By Md.Manikul Azad

DHAKA, April 25, 2025 (BSS) - BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has said as a the then left-leaning activist he responded immediately to the call of his duty after March 25, 1971 along with his comrades but Awami League's opposition for political reasons exposed them to troubles in the war's initial days as freedom fighters.

"As we were linked to the left-leaning politics at that time, Awami League as well as Indian authorities started to consider us enemies," Mirza Fakhrul told BSS in a recent interview.

He added: "They put in all their efforts to debar us from engaging in the Liberation War. They virtually waited for scopes to harass us. It was really difficult to bypass such obstacles to carry out duties."

Fakhrul, however, said the then West Bengal government later allocated their group a location to raise a youth camp and thereafter the then chief minister of Bihar, Karpoori Thakur ,extended his hand to organize some more youth camps and also provided clothing for the left-leaning freedom fighters.

"Subsequently, when got ourselves more organized, India's central government engaged with us and arranged facilities for our training at Deradun (a city currently in the India's Uttarakhand state)," he said.

Fakhrul said at the Liberation War's onset, he was in his mid 20s and just secured his master's degree while he was residing at his hometown, Thakurgaon, a now defunct administrative unit called sub-division under Dinajpur district.

He recalled a unit of the then East Pakistan Rifles (EPR), paramilitary frontier force, was stationed at Thakurgaon with most of its personnel being Bengalis though its commanding officer was a West Pakistani military officer.

Fakhrul said even before the nationwide crackdown on March 25 midnight, the use of guns began since the morning on that day at Thakurgaon claiming lives of three or four people and in the night the EPR enforced curfew in the town.

He recalled that though initially tens of thousands of people took to the street to express their outrage, after some casualties they went indoors and "those of us were involved in movement during the pre-Liberation War time, went underground".

Fakhrul said from his secret refuge at a house along with some comrades, they came to know that the resistance against Pakistani troops began in different districts.

He also recalled that on the night of March 25, they heard an announcement of the then Major Ziaur Rahman and on the next day the detailed of the declaration of independence, which prompted them to come out of the refuge and call upon the people to come out to the street.

"We went to the SDPO (a now abolished police officer rank meaning sub divisional police officer) and asked him to open the arsenal from where we took some weapons," said the politician.

Subsequently, he said, a section of EPR soldiers revolted and "took shelter at the same place we were staying and with their assistance we dismantled a bridge that connected the highway from Syedpur to Thakurgaon to debar Pakistani soldiers ".

In the next morning, a group of Bengali soldiers of East Bengal Regiment (EBR) came to the scene along with an officer, Captain Naser, who years later became the National Security Intelligence (NSI) chief during Ziaur Rahman's rule.

Fakhrul said a military command was formed under Major Nazrul of EPR who was stationed in Dinajpur and they initially raised some defensive steps with available weapons.

At this stage, he said, "We established a control room at Thakurgan town and simultaneously organized some makeshift arms training programmes for the Liberation War".

But Fakhrul recalled on April 14, 1971 the Pakistani troops reorganized them and attacked entire Dinajpur launching a counter shelling campaign that demolished the resistance fighters' headquarters as well.

The development prompted the Bengali military and paramilitary troops leave Thakurgaon and established their position at a place in Panchagar adjacent to the Indian border and many people followed their footsteps.

"We, however, did not take refuge there (Panchagar). We went to India through Thukrabari border crossing the Nagar River. My entire family too went to India," Fakhrul said.

He said, as a matter of fact, all who were preparing for the Liberation War crossed the border and the acquainted people on the other side of the frontier extended them the shelter.

Fakhrul said, with some comrades, he took refuge at sub-divisional town of Islampur in West Dinajpur of India's West Bengal state and started living at a cycle store owned by one Dilip.

He said the living space at Diplip's shop was very tiny where they used to sleep at a small room behind an almirah at night. "The space was so small that one could just lay his head somehow. Seven of us, including my uncle Bablu Mirza, used to stay there".

The veteran politician recalled that at that time their group was trying to raise a youth camp with Indian government support and later the West Bengal government shifted them to Islampur High School where they subsequently lived and continued to organize youths on the border.

He said at one stage, their group contacted Bihar's then chief minister Karpoori Thakur who extended his hand for setting up some more youth training camps and provided necessary clothing for us to wear.

"The name of one of the camps Thukrabari Youth Camp, where the training began under the leadership of camp commander Shubhash of (India's) Border Security Force - BSF," Fakhrul added.

Gradually Indian central government engaged with the group and arranged facilities for training at different places and with a special one in Deradun.

"We mobilized our boys and recruited them for the training there," Fakhrul said describing his role as a coordinator.

He said the Bangladesh Liberation Force later carried out the major task of recruitment and "that is how we worked".

Fakhrul said the declaration of Shaheed President Ziaur Rahman virtually marked the launch of the Liberation War but in the past 15 years, it was declined though all who were there in the country knew it.

"This was the reality (and) the real history can never be erased," he said.

Fakhrul said Sheikh Mujib was captured by the Pakistanis and he went into their custody while Awami League leaders at the very beginning took refuge in India while initially they could not deliver the leadership.

"They (Awami League leaders) took a long time to take the leadership in organizing the Liberation War even after going to India. At that time, people like us who were active in left politics were exposed to danger as they were reluctant to own us," he said.

The elderly politician said the Awami League leaders even got the left-leaning activists arrested by the Indian intelligence agencies and "I myself had to appear in (Indian) police stations several times".

"This is why the left organizations of ours developed a front under the leadership of Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani and we began to work under its banner. People like Haidar Akbar Khan Rono, Rashed Khan Menon and Kazi Zafar Ahmed were there (in that front)," the incumbent BNP secretary general said.

Asked for comments about the role of his father Mirza Ruhul Amin in 1971 as Awami League repeatedly said he was a 'razakar' during the Liberation War, Fakhrul said before the 1947 partition of Indian subcontinent his father belonged to Muslim League and years later joined the BNP.

"My father was a very progressive man and he was never a reactionary person... he was a very popular man who served as the municipal chairman for about 25 years," he said, adding he was also a big patron of women education who led the establishment of girls school and college in Thakurgaon.

"We took him to Islampur (of India) and he stayed there (for some time) even after the Liberation War. So, there is no scope to question his role or claim that he was a razakar. There is no proof of that either," Fakhrul said.

Asked whether they got the country they wanted and for which they had fought the war, he said, "No, we did not get the Bangladesh we fought for".

"We were fighting for the country not only from March 26 (1971). Our struggle began much ahead of that day since when we had been dreaming for a social system free of discrimination and exploitation. But today we are not in that place," Fakhrul said.

The BNP secretary general, however, said the struggle for freedom of the people of a country never fails.

"We also feel that the Liberation War, as a people's war, will never fail (eventually)," he added.