Fight for Bangladesh

About the Book

The Bangladesh War of Liberation was fought in several fronts by people in all walks of life. While the main war is largely known by the battles fought by brave freedom fighters both inside and outside the borders of then East Pakistan, much of the war’s success depended on the resistance and random acts of bravery by people in all nooks and corners of the country. The ranks of these unknown and forgotten fighters for liberty were filled by students, farmers, small shop keepers, and village wives. They are the unsung heroes of the war of liberation who people may not remember.

The author of this book spent much of the dark nine-month period as a young chief of civil administration two sub-districts (called sub-divisions) of the then Dhaka district- Munshiganj and Manikganj. Like the vast majority of his civil service colleagues working in the country that time he served under the watchful eyes of a malevolent army dictatorship, helplessly watching the atrocities as they continued to occur during those terrible months. Like all Bengali government officers working in the country that time he was a suspect in the eyes of the occupation forces and was subject to surveillance. While working through the difficult times the author also had the occasions to hear and witness some courageous acts of our people that in their own way registered a protest against the atrocities, and even frustrated the cruel agents of Pakistan Government.

The articles in this book are the author’s personal accounts of events and occurrences in the most turbulent period of the national history of Bangladesh. Some of these are simply narrations of some dire events, some are stories of chicanery and treachery, and some are stories of bravery of people in the villages who suffered the tumultuous time. The book is an assembly of these articles around a common theme, and a message that 1971 was essentially a people’s war, a war we all fought to rid us of an evil that had descended on us, and had launched a wanton act of aggression and mayhem. The recollections are expected to help our new generation to realize that our freedom did not come cheap; and that the harrowing experience of their previous generation and the murderous sufferings they endured knew no gender or religious boundaries.

All of the articles were published earlier in Dailies and Magazines in Bangladesh.

About the Author

Ziauddin M. Choudhury was born in Sylhet, Bangladesh. He spent his early school and college days in Narayanganj, Comilla, and Dhaka, Bangladesh. He attended Dhaka University for his undergraduate degree, and Punjab University, Lahore, Pakistan for Master’s Degree. In later years, he attended Cornell University, New York, and American University, Washington DC for his graduate and post-graduate studies. Ziauddin Choudhury joined the Civil Service of Pakistan in 1968 and spent his early civil service career as Sub-divisional Officer in Munshiganj and Manikganj of greater Dhaka district in 1971. After independence, he worked as a special assistant in the Prime Minister’s Secretariat under Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, for a brief period. From May 1972 to August 1975 he worked with Minister A.H.M. Kamaruzzaman as his Private Secretary (with a break of about a year in between). Subsequently he worked as Deputy Commissioner in two districts, Noakhali (August 1975- March 1978), and Chittagong (March 1978- August 1981). He left Bangladesh for higher studies in the US in late August, 1981. On completion of his studies in the US, Ziauddin Choudhury joined the World Bank in Washington DC. At the World Bank he initially worked on Bank operations in Nepal, and Sri Lanka. He later moved on to other areas of Bank activities including policy and research, resource management, and management of information and communication technology, working in different capacities including project manager and advisor. Ziauddin Choudhury is the author of two Books—Assassination of Ziaur Rahman and Aftermath (University Press Ltd., Dhaka, Bangladesh); and Fight for Bangladesh (Xlibris, Indiana, USA). He is a regular contributor to various newspapers and magazines in Bangladesh including the Daily Star, Monthly Forum, and Dhaka Courier.