My memories as war correspondent in 1971

16th December is a landmark date in our nation’s life. It is the date on which we saw light after darkness, a new flag was raised signalling the birth of the Bengali nation. We must renew our pledge on this day to build Sonar Bangla as dreamt of by the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

Fifty years ago, in 1971, I was working in the blood-drenched war fronts as an Information Officer-cum-War Correspondent of the Mujibnagar Government. In addition to that I discharged my tough responsibilities in the fronts as War Correspondent of Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra. I was hovering between life and death among the thousands of bullets being fired and artillery shells whizzing overhead. Defying death, I had to rush from one front to another with great speed with the valiant freedom fighters and allied forces. In front of my eyes, I have seen hundreds of valiant sons of mother Bengal falling like wilted flowers in the fronts. I saw them breathing their last with their breasts resting on the soil of mother Bengal with blood gushing out of them. I used to broadcast from Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra a round-up of the happenings in the fronts twice a week under the titles "From the battle-front" and “From the liberated areas" During the Liberation War many of my dispatches were broadcast by BBC, Radio Australia and Akashvani and were also headlined in many of the world's newspapers in their international columns. Apart from performing my duties as a war correspondent I had to carry many military secrets and my news gathering about the position and defence preparedness of Pakistani troops in the occupied areas of Bangladesh helped the freedom fighters in formulating their strategies.

In the war-front and occupied areas I often had to run mortal risk and many a time I returned from the jaws of certain death by the grace of Almighty Allah. At the end of the war in the first week of December 1971, I was subjected to atrocity and torture by Pak troops and was rescued in an unconscious and critical state from their abandoned bunker after Captain Huda and his valiant freedom fighters launched a sudden attack.

On 16 December 1971, the valiant freedom fighters came home from the front wearing gum boots, their hair tussled and a few days’ stubble on their cheeks. At first mothers could not recognise their own sons. When they did, tears welled up in their eyes like streams and moistened the sons’ chests. The whole world was watching the freedom fighters with love and admiration. From Teknaf to Tetulia the whole of Bangladesh was eager to embrace the heroes.

The flag of Bangladesh emblazoned with the country’s map set against the red sun fluttering all around and the slogan “Joy Bangla” resounding throughout the battle fronts and villages.

As the valiant sons of Bangladesh were returning home that day, their paths were strewn with flowers. Admirers rained flowers on them.

Those who laid down their lives in absolutely selfless devotion to the cause of liberation – how many of us remember their names today? They lie asleep in the heart of Bengal, along the banks of the Padma-Ichhamati, across the sixty-eight thousand villages. How many are there today who in homage to the martyrs will say: 'You have conquered death. Ever shall you remain alive in every Bengali’s heart, in the pupils of the eyes of every Bengali. Many have already forgotten them or their memory has faded. Those who are preoccupied with the rat race for material possession in today’s Bangladesh are not disturbed by any lingering consciousness of the self-sacrifices of those gallant patriots.

The Kobiruls were among those who had shed tears on the bank of the river Sonabhori on 2nd October. On the eastern bank of the Sonabhori, at Rajibpur was the defence line of the freedom fighters. The eastern bank stretches from Roumari to Rajibpur, from Mollar Char to Bahadurabad river terminal. The entire area was their stronghold. The Pakistani defence lay along the entire western bank of the river. The two forces used to fire at each other in frontal engagements. This was how the battle was going on.

The undaunted freedom fighters summoned up all their courage and made a sudden thrust across the Sonabhori in the last week of September. Before sunrise the Pakistani defence line on the western bank of the river was occupied. Two men of the occupation forces were killed and many others were wounded. With flawless calculated moves the Mukti Bahini snatched away the long-coveted victory without sustaining any casualties.

The Pakistani occupation forces were compelled to abandon their defence and retreat. Standing on the soil of Kodalkati subedar major Altaf Hussain, FF commander Kabirul and freedom fighter Samad prayed to Allah with their hands upraised. They vowed never again to allow the occupation of their motherland by the forces of evil. On the green field of Kodalkati base, the flag of the Liberation War inscribed with the country’s map set against the crimson sun was fluttering. The Muktibahini consisted of a company of FF and some non-military personnel.

It was 4th of October. It was raining. At 4 o’clock in the morning about one hundred men of the Pakistani occupation forces aided by three hundred Razakars attacked the Kodalkati defence base of the Muktibahini. In the rain-soaked small hours of the morning on the bank of the Sonabhori the Muktibahini offered a bold resistance against a vast army. On the one side were the Pakistani troops armed with mortars of three inches and six inches while on the other side were the Bengali freedom fighters carrying 303 rifles and a single LMG.

A desperate do-or-die battle was fought for two long hours on the bank of the Sonabhori. Every bullet of the occupation force drew a retaliatory shot from Kabir, Shafiq and others who were hitting their targets accurately. In one bunker they were able to hit three ‘Khan’ troops. The occupation force suffered huge casualties. Quite a few Razakars were also killed. The way the freedom fighters were able to push back the invaders despite possessing no safety space on the left or right or at the back, further enraged the invaders.

After suffering unexpectedly heavy casualties they became desperate to seize Kodalkata, encouraged by the fact that the freedom fighters possessed no safe rear or any space for manoeuvring. Behind the Muktibahini was the deadly river Sonabhori. Believing that the Mukti Bahini’s defence would not hold out for long, the Pakistani troops mounted stronger pressure. They intensified their attack. Fate also seemed to work against Kabir and his co-fighters. The Mukti Bahini’s defence began to crumble. Till quarter-to-six in the morning the Muktibahini kept fighting with unflinching stamina but ultimately could not match the overwhelmingly superior strength of the enemy.

Besides, their weaponry consisted of a single LMG and that too was not in very good condition. As there was a river at the rear, they lacked any support from behind. After a two-hour-long frontal battle with an army three times stronger, they decided to beat a retreat. When they swam across the sorrowful river Sonabhori and landed to safety, they found that four of their comrades including Abdus Samad, a student of Gaibandha college, had not returned. The Pakistani troops had captured the four from two bunkers. The sun rose over the Sonabhori. Kobirul and others were on the eastern bank while the occupation forces and Razakars remained on the western bank. The occupation troops brought the four to the river-bank and exhibited their prize captives to Kobirul and his co-fighters.

On this bank everybody was in tears for their friends. But till then no one knew what cruel fate awaited those unfortunate four. Five hours later five launches and two gunboats came cruising from the Bahadurabad terminal side of the river. It was witnessed that five freedom fighters after being tied to the stern of the gunboat with cords were thrown in the water while Pakistani soldiers were steering the boat merrily, shouting their war cries.

The freedom fighters, robbed of their companions, were also running alongside the eastern bank, laterally to the gunboat. They were all in tears. Their wailing ‘Oh Allah’, ‘Oh Allah’ orchestrated with the gurgling of the river tide. The news of this atrocity travelled like wild fire through the villages on the river- bank. The villagers, mothers and sisters, with bleeding hearts rushed to the river-bank to witness this devilish spectacle of a gunboat cruising with five freedom fighters tied to the stern and the occupation troops on board holding their rifles in both hands.

The writer is former Secretary to the government and War Correspondent of Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra. He can be contacted at infomusabd@gmail.com