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MODHU'S TRAGEDY

’They've Destroyed My Every thing'
*** Since its birth in 1921, Dhaka University has played a pivotal role in the Bengalee people’s struggle for political fre edom and economic rights. Seeds of every great movement were sown on the campus, the collective fruits of which we enjoy today as citizens of an independent, sovereign nation. Unlike any other institution in the country, the history of Dhaka university is synonymous with the history of the awakening of the Bengalee people and the birth of Bangladesh. Modhu's Canteen has a special place in our history. If the university was the heart of the country’s political struggles, then Modhu’s Canteen formed its nucleus, where revolutionary thoughts was born, discussed and debated. And the man who ran the place, everyone's favourite Mocihu-da, while remaining aloof from the politics, developed an inseparable bond with the young hearts who came to sit, talk and drink tea in his canteen. The Pakistan army wrought vengeance on this monument in the same way it attacked the Shaheed Minar and the bunyion tree in front of the Arts faculty where the new flag offree Bangladesh was first raised by then DUCSU vice-president A.S.M. Abdur Rab on March 2. The Pakistanis shelled the canteen and riddled its tin roof with machinegun fire in the early hours of March 26, 1971. On this day 20 years ago, Modhu-da became one of the many victims of the carefully-planned mass murder carried out by Islamabad's army at Jagannath Hall. Today, 10 members of Modhu's family still survive — four sons and six daughters. Modhu’s eldest surviving son, ARUN KUMAR DEY, who was not eve n in his teens at the time, narrated the story to Daily Star assistant editor SABIR MUSTAFA ***
M * ROUND midnight ZX of March 25, 1971.
JL X we woke up in our qu arters next to Jagannath Hall. It seemed the whole city was shaking with sounds of gunfire and shelling. Soon afterwards, Jagannath ll.all itself came under attack from the army.
There were 12 of us tn the small flat — five brothers, four sisters, eldest brother’s vrife, our mother and father Except our eldest brother, the rest of us were all kids at the time.
We were all frightened as we watched hundreds of bright red (tracer) bullets flying In till direction outside. They were also hitting the hall with mortars. We clung on to our parents. Two or three houra later, one side of the hall went up in flames and we began to cry and scream out of fear.
'Around seven in the morning of the 26th. two groups of Pakistani soldiers came towards our building. One group went towards the bungalow of .Dr. Govinda Chandra Dev (then chairman of the department of philosophy) and another group came to our quarters. At that time, my parents were carrying out their daily religious routines.
Troops then started kicking the door and shouting. Open the door, open the door', they screamed. As soon as father opened the door, • they pulled him out and came inside. They spotted my baud! (sister-in-law) first. Now, baud! was only a village girl. and she could not figure out why the soldiers were doing what they were doing. She started screaming. My brother quickly told her to stop and put her hands up instead. Suddenly, the soldiers opened fire on my brother. He fell and died instantly in front of his crying, bewildered wife. Next minute, another burst of fire ended her life.
'After killing baudi, several soldiers went towards my father. At that point, my mother put her arms around father and started crying loudly. The Pakistani troops then killed my mother in a most brutal way. They pumped bullets into her until thetr rifle magazines were empty. Both her arms were virtually severed from her shoulders. Her gold necklace went to pieces as bullets hit her throat. She collapsed and died on the spot. My father was hit in one arm and a leg. The Pakistanis then left our quarters.
'By then we were crying uncontrollably. Our father was clinging onto mother's lifeless body and saying They've de stroyed my everything they've destroyed everything'. But the Pakistanis were not finished yet.
They came back around an hour or so later and started dragging father out of the room. We pleaded with them, we begged them not to take out father away, while some soldiers were smashing everything they found in the house, others told us they were only taking him to the hospital, and that they woulcf bring him back But they never brought him back. My father, along with many teachers and students of Jagannath Hall were killed and buried by the soldiers In a mass grave near the hall.
’We waited and cried. There was nobody to comfort us, nobody to tell why It had to be that way. Later in the -evening, an auntie, wife of a university employee who lived on the second floor of the building, came to see us. She tried her best to console us".
A friend of Modhu's came to the hall the next morning and took Arun and the kids first to Dhaka Medical College, and then to Savar. From there, the children moved to the countryside where their eldest sister lived with her husband and children. But there was no respite. The Pakistani army pressed ahead with Its genocidal advance. And Modhu’s children walked from one village to another, then across the border into Tripura, and finally to Calcutta via Assam.
There a maternal uncle looked after them. Modhu's youngest son, who was then a few months old. remained there in the care of his auntie. But the rest of the family returned to a free, liberated Bangladesh in 1972. Arun picks up the story again:
'On our return, we first went to the Sergeant Zahurul Huq Hall. We were given temporary residence In the read Ing room of the hall where students normally read newspapers. books etc. Then the leaders of DUCSU and the Chattra League, mainly A.S.M. Abdur Rab. Nur-e-Alam Siddiqui. Shahjahan ShtraJ, and Abdul Quddus Makhan. came to sec us. They took us tn their arms and tried to give us all the psychological comfort and material help we needed They arranged living quarters for us. provided money to buy food and clothes with, and most Importantly, those four student leaders spread the news, that Modhu's children had returned and needed help. The students received us like their own brothers and sisters.
"When we went to the canteen, we saw students had put up black-bordered banners reading 'Modhu-da, we haven't forgotten you, we will never forget you'. Since then, every year student leaders of every party and ideological line make great efforts to keep my fa ther's memory alive on the campus.
"Sometime later, my elder sister went to see vice-chan cellor Dr. Muzaffar Ahmed Chowdhury We wanted the right to run the canteen to be given back to Modhu's family. Dr. Chowdhury handed the canteen back to us. and university authorities rebuilt canteen (physical maintenance of canteen is the university's responsibility since It owns the property). Students, teachers and university employees all came and helped us start again".
Through the ups and downs of Bangladesh politics. Modhu's canteen has remained the special place it always has been. The university campus has become more violent over the years, yet the canteen remains at peace, a hotbed of political talk, but no violence. Arun says that all student groups treat the canteen as an almost sacred spot, a place where free thought may nourish, but no war may take place. Arun, like his Illustrious departed father, does not indulge in party politics, but feels part of every group.
But things have not been all smooth sailing since independence. University authorities gave them quarters, but they have been subjected to a good derl of harassment. Even recently.' they were told to vacate their Oat. When they enquired. they found that the university authorities knew nothing about the order. Arun cannot figure out who Is behind this. He suspects there is an anti-Independence force at work, who would like to erase Modhu's memory In the same way the Pakistanis tried to physically eliminate the canteen and Its founder, because both were part of the history Bangladesh's liberation struggle.
"In a television programmed called Al Surja Al Prottoy. Mamunur Rashid tried to portray the history and tragedy of the canteen and my father (Rashcd Khan) Menon bhal spoke at length about the canteen. But the previous government did not allow the programme to be shown. When it was shown on December 16. 1990. we found much of It was censored Now, the canteen formed only a part
of that programme, as it is only a small part of our history o liberation. But the point Is. if we don't let this and future generations know the country's history of struggles fully, about how we came to be a free nation, then might not that very freedom be Jeopardised in the future?"