In the enemy camp

Freedom fighters in action in a remote area.

At the very height of the ravaging Indo-Pak war, one afternoon world radio stations broke loose with the most momentous news that the Bengalees in the enemy camp cherished to hear. That was the end of a nightmarish nine months and the bloody birth of a new nation -- Bangladesh. After the never-ending hard news, commentaries started pouring in. The core of the commentaries was the epic struggle of the East Pakistanis under the leadership of Sheikh Mujib, the heroic resistance of the valiant Bengalee Liberation Forces, the contribution of Indira Gandhi with men and material, and the ignominious surrender of one hundred thousand invading Pakistani armed forces at Dhaka racecourse.

Commentators ruefully asked whether Sheikh Mujib had heard that his life-long struggle had been crowned with success. Was Mujib even alive? Would he be allowed to return to his dreamland? Through the night, news and views were zeroing in on the many aspects of the newly born country. A number of radio stations commented that the birth of Bangladesh would remain incomplete without the safe return of Sheikh Mujib to the liberated soil from the accursed cell of the notorious Mianwali prison. Some broadcasters even doubted whether Indian forces would all leave the country they helped to gain independence.

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Under the blanket of the biting Islamabad winter, confined within the four walls of their accommodations, insulated from the rest of the world, isolated Bengalees were warming up with every wave of news flooding in about their liberated homeland. At nightfall, the basic instinct to survive overwhelmed the "free souls under captivity." Hardly had the "Sadar-e-

Resalat"[President] and Commander-in­Chief of the defeated army declared, "In East Pakistan jung jari rahega [war will continue in East Pakistan]" in the national hookup, then "wounded packs" resumed roaming in the neighbourhoods of Bengalee quarters. If the Bengalees let their joy overflow the bounds of their four walls, catastrophe would have been the sole response. The only option for them was to subdue the rare pleasure for the sake of very basic instinct!

Joy becomes unbound when it is shared with many. But for the lonely outcast in the enemy camp it was a soulful and solitary joy unto himself. His tears of ecstasy were his only companion on that historic moment.

It has been said that history repeats itself but the historic moment of 16 December 1971 will never repeat itself.

It was an unparalleled afternoon and a late evening for Bengalees a thousand miles away in the

wrong side of the ring when their compatriots in their millions were soaking in the torrential blessings of joy of freedom!

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib returned to his homeland in triumph on January 10, 1972.

The architect of the new nation laid the foundation stone of the Jatiyo Sriti Shrodho on Victory Day on December 16, 1972 at Savar in commemoration of the millions who had made the supreme sacrifice to realise the thousand year dream of the Bengalees.

Today is the day for us to ask ourselves what kind of homage we will pay to the founder of the nation and the gallant freedom fighters who sacrificed so much to bring us our independence and what small sacrifice we can make to bring their dreams fully to fruition.

Former Ambassador Shafiullah was stranded in Islamabad, escaped overland to Afghanistan and returned home in mid 1972. He served Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as press officer from late 1972 to May 1975.