Bangladesh to an allied force of Bangladesh Mukti Bahini and Indian Armed forces. In 1973, Sheikh Mujibur’s Bangladesh Awami League won the first parliamentary election in independent Bangladesh by a landslide.

During the war, perpetrators of the coup, already hatched the plan of assassinating Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Many of the conspirators were army officers who were dissatisfied with the decision of independence as they received benefits from a military run administration and they feared a democratic administration might not provide them with as many benefits as administrations of Ayub Khan and Yahya Khan had been giving them. Besides military officers, career politicians and bureaucrats like Khondoker Mostaq Ahmed and some other ministers who worked in the Pakistani government and Bangabandhu’s government were involved in the conspiracy as well because they wanted to be part of Pakistan and blamed Sheikh Mujibur Rahman for the 1971 liberation war. According to these plans, they got involved in scuffles that made it seem they were unrelated to a deep seated conspiracy and intentionally engineered political crises.

Major Khandaker Abdur Rashid was able to communicate Commerce Minister Khandaker Moshtaque Ahmed about the situation in the country. Major Khandaker Rashid, Major Dalim, and Khandaker Moshtaque decided that they must dissolve BAKSAL and remove Sheikh Mujib. Khandaker Rashid informed Major Faruque Rahman, who agreed with the plan, and he was also told that Major General Zia would support them.

On August 15, 1975, some misguided and ambitious members of the army were used by the conspirators to actualize the plot itself. They attacked the house number 32 of Dhanmondi, known as the freedom thread, late at night. Killed Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his family. Through this most despicable and brutal murder in the history of the world and human civilization, they not only killed Bangabandhu that day, but He wanted to kill the ideals of independence as well as achieve the thousand years of hope of the Bengalis. Attempts were made to erase the history of Bengali epics.

Bangabandhu’s most brutal murder is a tragic tragedy for the Bengali nation, but instead of ensuring the punishment of the killers in that terrible murder, there has been an attempt to hide them for a long time. Even the murderers have been rewarded in various ways. The infamous ‘Indemnity Ordinance’ was issued by Khandkar Mushtaq, the murderer of Bangabandhu, to prevent prosecution of the murder.