7 November – the journey backward

Abdul Mannan

BNP and their allies will observe November 7 as ‘National Revolution and Solidarity Day.’ Their main ally Jamaat-e-Islami has already asked its workers to celebrate the day and termed it as a day when the ‘independence’ of Bangladesh was protected and ‘national sovereignty’ restored. The day has been observed by BNP and its allies every year since 1975 (to be exact 1976) when soldiers loyal to General Zia killed his one time colleague General Khaled Mosharaf and others and began an era of military rule and autocracy in Bangladesh that would continue till his death in 1981. Awami League and its allies will observe the day as ‘Officer and Sepoy killing day.’ After the brutal killing of Bangabandhu on August 15, 1975 the country though ruled by Kh. Mushtaque and his cohorts, with the killers of Bangabandhu sitting at Bangabhavan the real person behind Mushtaque was known to be General Zia sitting in the Dhaka Cantonment. The killers of Bangabandhu had tacit approval of the killing from Zia which two of the assassins Farukh and Rashid confessed to British journalist Anthony Mascherinhas in a televised interview in London. According to them they discussed with Zia the overthrow of Mujib in the month of March 1975. Zia just told them as a senior officer he cannot actively take part in it but they can proceed with their plan. After the dark night of August 15 the Army Chief General Shafiullah Bir Uttam, was removed from his post on August 24 and replaced with General Zia by Mushtaque. Shafiullah was a valiant and front ranking freedom fighter but lacked the essentials qualities of leadership needed in hours of crisis. On August 23 twenty top ranking leaders of Awami League were arrested and put behind bars. Before doing this Mushtaque approached many of them to join his cabinet which they refused saying they cannot do this stepping on the blood of the Father of the Nation.
From August 15 to November 7, 1975 there were two centres of power in the country. One in Bangabhavan which Mushtaque and killer officers of August 15 were operating from and another one in the Dhaka Cantonment from where Zia and his followers were planning their moves and calling the shots. He also used the killer officers when necessary and in the end Zia was successful. JSD or Jatiyo Samajtantrik Dol was formed towards the beginning of November 1972. Those who initiated the formation of JSD all belonged to the Chattra League, including Sirajul Alam Khan (Dadabhai), A S M Abdur Rob, Shahjahan Siraj, Hassan-ul-Hoque Inu and others. They were active freedom fighters of 1971 and believed that instead of age old traditional politics Bangladesh needed a political system based on ‘scientific socialism’. JSD was the first opposition party of Bangladesh and was led by a bunch of firebrand young student leaders. Later few retired army officers like Col. Taher and Major Jalil joined the group. Many meritorious young students from different universities and colleges joined JSD or their student wing Chattra League (JSD). It formed an armed wing called ‘Gono Bahini’ to further their cause. However the ideologies of JSD were based on theories of socialism. With the passage of time those who formed JSD proved to be romantic revolutionaries and currently the party by all definition is defunct. But JSD caused immense damage to the politics of Bangladesh. It not only spread flawed ideologies amongst the young generation of post-1971 but also tried to have a hold amongst the soldiers of Bangladesh Army. Within the army they formed ‘Biplobi Shoinik Shangsta’ (Revolutionary Sepoy’s Organisation) and preached that instead of a traditional army Bangladesh needs a productive army which virtually will have no officers and every rank and file in the army will enjoy the same benefits. JSD managed to divide the army. On one side there were those who actively participated in our Liberation War and on the side were those who were repatriated from Pakistan. Those who saw active service in our Liberation War were given two years of seniority. This created discontent amongst the rest. It was a mistake on the part of Bangabandhu government to amalgamate the repatriates with the freedom fighters and the discontent created was usual. Many of those who were repatriated fought along side the Pakistani army against the freedom fighters in 1971 and were sent back to Pakistan before the end of the war in December. JSD also took advantage of this division.  However the influence of JSD in the army was more felt in Dhaka cantonment and not in other garrisons. As a matter of fact with killing of Bangabandhu the chain of command in the army virtually broke down.
Zia had his own followers in the army especially amongst the repatriates. He grew up in Karachi had his early education there and was married to Khaled Begum (Zia) in Karachi. He spent most of his professional life in Pakistan (West) before being posted in the 8th. Bengal situated in Chittagong.  He could neither read nor write Bangla and after ascending to state power in Bangladesh his public speeches were always written in Urdu and he read it out in Bangla. (Sidhu Miah, brother of one the founding members of BNP, Mashiur Rahman Jadu Miah, in an interview with monthly ‘Prothi Chinta’, October-December, 2014). Another group of members of the army were loyal to the General Khaled Mosharaf, another decorated freedom fighter. JSD used Col. Taher to make a bridgehead in the army to preach the ideologies of JSD which he did quite successfully not realising that he was silently playing the cards of cunning and ambitious Zia. Taher was also popular amongst a section of the armed forces and the ideologies preached by JSD became popular amongst this section. However with them a sizeable number were repatriates. Though Zia was appointed the army chief by Mushtaque, his authorities were virtually confined within the Dhaka garrison. So by the beginning of November the Bangladesh army was divided into three sections, one loyal to Zia, the other loyal to Taher and the third to Khaled Mosharaf. Khaled wanted to restore the chain of command in the army and end the hegemony of the killer officers stationed in Bangabhavan. Khaled got the support of officers who went to war with him in 1971 that included Col. Huda and Haider. On the night of November 2, 1975 Khaled made his move and staged a coup and compelled Mushtaque to remove Zia from the post of army Chief and appoint him to the same post which Mushtaque did on November 4. Khaled later removed Mushtaque and appointed Justice Ahsanuddin as the President of Bangladesh. But Khaled was a naïve when it came to politics and instead of forming a government and giving an announcement in the radio or TV became busy promoting himself to the rank of a Major General. The killer officers knew their days have come to an end and went to the Dhaka central jail and killed the four national leaders on November 3, 1975. They were given safe passage by Mushtaque to flee to Bangkok. The killers always maintained a close contact with Zia. He knew how to take advantage of the situation and when to make his move. He proved to be cleverer than the rest. Once Khaled made his move, Taher made his asking the soldiers in the Dhaka garrison to stage a coup on their own against the existing system and the officers. The section loyal to Taher and JSD revolted and came out of the Dhaka garrison and on their way brought out Zia from his residence and killed many of their serving officers and some members of their families.  Many would like to think that Zia was imprisoned by Khaled which was not true. The soldiers guarding his house were all loyal to him and his telephone line was functioning. He and his wife Begum Zia talked with Taher. Zia also promised Taher that he will be with him which he eventually not only declined to do but also hanged Taher, his one time friend through a sham trial in a Kangaroo court. Taher was not only a valiant freedom fighter but also lost one of his legs in the war. When the soldiers loyal to Taher came out of the Dhaka garrison they were under the belief that Zia and Taher were both working together which they were not. Zia decided to stay back in the Dhaka cantonment. The revolting soldiers killed Khaled Mosharaf and his associates and chanted slogans that were against the spirit of our Liberation War.
On November 6, 1975 Justice Sayem assumed office of the President and after the killing of Khaled Mosharaf on November 7 Zia declared himself as the Chief Martial Law Administrator and Chief of the Army. Later Sayem became the Chief Martial Law Administrator but it was Zia who became the all powerful person in the politics of Bangladesh through conspiracy, intrigue and blood bath. Sayem constituted a three member Judicial Committee to enquire into the jail killing which was late dissolved by Zia. Mushtaque promulgated the famous Indemnity Ordinance to stop the trial of the killers of the Father of the Nation which was conveniently incorporated in the Constitution by Zia by adopting the Fifth Amendment. Zia, in name of returning the country to multiparty democracy allowed the resurfacing of the anti-Bangladesh and anti-Liberation War political parties like Jamaat and Muslim League and the ultra rightist parties like Purba Bangla Communist Party and Bangladesher Communist party. Later taking members from all these parties and with the support of some civil and military bureaucrats he cobbled together his own party BNP. Zia allowed Ghulam Azam, the key Jamaat leader, return to Bangladesh and assume the leadership of Jamaat, the party that opposed the creation of Bangladesh. Zia not only incorporated the Indemnity Ordinance in the Constitution but also made arrangements so that all the killers of Bangabandhu get prized postings in foreign missions.
November 7 will be remembered in the political history of Bangladesh for reversing Bangladesh to a journey backwards. It practically dismantled a Bangladesh for which millions have sacrificed their lives since 1952.  It moved Bangladesh from the ideals of Liberation War – secularism and democracy. It sowed the seeds of military rule in this country. Zia introduced a culture of impunity. During his lifetime he faced at least 21 military coups and hanged more than two thousand soldiers without trial alleging that they were conspiring to unseat him. The events leading to November 7 put Bangladesh on a track that practically converted the country into a mini-Pakistan. August 15, November 3 and 7 of 1975 will remain as dark days in our history and those who support the events of these unfortunate days suffer from a sort of amnesia.  On November 7, 1975 there was no national solidarity or any revolution. It was a day when the country made a U-turn, back to 1947.

Source: http://www.daily-sun.com/printversion/details/88907/7-November-%E2%80%93-the-journey-backward