The return of the Father

After the liberation of  Bangladesh on 16 December 1971, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was released  from Pakistan  jail and he arrived at Dhaka via London on 10 January. I heard the news over my car radio as I was heading for Dhaka  on the very same day to join my post as Private Secretary to Sheikh Abdul Aziz , then Minister  for Communications. The machinations  of Bhutto and Yahya  Khan had led to the arrest of Bangabandhu by the enemy military  and then  the Liberation of Bangladesh . Bangabandhu had opted to be the father  of a nation rather  than the Prime Minister   of an alien country . And it was the opportunist Bhutto who  strived to get an advantage out of  the situation he faced by promptly releasing Bangabandhu in  the face of appeals by the leaders of the free world. 

On his arrival , Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had to start from scratch .He and his government had to deal with countless problems of a war ravaged country. Restoring law and order , rehabilitating the muktijoddhas , restoring  the ruptured communication system, saving lives of the people who were hostile  to the War of Liberation  , from the public wrath  , and, more  importantly , feeding the hungry millions and many other problems were faced by Bangabandhu , his ministers and the administration  . For the first months of our independence , the country was impaled on the shards of its war-shattered economy .Dozens of jute mills and other factories were heavily damaged .The plantations of Sylhet , which produced  30 million kgs of tea annually, were ruined . The country came out of the war with less than US$ 500,000 in foreign exchange .Most of the major businesses  were owned by West Pakistanis, , who managed  to get the bulk of their cash assets out of the country  before December , 1971. 

William S. Ellis, a senior sub-editor of National Geographic who came to Bangladesh in February 1972 wrote in his article ," Bangadesh: Hope Nourishes a New Nation"  published in the  September  1972 issue  of the National Geographic:

"Earlier in the day I accompanied Sheikh Mujib as he inspected widespread  destruction a few miles south of Mymensingh . Sadness  and the physical toll of 18-hour work days showed on the face of the Prime Minster as he walked  through the debris. As word of his presence  spread the area  came alive  with thousands of villagers. Hundreds  of thousands  of people waited on  the field as the weary man stepped upto the microphone .They knew what his first words would be  .They were ready with the response.

"Joi Bangla  !" meaning "Victory to Bengal" and the answer was an echo that swelled to thunderous volume as it rolled back from the crowd  "Joi Bangla " 

And then Bangabandhu posed a question:" Are you willing not to demand anything  from me for two , even three years ?" "Yes ' they shouted .Some were  too weak from hunger and disease   to shout. They nodded to signify their willingness" 

And it was exactly after three years and two hundred and eighteen days that he was assassinated by the very soldiers he had welcomed into the army.

On a personal level there are two memories of mine after  the return of Bangbandhu .Towards the end of January 1972 my mother, late Khodeja Khatun, who was Principal of Eden Girls' College, went to meet  Bangabandhu at Ganobhaban with some of her colleagues and student  leaders of the College . After the formal aspects of the meeting  , she asked Bangabandhu whether he remembered my father  , late Muhammad Husain  Khan.  Bangabandhu said , "Who will forget Thanda Miah (my father's nickname) for his great deeds , and also who will forget Thnda Miah (Wahiduzzaman) now in jail for all  his misdeeds?" 

Later, in February, Tofail Ahmed , my class friend and Political Secretary  to the Prime Minister  told  Bangabandhu that I was a leader of the East Pakistan Chhatra Union in my student days.  Bangabandhu told Sheik Abdul Aziz , whose  Private Secretary  I was, about my political  leanings .Sheikh Aziz asked me about it  , and I said it was true . But no political  victimisation  came my way . Rather I was  always  given a very good ACR and prize postings . 

Now that more than forty years  have gone by since 26 March 1971, 16 December 1971 and 10 January  1972, our freedom's serenity and grandeur  still lifts us up by the ear ,still translates  for us that language  we are in danger of forgetting  , the language of freedom, the appeal of Bangabandhu , which all things  and events speak without metaphor, which  alone is copious and stands true . We can only look ahead , when we look back to the lessons of 1971 , and to the  ultimate  tragedy of 15 August  1975.

Mahbub Husain Khan is a writer and former civil servant #