As India celebrates its 77th independence day on 15 August its closest friendly neighbour marks 15 August as National Mourning Day of Bangladesh. A black flag is hoisted along with the national flag that is kept at half-mast.
On this day in 1975, the first president of independent Bangladesh and the "father of the nation” aka "Bangabandhu, Sheikh Mujibur Rahaman was killed by a group of army personnel.
Sheikh Hasina’s family made an exceptional supreme sacrifice for their motherland; with no parallels in the history.
She has suffered a lot in her personal life since all members of her family; her mother, father, three brothers, two newlywed wives of Sheikh Kamal and Jamal, her uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces, totalling 28 members of her family were killed,. Only Sheikh Hasina and her younger sister Rehana survived as they were in Germany where Hasina’s husband Wajed Mian was working as a scientist.
The military Junta had banned her entry into Bangladesh.
She had to spend 11 years in exile mostly in India changing places to escape the ISI-hired contract killers.
The period between 15 August 1975 till the end of 1995 was the darkest period in the history of independent Bangladesh.
The country was ruled by Pakistan-trained army officers who had their loyalty towards Pakistan.
History of Indo-Bangladesh cooperation during the liberation war was mostly wiped out and the remaining of it was modified to glorify the members of the ruling junta and their kin.
India-Bangladesh relations remained tense during this period. ISI, Pakistan military intelligence agency, was given a free hand. The anti-India elements from India’s North Eastern States were given safe sanctuaries in Bangladesh. It was only after Sheikh Hasina became the PM of Bangladesh in 1996 that relations improved a bit.
Although the real progress started after she came to power in 2008. On becoming the PM, Modi following his policy of Act East, has given priority to Indo-Bangladesh relations resulting in solutions of tricky issues like boundary problems.
Today both countries are developing at an unimaginable pace.
President Pranab Mukherjee had helped Hasina immensely during her stay in India from 1975-1986 and she got plutonic love from him and his wife. Mrs Suvra Pranab Mukherjee also belonged to Bangladesh’s Narail now a district HQ which is famously called as Pranab Mukherjee’s ‘Sasurbari,’ Sheikh Hasina was quite close to her.
She used to talk to President Mukherjee regularly on all matters even pertaining to her family matters. Being in the government he used to convey the grievances to the concerned minister and could redress the problems.
But after Pranab Mukherjee’s sad demise, she does not have that privilege.
PM Hasina will complete 76 years of her age on -28 September 2023.
Out of these, more than 50 years have been full of fear, uncertainties, shock and miseries right from her infancy.
She was not even six months old when her father was arrested in March 1948 for the first time in independent Pakistan.
In 24 years, 4 months when Bangladesh was part of Pakistan Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, had spent more than 12 years in a Pakistani jail. She herself was put behind bars in 1970 along with her father.
I heard her name first time from her brother, Shaheed Captain Sheikh Kamal, who was my cadet in1971 from 1 July till 9 October 1971 in the Officers Training Wing (OTW) of A Sector of the Indian army located at Murti Camp on the Himalayan foothills in West Bengal.
More than 100 Bangladeshi young officers were trained in two war courses in the OTW.
61 officers of the First War Course passed out on 9 October 1971. I was associated with Sheikh Kamal for 16 weeks during the darkest in Bangladesh's history. Bangabandhu was in West Pakistan jail and his family was under house arrest.
Sheikh Kamal and Jamal had managed to escape to India. Jamal was trained with the Special Forces, in the Himalayan Hills near Dehradun (now in Uttarakhand).
I was advised to engage Sheikh Kamal in conversation during the off hours, to distract him from worries.
I met Sheikh Kamal every day after training hours.
During our conversations, he told me how since Kamal's childhood, his father had spent most of his time in jail and how his mother-Fazilatunnesa in the absence of his father, had looked after him and his siblings. She also ran the party amid grave worries and tensions. She faced all the hardships with tremendous courage and great composure.
She also indirectly provided the leadership and necessary directives to Awami League cadres in the absence of Sheikh Mujib.
She even motivated Sheikh Mujibur Rahman before he made his historic speech at the then Race Course ground in the city on March 7 in 1971.
Sheikh Kamal recalled the important role played by his mother in the country's politics by offering constructive advice to Bangabandhu throughout his political life, especially during his 12 years of imprisonment.
On hearing the news of the assassination, I was shocked. Bangabandhu's killing was a loss to humanity as he was a messiah of the downtrodden.
I met PM Sheikh Hasina twice in Dhaka besides the casual meetings during her Indian visits.
The first structured meeting was on 15 December 2011 in her office, during a special - audience on the 40th anniversary of the liberation of Bangladesh.
And the second was on 13th April 2023 in her official residence Ganabhaban. On both occasions, we spent 20-25 minutes.
During our recent conversations, I complemented her on the progress made by Bangladesh and told her that in 1971 the US had supported Pakistan to the hilt.
And Kissinger had termed Bangladesh as a ‘cesspool’ and ‘bottomless basket.’
But today Pakistan is a failed state and Washington is approaching Dhaka with open arms. With a glow in her eyes, she said that she was trying to fulfil the dreams of Bangabandhu.
The trauma Sheikh Hasina has undergone would have had tremendous effects on anyone’s psyche but she remains cool and composed and determined to fulfill her father’s dreams. It is the effect of her parent's DNA?
(The writer is a retired Indian army officer)
