A Brief

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Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib was born on March 17, 1920 and was assassinated by a group of junior army officers on August 15, 1975 – coincidentally on India’s Independence Day.

Sheikh Mujib headed the Awami League, served as the first President of Bangladesh and later became its Prime Minister. His eldest daughter Sheikh Hasina Wajed is the present leader of the Awami League and the current Prime Minister of Bangladesh.

Mujib was born in Tungipara, a village in Gopalganj District in the province of Bengal to Sheikh Lutfar Rahman, a serestadar, and an officer responsible for record keeping at the Gopalganj civil court. He was the third child in a family of four daughters and two sons. In 1929, Rahman entered into class three at Gopalganj Public School, and two years later, class four at Madaripur Islamia High School.

However, Mujib was withdrawn from school in 1934 in order to undergo eye surgery, and returned to school only after four years, owing to the severity of the surgery and slow recovery. At the age of eighteen, Mujib married Begum Fazilatnnesa. She gave birth to their two daughters-Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana-and three sons-Sheikh Kamal, Sheikh Jamal and Sheikh Russel.

Sheikh-Mujibur-Rahman

Mujib became politically active when he joined the All India Muslim Students Federation in 1940. He enrolled at the Islamia College (now Maulana Azad College), a well-respected college affiliated to the University of Calcutta to study law and entered student politics there.

He joined the Bengal Muslim League in 1943 and grew close to the faction led by Hussein Shaheed Suhrawardy, a leading Bengali Muslim leader. During this period, Mujib worked actively for the League’s cause of a separate Muslim state of Pakistan and in 1946 he was elected general secretary of the Islamia College Students Union.

After obtaining his degree in 1947, Mujib was one of the Muslim politicians working under Suhrawardy during the communal violence that broke out in Calcutta, in 1946, just before the partition of India.

Mujib, a student leader in 1949 On his return to East Bengal, he enrolled in the University of Dhaka to study law and founded the East Pakistan Muslim Students’ League and became one of the most prominent student political leaders in the province.

Mujib launched his political career, leaving the Muslim League to join Suhrawardy and Maulana Bhashani in the formation of the Awami Muslim League, the predecessor of the Awami League. He was elected joint secretary of its East Pakistan unit in 1949.

In 1953, he was made the party’s general secretary, and elected to the East Bengal Legislative Assembly on a United Front coalition ticket in 1954. He was elected to the second Constituent Assembly of Pakistan and served from 1955 to 1958.

In 1956, Mujib entered a second coalition government as minister of industries, commerce, labour, anti-corruption and village aid, but resigned in 1957 to work full-time for the party organization

Following Suhrawardy’s death in 1963, Mujib came to head the Awami League, which became one of the largest political parties in East Pakistan.The party had dropped the word “Muslim” from its name in a shift towards secularism. Mujib supported opposition candidate Fatima Jinnah against Ayub Khan in the 1964 election.

Following Indian intervention in December 1971, the League leadership created a government in Dhaka. Mujibur Rahman briefly assumed the provisional presidency and later took office as the Prime Minister, heading all organs of government and decision-making.

He charged the provisional parliament to write a new constitution, and proclaimed the four fundamental principles of “nationalism, secularism, democracy and socialism,” which would come to be known as “Mujibism”.

In 1974, Bangladesh experienced the deadliest famine ever, which killed around 1.5 million Bangladeshi people from hunger. The Bangladesh famine of 1974 is a major source of discontent against Mujib’s government.

Sheikh Mujib’s government soon began encountering increased dissatisfaction and unrest. His programs of nationalization and industrial socialism suffered from lack of trained personnel, inefficiency, rampant corruption and poor leadership. Mujib’s ambitious social programs performed poorly, owing to scarcity of resources, funds and personnel, and caused unrest amongst the masses.

Political unrest gave rise to increasing violence, and in response, Mujib began increasing his powers. On January 25, 1975 Mujib declared a state of emergency and his political supporters approved a constitutional amendment banning all opposition political parties.

Mujib was declared “president for life,” and given extraordinary powers. His political supporters amalgamated to form the only legalized political party, the Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Awami League, commonly known by its initials-BAKSAL

On August 15, 1975, a group of junior army officers invaded the presidential residence with tanks and killed Mujib, his family and personal staff. Only his daughters Sheikh Hasina Wajed and Sheikh Rehana, who were visiting West Germany, escaped. They were banned from returning to Bangladesh.

During his tenure as Bangladesh’s leader, Muslim religious leaders and politicians intensely criticized Mujib’s adoption of state secularism. He alienated some segments of nationalists and the military, which feared Bangladesh, would come to depend upon India.

Mujib’s imposition of one-party rule and suppression of political opposition alienated large segments of the population and derailed Bangladesh’s experiment with democracy for many decades.

Following his death, succeeding governments offered low-key commemorations of Mujib, and his public image was restored only with the election of an Awami League government led by his daughter Sheikh Hasina in 1996. Mainly Awami League supporters commemorate August 15 as “National Mourning Day.”

PS: Mark Tully took the painting gift from Mujib with him to London. The painting was done by artist Muzimul Azim, in 1973. When asked how he managed that, Tully quipped with a child like smile as he would cherish the memory of the late Bangladesh leader for long time, “I simply took it from the office.”

Bangabandhu an architect of the nation

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He  is  not  a  mere  individual. He in an institution. A movement. A revolution.  An  upsurge. He  is the architect of the nation. He is the essence of epic poetry and he is history.

This   history   goes   back   a   thousand  years. Which  is  why contemporary  history  has  recognized him as the greatest Bengali of the past thousand years. The future will call him the superman of eternal time.

And  he  will  live,  in  luminosity  reminiscent  of  a  bright  star,  in historical  legends.  He  will show the path to the Bengali nation his dreams   are   the   basis   of   the   existence   of   the  nation.  A remembrance  of  him is the culture and society that Bengalis have sketched  for  themselves.  His  possibilities,  the promises thrown forth by him, are the fountain-spring of the civilized existence of the Bengalis.

He is a   friend to the masses. To the nation he is the Father. In the view of men  and women in other places and other climes, he is the founder of sovereign Bangladesh. Journalist Cyril Dunn once said of him, “In the thousand – year history of Bangladesh, Sheikh Mujib is the only  leader who has, in terms of blood, race, language, culture and  birth,  been  a  full – blooded Bengali. His physical stature was immense. His  voice  was redolent of thunder. His charisma worked magic  on  people.  The   courage  and  charm that flowed from him made him a unique superman in these times.”Newsweek magazine has called him the poet of politics.

An Architect

The leader of the British humanist movement, the  late Lord Fenner Brockway   once  remarked,  “In a sense,  Sheikh  Mujib is a great leader than George Washington, Mahatma Gandhi and De Valera.” The  greatest  journalist of  the  new Egypt, Hasnein Heikal (former editor  of  Al  Ahram  and  close   associate   of   the late President Nasser) has said, “Nasser is not simply of Egypt.  Arab  world. His Arab nationalism is the message of freedom for the Arab people. In similar  fashion,  Sheikh   Mujibur   Rahman   does  not  belong  to Bangladesh  alone.  He  is the harbinger of freedom for all Bangalis. His  Bengali   nationalism   is   the   new   emergence   of  Bengali civilization   and  culture. Mujib  is  the hero of the Bengalis, inn the past and in the times that are.

Embracing  Bangabandhu  at  the  Algiers Non – Aligned Summit in 1973, Cuba’s  Fidel  Castro  noted, “I have not seen the Himalayas. But  I  have  seen  Sheikh Mujib. In personality and in courage, this man is the Himalayas. I have thus had the experience of witnessing the Himalayas.

Upon  hearing  the  news  of  Bangabandhu’s assassination, former British  Prime  Minister Harold Wilson wrote to a Bengali Journalist, “This  is  surely  a  supreme national tragedy for you. For me it is a personal  tragedy  of immense dimensions.” Refers to the founder of a  nation – state. In  Europe,  the  outcome  of  democratic  national aspirations   has   been   the  rise  of  modern  nationalism  and the national  state. Those  who  have  provided leadership in the task of the  creation  of nations or nation-states have fondly been called by their peoples as  founding fathers and have been placed on the high perches  of  history. Such  is  the reason why Kamal Ataturk is the creator of modern Turkey. And  thus it is that Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur  Rahman   is  the  founder  of the Bengali nation – state and father  of  the  nation  of his fellow Bengalis. But in more ways than one, Sheikh Mujib has been a more successful founding father than either  Ataturk  or  Gandhi. Turkey existed even during the period of the  Ottoman  empire. Once  the empire fell, Ataturk took control of Turkey  and  had  it  veer  away  from  western  exploitation through giving shape to a democratic nation – state. In  Gandhi’s case, India and  Indians  did  not lose their national status either before or after him. But once the British left the subcontinent, the existence of the Bengali nation appeared to have been blotted out.

The  new  rulers  of the new state of Pakistan called Bangladesh by the  term  “East  Pakistan”  in  their   constitution.   By   pushing a thousand – year   history   into  the   shadows,  the Pakistani rulers imposed  the  nomenclature  of  “Pakistanis”  on  the  Bengalis, so much so that using the term “Bengali” or  “Bangladesh”  amounted to sedition in the eyes of the  Pakistani  state. The first man to rise in defense of the Bengali, his  history and his heritage, was Sheikh Mujibur  Rahman.  On  25   August   1955, he  said in the Pakistan Constituent  Assembly,  “Mr.  Speaker,  they ( government) want to change  the  name  of  East  Bengal  into  East Pakistan. We have always   demanded   that   the   name  ‘Bangla’ be used. There is a history  behind the term Bangla. There  is  a  tradition, a heritage, If this  name  is  at  all to be changed, the question should be placed before  the  people  of  Bengal: are  they ready to have their identity changed?”

Sheikh   Mujib’s  demand   was  ignored.  Bangladesh  began to be called  East  Pakistan  by  the  rulers. Years later, after his release from  the  so – called  Agartalas  case, Sheikh  Mujib  took  the first step  toward  doing  away with the misdeed imposed on his people. On 5 December 1969, he said, “At one time, attempts were made to wipe out all traces of Bengali history and aspirations. Except for the   Bay   of  Bengal,  the  term Bengal is not seen anywhere. On behalf   of   the   people  of  Bengal, I   am   announcing  today that henceforth   the  eastern  province of Pakistan will, instead of being called East Pakistan, be known as Bangladesh.”

Sheikh Mujib’s revolution was not merely directed at the achievement of political freedom. Once the Bengali nation – state was established, it become his goal to carry through programmes geared to the achievement of national economic welfare. The end of exploitation was one underlying principle of his programme, which he called the Second Revolution. While there are many who admit today that Gandhi was the founder of the non – violent non – cooperation movement, they believe it was an effective use of that principle which enabled Sheikh Sheikh Mujib to create history. Mujib’s politics was a natural follow – up to the struggle and movements of Bengal’s mystics, its religious preachers, Titumir’s crusade, the Indigo Revolt, Gandhiji’s non – cooperation, and Subhash Chandra Bose’s armed attempt for freedom. The secularism of Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das, the liberal democratic politics of Sher-e-Bangla A. K. Fazlul Haque and Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy Contributed to the molding of the Mujib character. He was committed to public welfare. Emerging free of the limitations of western democracy, he wished to see democracy sustain Bengali nationalism. It was this dream that led to the rise of his ideology. At the United Nations, he was the first man to speak of his dreams, his people’s aspiration, in Bangla. The language was, in that swift stroke of politics, recognized by the global community. For the first time after Rabindranath Tagore’s Nobel achievement in 1913, Bangla was put on a position of dignity.

The multifaceted life to the great man cannot be put together in language or colour. The reason is put on, Mujib is greater than his creation. It is not possible to hold within the confines of the frame the picture of such greatness. He is our emancipation – today and tomorrow. The greatest treasure of the Bengali nation is preservation of his heritage, a defense of his legacy. He has conquered death. His memory is our passage to the days that are to be.

Author : Abdul Gaffar Chowdhury

London, 20 December, 1994

Quotes from Bangabandhu

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DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

“This may be my last message, from today Bangladesh is independent.
I call upon the people of Bangladesh, wherever you might be and whatever you have, to resist the army of occupation to the last. Your fight must go on until the last soldier of the Pakistan occupation army is expelled from the soil of Bangladesh and final victory is achieved.”
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman

26 March 1971

The people of Bangladesh have proved to the world at large that they are a heroic nation, they know how to achieve their right and live like human beings. We have achieve our independence. So long a Bangali lives, he will not allow this independence to be lost. Bangladesh will continue to exist as an independent country in history. There is no power on earth which can keep Bangladesh under subjugation.
Bangabandhu

Those who cannot maintain law and order cannot expect to be a great nation.
Independence is not achieved with the hoisting of the flag only. Ensuring the security of people’s lives and property is also an inseparable part on independence. It is only through agriculture revolution that the country would become self-reliant in food. The farmers must see to it that not an inch of the country’s soil remains fallow and that the yield of the land is increased.
Bangabandhu

I have waged the independence movement of Bangladesh along with seven and a half crore people. So I appeal to the people to put an end to the activities of antisocial and disruptive elements. My dear brothers of armed forces, you belong to the people and people belong to you. You do not form a separate entity. All of you are sons of the soil. This is why you will have to share the happiness and sorrow of the masses and stand beside them in rebuilding the devastated country. Allah is with you.
Our defence-preparedness is not meant to attack anyone. It is for self defense only. We are not willing to interfere into other’s internal affairs. Similarly, we shall not tolerate other’s interference into our internal affairs.
Bangabandhu

The martyrs who gifted the independence of the country will never die. The souls of the martyrs will be contended only when the people of this independent country, established through the sacrifice of the martyrs, will get enough to eat and live a dignified life. Depending on borrowed resources no nation can ever expect to become self-reliant and great. I have made appeals to the world for help. I want help. But not at the cost of independence. Armed forces alone cannot defend a country. It’s people who defend a country. It is clear today that only democracy will work in future in this country.
Bangabandhu

” Sheikh Mujibur Rahman identified the war criminals and declared an amnesty for them. It is also a crime to reprieve those who have killed 30 lakh people and harassed two lakh women”

SOURCE: Rantburg

” Trial of killing of Bangabadhu (Sheikh Mujibur Rahman) was already done on May 30, 1981 through the killing of Zia. For, Zia was behind the killing of Bangabandhu”

SOURCE: The New Nation

” Rather Zia himself, was beneficiary after the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman”

SOURCE: The New Nation

” AL is an organization which has reached to this present stage through facing waging struggles in different difficult times since its inception under the leadership of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and later under the dynamic leadership of Sheikh Hasina”

SOURCE: The New Nation

5 Bangabandhu killers hanged

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Clockwise: Syed Farooq Rahman, Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, Bazlul Huda, AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed and Mohiuddin Ahmed

Govt goes for execution 14 hours after review petition rejected; bodies sent to their village homes with police escort

Shariful Islam, Kailash Sarkar and Ashutosh Sarkar
Five condemned killers of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman were hanged early today at Dhaka Central Jail amid tight security.

The death sentences of the five were executed around 14 and a half hours after the Appellate Division dismissed their pleas to review the Supreme Court verdict that confirmed capital punishment to 12 former army officers including the five petitioners on November 19 last year.

The dismissal paved the way for executing the five killers of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and most of his family members any time within January 31.

“Sultan Shahriar Rashid and Syed Farooq Rahman were the first to walk the gallows at 12:05am. They were handcuffed and their heads were covered in black hoods in the final minutes to midnight,” Dhaka Deputy Commissioner Zillar Rahman told The Daily Star soon after he walked out of the jail premises around 1:45am.

Two hangmen put two nooses around the necks of the two condemned killers. Two other hangmen–Hafiz and Shahjahan–were ready to pull levers to slide apart the scaffolds.

It was 12:05am. Dhaka Jail Superintendent Touhidul Islam dropped a handkerchief from his hand to give signal to the hangmen. The two chief hangmen pulled the levers.

Sultan Shahriar and Farooq were kept hanging for half an hour to confirm their death, witnesses said.

At 12:35am, two other killers of Bangabandhu–AKM Mohiuddin and Bazlul Huda–were brought to the gallows. They were also executed in a similar fashion.

Then it was the turn for Mohiuddin Ahmed. He was brought to a gallows at 1:05am and was hanged following all rituals.

The authorities had taken up a three-layer security measure for the execution.

Members of Rapid Action Battalion, police and armed police battalion were deployed around Dhaka Central Jail. Vehicular movement was restricted on the road in front of the jail gate.

Besides, law enforcement and intelligence agencies were kept alert across the country to avert any untoward incident.

As the news spread earlier that the five convicts would be executed, several hundred people started gathering at the jail gate in the evening, reported our staff correspondents Rashidul Hasan and Shaheen Mollah. A lot of people brought out processions in different parts of the capital including Bangabandhu’s residence in Dhanmondi and Dhaka University campus.

Civil Surgeon Mushfiqur Rahman, Inspector General (Prisons) Ashraful Islam Khan, Deputy Commissioner Zillar Rahman, four magistrates led by the Dhaka district additional deputy commissioner, Home Secretary Abdus Sobhan Sikder and Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner AKM Shahidul Hoque arrived at the jail after 10:00pm yesterday.

Jail sources said they bathed the convicts around 11:00am. Around half an hour later the civil surgeon and two other doctors conducted medical check-ups of the convicts.

Earlier, the two gallows beside the condemned cells in the jail were prepared for the execution.

The compound was lit with floodlights around 11:00pm last night.

The bodies of the five were sent to their village homes by five ambulances by 3:30am under police and Rab escort after conducting post mortem, said Jail Superintendent Touhidul Islam.

People were seen throwing shoes at an ambulance carrying one of the dead bodies.

The five hangmen who performed the execution are Hafiz, Mohammad Shahjahan, Faruq, Raju and Sanwar.

REVIEW PETITION DISMISSAL
Earlier yesterday, following the dismissal of his review petition, convict Syed Farooq Rahman in the afternoon appealed to the president for clemency, which President Zillur Rahman rejected.

Dhaka Jail Superintendent Touhidul Islam last night confirmed The Daily Star that they received the president’s rejection order.

The Appellate Division rejected the review petitions as they contained no new arguments and any legal grounds for reviewing the Supreme Court judgment confirming the death sentences.

In all the petitions, the counsel of the convicts reiterated points that had already been argued during the hearing of their appeals against the High Court verdict. The HC had rejected those pleas.

The four-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Md Tafazzul Islam pronounced the order yesterday morning.

The other members of the Appellate Division bench were justices BK Das, Md Muzammel Hossain and SK Sinha. They heard arguments on the review petitions for three days from January 24.

Killers Syed Farooq Rahman, Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, Mohiuddin Ahmed, Bazlul Huda and AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed, who were in condemned cells of Dhaka Central Jail, had filed the review petitions with the Supreme Court against its verdict.

Law Minister Shafique Ahmed told reporters that as per jail code, the jail authorities should execute the convicts between the 21st and 28th days after the trial court issued death warrants against them.

The death warrants were issued on January 3 and the countdown started the same day, Shafique said, adding that this means the last date for execution is January 31.

Earlier in the day, the law minister held a meeting at his office with Home Minister Sahara Khatun, State Minister for Law Quamrul Islam, Chief State Counsel Anisul Huq, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam, Additional Law Secretary Anwarul Haque, Home Secretary Abdus Sobhan Sikder, Inspector General of Prisons Brig Gen Ashraful Islam Khan and Dhaka Jail Superintendent Touhidul Islam.

The meeting was held to decide the next course of action following the passage of the SC orders.

On November 19 last year, the Supreme Court awarded death penalty to 12 convicts. Apart from the five executed today, six are on the run and one died.

In an instant reaction to the dismissal of the review petitions, Chief State Counsel Anisul Huq and Attorney General Mahbubey Alam told reporters that they are happy with the apex court’s order as they got justice in the case.

“Our fight was for establishing the rule of law and justice, not envy, and we got justice,” Anisul Huq said.

Mahbubey Alam said the trial proceeding of one of the most heinous killings in history came to an end with the dismissal of the review petitions.

Barrister Abdullah-Al Mamun, lawyer for two convicts, told The Daily Star that they accepted the SC orders although they were disappointed with the dismissal of the review petitions.

Mamun urged the prime minister to show mercy to the convicts as a gesture of kindness.

The Daily Star I Thursday, January 28, 2010

The day Bangabandhu looked sad

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Bangabandhu looked depressed on the last evening of his life on August 14, 1975 as a “black car” that came to carry him home from Ganobhaban, visibly appeared to him as an ominous sign, a close aide recalled. “Seeing the car, Bangabandhu murmured several times ‘A black car today!’ – – that was his last comment, which I heard he made. We saw him leaving for home with a very depressed look,” said Dr Muhammad Farashuddin, who was the private secretary to the president.
In an exclusive interview with the news agency ahead of the National Mourning Day tomorrow, he said obviously Bangabandhu did not know that it was the last evening of his life but still he (Farashuddin) wondered if the father of the nation could understand that his last minute had neared.
Farashuddin recalled that three cars were earmarked for presidential duty with one of them being the black one and it was a strange coincidence that the black car was put on duty on that day.
He said as an everyday practice he and some other officials had escorted Bangabandhu up to his car during the departure as usual he said good bye to the officers like any other day, but what appeared a bit unusual that he halted for a second before riding on it for the last time.
Asked what the office schedule was on the last day of the father of the nation, Farashuddin said his last afternoon in office was full of routine activities.
He said Ganobhaban was particularly busy with preparations of Bangabandhu’s attendance at Dhaka University convocation next day and the farewell reception to three senior officials at the presidential office including him while the two others were Joint Secretary M Monwarul Islam and Military Secretary Colonel Jamiluddin Ahmad.
Some were also busy with the development of crash of an Indian helicopter in Bangladesh territory earlier on that day in Noakhali.
He said Bangabandhu was a bit sad over the farewell of the three officials as Farashuddin recalled him saying, “Monowar and Farash are going (abroad) after two days leaving behind a touch of affection. I will miss them. The good news is that Jamil will be staying at home.”
Farashuddin and Monwarul Islam were scheduled to go to the United States on August 17 for higher education while Jamil was set to join as the Director of Forces Intelligence (DFI), now DGFI.
Ahead of leaving the office, Bangabandhu held talks with the then Dhaka University Vice Chancellor M Abdul Matin on the preparations of convocation and the topic of his speech.
A sense of hesitation also gripped his mind that the university that had expelled him earlier was going to confer honorary doctor of law degree.
Bangabandhu got enrolled in the Law Department of Dhaka University in 1948 and was punished with others for joining a movement in favour of the class-iv employees of the university.
The others paid fines and retained their studentship, but Bangabandhu declined to pay the unjust fine and was consequently expelled from the university.
He said Bangabandhu used to walk on the lawn of Ganobhaban and enjoyed the views of leaves on the threes and water and fish in the lake but on that day he did not get the time to spend time with the nature.

Saturday, August 14, 2010Metropolitan
This day Bangabandhu looked sadBss, DhakaBangabandhu looked depressed on the last evening of his life on August 14, 1975 as a “black car” that came to carry him home from Ganobhaban, visibly appeared to him
as an ominous sign, a close aide recalled.
“Seeing the car, Bangabandhu murmured several times ‘A black car today!’ – – that was his last comment, which I heard he made. We saw him leaving for home with a very depressed look,” said Dr Muhammad Farashuddin, who was the private secretary to the president.
In an exclusive interview with the news agency ahead of the National Mourning Day tomorrow, he said obviously Bangabandhu did not know that it was the last evening of his life but still he (Farashuddin) wondered if the father of the nation could understand that his last minute had neared.
Farashuddin recalled that three cars were earmarked for presidential duty with one of them being the black one and it was a strange coincidence that the black car was put on duty on that day.
He said as an everyday practice he and some other officials had escorted Bangabandhu up to his car during the departure as usual he said good bye to the officers like any other day, but what appeared a bit unusual that he halted for a second before riding on it for the last time.
Asked what the office schedule was on the last day of the father of the nation, Farashuddin said his last afternoon in office was full of routine activities.
He said Ganobhaban was particularly busy with preparations of Bangabandhu’s attendance at Dhaka University convocation next day and the farewell reception to three senior officials at the presidential office including him while the two others were Joint Secretary M Monwarul Islam and Military Secretary Colonel Jamiluddin Ahmad.
Some were also busy with the development of crash of an Indian helicopter in Bangladesh territory earlier on that day in Noakhali.
He said Bangabandhu was a bit sad over the farewell of the three officials as Farashuddin recalled him saying, “Monowar and Farash are going (abroad) after two days leaving behind a touch of affection. I will miss them. The good news is that Jamil will be staying at home.”
Farashuddin and Monwarul Islam were scheduled to go to the United States on August 17 for higher education while Jamil was set to join as the Director of Forces Intelligence (DFI), now DGFI.
Ahead of leaving the office, Bangabandhu held talks with the then Dhaka University Vice Chancellor M Abdul Matin on the preparations of convocation and the topic of his speech.
A sense of hesitation also gripped his mind that the university that had expelled him earlier was going to confer honorary doctor of law degree.
Bangabandhu got enrolled in the Law Department of Dhaka University in 1948 and was punished with others for joining a movement in favour of the class-iv employees of the university.
The others paid fines and retained their studentship, but Bangabandhu declined to pay the unjust fine and was consequently expelled from the university.
He said Bangabandhu used to walk on the lawn of Ganobhaban and enjoyed the views of leaves on the threes and water and fish in the lake but on that day he did not get the time to spend time with the nature.

Saturday, August 14, 2010 Metropolitan
This day Bangabandhu looked sad
Bss, Dhaka