প্রকাশনাসমূহ

National Mourning Day today

National Mourning Day today

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina placed wreaths at the portrait of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at the Bangabandhu Memorial Museum at Dhanmondi in the city this (Wednesday) morning.

The Armed Forces gave her a guard of honour on the occasion.

Sheikh Hasina also offered prayer during her visit to the museum at about 6:15am. Chiefs of three services and senior Awami League (AL) leaders were present.

The Prime Minister later visited the graves of the members of Mujib’s family and other martyrs of 1975 at Banani Graveyard and placed wreaths and offered fateha there.

Senior ruling party leaders accompanied her.

A grateful nation pays deep homage to Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman today (Wednesday) in observance of the National Mourning Day commemorating his 37th anniversary of martyrdom, reports BSS.

On the fateful night of August 15 in 1975, some disgruntled and over ambitious army officers assassinated Bangabandhu and most of his family members at his Dhanmondi Road-32 residence in the capital in a military putsch.

Those 18 members of Bangabandhu’s family and his close ones massacred in the August 15 tragedy included his wife Bangamata Fazilatunnessa Mujib, brother Sheikh Naser, brother-in-law Abdur Rab Serniabat, sons Sheikh Kamal, Sheikh Jamal and 10-year-old Sheikh Russell, daughters-in-law Sultana Kamal and Rosy Jamal, nephew Sheikh Fazlul Huq Moni, his pregnant wife Arzoo Moni and Bangabandhu’s military secretary Bir Uttam Colonel Jalil (later promoted as Brigadier General posthumously), who rushed to the spot of occurrence on receiving an SOS from Bangabandhu Bhaban early in the morning.

However, both the daughters of Bangabandhu, Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana, escaped the carnage as they were abroad then.

Since the mayhem, Awami League, its associate bodies and other likeminded pro-liberation, democratic and progressive political partiers, social, cultural and professional organisations have been observing the day as the National Mourning Day.

After assumption of office in 1996, the Awami League government led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina initiated trial of the self- confessed killers of Bangabandhu in a traditional court and the court awarded them with capital punishment, which was upheld by the country’s apex court. The court’s verdict for five of the self-confessed killers had been executed on January 27 in 2010 while the government had already taken steps for bringing back home the remaining absconding killers from abroad to free the nation from a stigma.

In a message on the eve of the National Mourning Day, President M Zillur Rahman recalled with gratitude Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s chequered, long and eventful political career and his immense contributions and dedication to present an independent and sovereign Bangladesh in the comity of nations.

“Father of the Nation Bangabandhu dreamt of a ‘Golden Bangla’ throughout his life. It is our utmost responsibility to materialise his dream by building a happy and prosperous country.

If we do so the soul of Bangabandhu would remain in ever-rest in peace and we will be able to pay our deepest homage to him,” the President added.

Terming the killing of Bangabandhu on August 15 in 1975 the most barbaric massacre in the history of the mankind, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, in a message, said though the anti-liberation reactionary forces and their stooges assassinated Bangabandhu, they could not kill his dreams and ideologies.

In her message, the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, said that although the killers had assassinated Mujib, they could not kill his dreams and ideals. Millions of people nurture in their hearts the ideals of Mujib.
‘Let us take forward with bold steps the struggle to build a Golden Bangla as dreamt by Bangabandhu turning the grief of the great loss of the father of the nation into strength,’ she said.

The Oriental Sun – Life, Activity and contribution of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in Narrative Verse

ISBN: 984 05 1677 9

The Oriental Sun – Life, Activity and contribution of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in Narrative Verse By Mihirkanti Choudhury (Author)

Publisher(s):Tua-Trisha

First Published:2001   No. of Pages:72    Weight (kg):0.5  Price:$5.00

Sheikh Mujib: Triumph and Tragedy By Sayyid A. Karim

ISBN: 984 70220 041 7

Sheikh Mujib: Triumph and Tragedy By Sayyid A. Karim (Author)

Publisher(s):The University Press Limited (UPL)

First Published:2009-No. of Pages:407-Weight (kg):0.5- Price:$28.00

Writing an objective biography of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the only larger-than-life political figure of Muslim Bengal, is no easy task for a historian. In this well-researched book, Sayyid A. Karim has given a fascinating account of the life of Sheikh Mujib and makes an assessment of his legacy. Separating the man from the myth, the author has drawn a moving portrait of a heroic man who triumphed against all odds and became the founding father of a new nation, Bangladesh. While still young, Sheikh Mujib passionately supported the Pakistan movement, believing that the creation of a Muslim state was the best way of emancipating Bengali Muslims from the twin yokes of British rule and Hindu economic domination. But after Pakistan came into being, he passionately rejected the power centre in distant West Pakistan which showed an utter lack of interest in the well-being of Bengalis Muslims and Hindus alike. He became the foremost standard bearer of Bengali nationalism. For a while, shortly after the establishment of military rule under Ayub Khan, Sheikh Mujib even toyed with the idea of independence. The collapse of the Ayub regime ten years later gave him the glimmer of hope that revival of democracy in Pakistan was within reach. But when his party, the Awami League, won an absolute majority in the National Parliament, it soon became evident that the military had no intention of relinquishing power. Mujib was arrested, and the Pakistan Army resorted to a blood bath in a vain attempt to crush Bengali nationalism. After nine months of the liberation war, Sheikh Mujib returned to a free Bangladesh in early 1972 as its undisputed leader. Ill-advised, he adopted populist measures like nationalisation. The economy went into a downward spiral and famine was not long in coming. The 1914 famine had a profound effect on his psyche. Bangladesh had always filled his thoughts and he became convinced that a fundamental change of course was needed to surmount the crisis. He replaced the multi-party system by one-party state and concentrated power in his hands to implement what he called his second revolution. Machiavelli wrote: Nothing is more difficult to carry out, nor more doubtful of success, nor dangerous to handle, than a new order of things. Only a true revolutionary, with an iron will to take ruthless measures against anti social elements and die-hard opponents of the new order could successfully carry out the far reaching changes in government and society envisioned by Sheikh Mujib. Deep down he was a soft hearted man and did not have the ruthless streak in him to take strong action against counter revolutionary elements. He ignored warning signs of a conspiracy by disaffected army officers and thereby paved the way for the tragedy that befell him.

The Unfinished Memoirs-SHEIKH MUJIBUR RAHMAN

 

ISBN: 978 984 506 111 7

The Unfinished Memoirs (Deluxe Edition)-By SHEIKH MUJIBUR RAHMAN (Author)

Publisher(s):The University Press Limited (UPL)
First Published:2012, No. of Pages:323, Weight (kg):1, Price:$53.00

When Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s diaries came to light in 2004, it was an indisputably historic event. His daughter, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, had the notebooks their pages by then brittle and discoloured— carefully transcribed and later translated from Bengali into English. Written during Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s sojourns in jail as a state prisoner between 1967 and 1969,they begin with his recollections of his days as a student activist in the run-up to the movement for Pakistan in the early 1940s. They cover the Bengali language movement, the first stirrings of the movement for Bangladesh independence and self-rule, and powerfully convey the great uncertainties as well as the great hopes that dominated the time. The last notebook ends with the events accompanying the struggle for democratic rights in 1955. These are Sheikh Mujib’s own words—the language has only been changed for absolute clarity when required. What the narrative brings out with immediacy and passion is his intellectual and political journey from a youthful activist to the leader of a struggle for national liberation. Sheikh Mujib describes vividly how—despite being in prison—he was in the forefront of organizing the protests that followed the declaration of Urdu as the state language of Pakistan. On 21 February 1952 the police opened fire on a peaceful student procession killing many. That brutal action unleashed the powerful movement that culminated in the birth of the new nation of Bangladesh in 1971. This extraordinary document is not only a portrait of a nation in the making; it is written by the man who changed the course of history and led his people to freedom.

Contact i-Bangla to book your Copy

Dead Reckoning

Dead Reckoning-Memories of the 1971 Bangladesh War by Sarmila Bose

Description
This ground-breaking book chronicles the 1971 war in South Asia by reconstituting the memories of those on opposing sides of the conflict. The year 1971 was marked by a bitter civil war within Pakistan and war between India and Pakistan, backed respectively by the Soviet Union and the United States. It was fought over the territory of East Pakistan, which seceded to become Bangladesh. Through a detailed investigation of events on the ground, Sarmila Bose contextualises and humanises the war while analysing what the events reveal about the nature of the conflict itself. The story of 1971 has so far been dominated by the narrative of the victorious side. All parties to the war are still largely imprisoned by wartime partisan mythologies. Bose reconstructs events through interviews conducted in Bangladesh and Pakistan, published and unpublished reminiscences in Bengali and English of participants on all sides, official documents, foreign media reports and other sources. Her book challenges assumptions about the nature of the conflict and exposes the ways in which the 1971 conflict is still being played out in the region.

‘Combining rigorous scholarship and a passionate interest in setting the record straight, Dead Reckoning is the finest study yet of the social, cultural and political meaning of the 1971 East Pakistan/Bangladesh war. Sarmila Bose writes in the service of the truth. We are in her debt.’
–Stephen Cohen, author of The Idea of Pakistan

About the Author / Editor
Sarmila Bose is a Senior Research Fellow in the Politics of South Asia at the University of Oxford. She was a political journalist in India and combines academic and media work. She was educated at Bryn Mawr College and Harvard University.

Paperback    252 pages    ISBN: 9780199064779    Price: Rs.725.00