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Our four brave martyrs

Syed Badrul Ahsan
Thirty-eight years ago, in the early hours of today, Syed Nazrul Islam, Tajuddin Ahmad, M Mansur Ali and AHM Quamruzzaman were murdered by renegade soldiers in the supposedly secure confines of Dhaka Central Jail. The assassination of the four men, who had been the pioneers in the shaping of the Bengali guerrilla war for freedom against the Pakistan occupation army in 1971, came see page 11 COL 4FROM PAGE 1
less than three months following the assassination of the Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and most members of his family in a bloody coup d'etat on 15 August 1975.
There was hardly any difficulty understanding why these four leaders of the Mujibnagar provisional government were done to death by the very men who had murdered Bangabandhu. The murder of the four leaders, who had been taken into custody by the usurper regime of Khondokar Moshtaque Ahmed and his murderous cabal of majors and colonels soon after the coup in August, was a well-calculated move to prevent them from playing any role in a future Bangladesh. It was the fear among the Moshtaque circle that in the event of a positive change coming into politics, it would be these very four political leaders who would shape the future of Bangladesh anew after the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
And indeed there were all the signs of change in the early days of November 1975 as Brigadier (soon to be promoted to Major General) Khaled Musharraf, along with Col Shafaat Jamil, Col Khondokar Najmul Huda and Major ATM Haider and others, went into action to free Bangabhaban, the presidential office, of the coup makers of August 1975. In effect, Khaled Musharraf was in charge from 3 November, having led a coup that placed Major General Ziaur Rahman, the army chief of staff, under house arrest and that resulted in Musharrafs taking over as the new army chief. The majors and colonels who had committed the murders of August 1975 were forced from power and Moshtaque had, by 3 November, lost power to all intents and purposes. And in one of the major twists of irony in the new nation's history, the men who had only moments earlier murdered the Mujibnagar leaders in prison, were allowed to fly out of Bangladesh and to Thailand on 3 November. It was after the assassins were safely out of the country that their newest misdeed became known.
Today, the nation pays homage to these four brave men without whose courageous leadership and enlightened politics the history of Bangladesh would not be what it came to be in 1971. In the absence of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who had been flown to West Pakistan by the Pakistan occupation army soon after the Yahya-Tikka regime launched its genocide against the Bengali nation, these four men shaped battlefield strategy against the state of Pakistan. Their spirits kept the nation going. Their dedication to the cause of Bangladesh, as able lieutenants of Bangabandhu, led the people to victory in December 1971.
Today, it would be well to recall that Syed Nazrul Islam as acting president of Bangladesh, Tajuddin Ahmad as prime minister, and M Mansur Ali and AHM Quamruzzaman as ministers were instrumental in achieving a first for this nation: for the very first time in Bengali history, they forged a government comprised of and administered by Bengalis, the overarching goal being the liberation of Bangladesh. They did the job well, which is why history honours them every living moment in time.