Brigadier (Retd.) M. R. Majumdar

Earlier on March 2, a Pakistani ship named ‘MV SWAT’ anchored at Chittagong Port. I came to know that the ship did not carry any passenger from West Pakistan. Instead, it had brought about 7,000 tons of sophisticated arms and ammunitions to suppress the Bengali by force. I requested M. R. Siddiqui, the Chairman of Chittagong Port workers association, not to permit unloading of the ship. I said, “these arms could be used against us.” I thought, if we capture the entire country, the same would automatically comeunder our possession. From March 2 to 24, I stopped unloading of the arms from ‘SWAT’ disobeying all orders and pressure of the higher authorities. Army Chief, General Hamid Khan, Tikka Khan, Mitha Khan and other high officials applied pressure on me in this regard. Mitha Khan personally met me and asked, “By hook or crook, the arms will have to be unloaded within one or two days.” I said, “the ship could catch fire if we try to unload the ammunitions without the help of experts.” Mitha said, “If the fire engulfs the entire country and blood fills the Karnaphuli river, I don’t care. I want my arms unloaded.” As I did not unload the arms, Tikka Khan charged me, “You disobeyed the command of your superior and stopped the unloading of ‘SWAT’ ship to support Awami League’s non-cooperation movement.”

Subsequently, Mitha Khan called the Naval Chief, Commodore Momtaj, who also echoed my decision. Commodore Momtaj was, however, apprehending further deterioration of the situation. That is why he did not take any risk. He informed Mitha Khan, “Sir, my force does not know the cargo handling of commercial ships. It will be a disaster if any explosion occurs due to their handling.” Mitha Khan understood this point. He said, “It’s all right. I will call in merchant navy people from Karachi.” He promptly phoned Army Headquarters at Karachi from my office and gave a directive to send the merchant navy people. I stopped the unloading of ‘Swat’ on different excuses. Tikka Khan used to call me twice or thrice a day to ask the same question, “Whats happening about the unloading of the ship?” In the meantime, I removed all the crew from the ship with the help of M.R. Siddiqui. The ship remained at the outer anchorage. The East Bengal Regiment battalion of which Ziaur Rahman was the second in commad was ready to go to the West. There was a rule that when an army contingent is transferred from East to West or from West to East, they have to go unarmed. The battalion of Zia already surrendered their arms under this rule. Later I gave them 300 rifles and 10 light machine guns, which was their main strength during the war.

On March 21, Army Chief General Hamid visited Chittagong Port and took me to Colonel Fatemi of Baluch Regiment. He asked me whether ‘SWAT’ was unloaded or not. I replied, “No”. The Adjutant General of Army was also there. When we reached the Baluch Regiment, the Adjutant General to a seperate room saying, “Majumdar, let’s go to another room. I have something to discussion with you.” In my absense, Fatemi and General Hamid talked for about half an hour. From the Baluch Regiment office, we went to Naval Hearquarters where General Hamid also held discussions for about 20-25 minutes, in secret, again keeping me away, as preplanned by them. From the movement of the Army Chief, it became clear to me that they were planning to conduct a secret operation against the Bangalees at the directive of Yahya Khan.

As the Army Chief left, I telephoned Awami League leader M. R. Siddiqui and he came to my house. I told him everything and requested him to talk to Sheikh Mujib and Colonel Osmani about the the matter. “We have no time to waste....something will happen soon......tell Sheikh Shaheb to give us permission. If we go for an action without wasting time, it will be easy for us to achieve victory.” On Siddiqui’s request, I arranged for him a car from the Superintendent of Police. Siddiqui went to Dhaka to talk to Sheikh Mujib. Next day he returned and reported to me that Sheikh Mujib said, “BrigadierMajumdar should be patient....Negotiations are going at the political level. He should wait until the negotiation ends. I will speak to him in time.” Osmani asked him, “How will you contact Brigadier Majumder?” Sheikh Mujib replied, “Postponement of the transmission of Bangla programme on radio will be a signal of the failiure of negotiations. I will record a message for him and send it to him through Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury.”

This recorded message of Sheikh Mujib was sent to Chittagong after his arrest on March 25 but I was not there. On March 26, however, Awami League leader M. A. Hannan riding a rickshaw publicised the message of Sheikh Mujib by mike in the port city of Chittagong. Based on the statement, Ziaur Rahman declared independence of the country from the radio station. The message was recorded on March 21. Tension continued for the next couple of days. On March 24, General Khadim Hossain Raja and GeneralMitha Khan came to the East Bengal Regimental Centre by two helicopters. They told me that the President would hold a meeting that evening. “All senior officers have been asked to join the meeting. So you’ll have to go.” I said, “A tense situation is prevailing now in Chittagong. If I go, trouble may occur here. Particularly, civilians are very agitated.” As I was suspicious about the meeting at Dhaka, I asked Captain Amin (now a
Major General), “Make a call to Colonel Osmani and enquire wheather or not I should go to Dhaka to attend the meeting but in vain.”
 

Tikka Khan said, “You must come because the President wants to talk to all senior officers. After the meeting, if necessary, we’ll send you back.” Unfortunately, I believed him. I thought what he told me could be true. So, I boarded the helicopter to Dhaka. Amin accompanied me. The helicopter landed in Dhaka and I was taken to the residence of Brigadier Jahanzeb Arbab. He was better known as Brigadier Arbab. He was in charge of Operation “Searchlight” in Dhaka City. Arbab was one of my old friends. Arbab, Ziaur Rahman and I worked together during 1960-62. Arbab became my close friend at that time. As I reached the residence of Arbab, I saw snacks ready on the table. I asked Arbab, “What’s the matter? I have been told that the President would hold a meeting with officers. But I don’t see any arrangement here. Then why I have been brought here?”Arbab said, “Majumdar, don’t tell anyone . You have been removed from Chittagong and Brigadier Ansari has already taken charge of your Centre. I have been ordered to take care of you. You’ll have to stay with me until you’re given a new posting anywhere in West Pakistan.” Arbab told me everything, but kept secret the fact that I was under house arrest. I was surprised to hear of my transfer order and replacement, because it was done without informing me. I asked Arbab, “Can’t I go to Chittagong anymore?” He replied, “No.”

Soon after my removal, Brigadier Ansari started unloading the cargo from the ‘Swat’. Bangalee officers and soldiers also joined in the work. Next day (March 25), I saw that Arbab was very busy with his work. He was so busy that he had no time to talk to me. His attitude and movement deepened my fears. In the evening, I left his house in his absense. I directly went to my elder brother Sajjad Ali Majumdar’s Dhanmondi residence and apprised Colonel Osmani of the matter over phone. He replied, “I’m coming soon.” My sister-in-law went to the residence of Tajuddin to bring him also, but he was not at home. Osmani came and we sat for a closed-door discussion over the whole situation in my brother’s bedroom. I told him, “You have wasted much time. I sent messages three times — through M.R. Siddiqui, Captain Amin and myself, but you did not respond. The Pakistanis are buying time under the cover of negotiation, but it is clear that they would not compromise. I learnt through reliable source and informed you as well that they would not allow Sheikh Mujib to assume power. They army will go for action soon. We could win easily if we had gone for action a few days ago. If Sheikh Mujib permits, it is still possible to do something.” Osmani said, “No, Sheikh Mujib does not want that. He wants to resolve the crisis through political dialogue.” He said, “You want to revolt, but do you have the arms to do so?” I outlined my plan. “The Bangalee troops have enough strength to seize the magazines of non-Bengali unit and force the Pakistani officers to surrender. They’ll definitely surrender. Because they all know that if they try to resist us in the present situation they would die. The Pakistani officers are not in a position to take that risk.” Thereafter, Osmani went to discuss with Sheikh Mujib. At first he wanted to take me with him, but later he thought that it would be unwise to move together, because the intelligence people were keeping vigil around Sheikh’s house. Osmani went alone and told me that he would infom me of Sheikh Mujib’s views over the phone. I waited tensely in the evening for the phone call. At 8 pm, Osmani rang me and said, “Mujib is now reached a settlement with Yahiya. He has asked you to be patient.”At 11.30 pm, the whole capital was ablaze with gunfire and bullets. I went to the roof top of the house and saw that fire had engulfed the city. The Pakistan army had struck ruthlessly. It was what I had apprehended. After about two and a half years of solitary imprisonment in Pakistan, when I returned to independent Bangladesh, Dr. Farash Uddin Ahmed (Now the Governor of Bangladesh Bank) told me that Osmani had made the phone call to me from Farash Uddin’s residence at 8.30 pm on March 25, 1971. Next day I came to know that my family was brought to the cantonment and kept at the residence of Brigadier Ansari. I went to the cantonment on March 26 but did not find any male person. They were busy in the operation. I took my family to my father-in-law’s house without any hindrance. My wife apprised me of her terrible experience at the Chittagong centre on March 25 night. I was deeply shocked being informed how Pakistani occupied forces swooped on the centre with their tanks in the dead of the night and killed numerous Bengali soldiers including my loyal officer Colonel MR Chowdhury and rendered my wife and children helpless.My wife Saadat Sultana told me that while she was sleeping in the night she heard the sound of bullets inside the house. Switching on the light she found that a bullet had pierced through the window and stuck onto the wall. Quickly the attack took a serious turn and she could hear the sound of bullets in and around the center like heavy rain. The bullets were also directed towards my residence. She saved herself and the children lying under the cot. When the attack by the Pakistan forces stopped after an hour later, she rang Colonel MR Chowdhury, but failed to get him and then called Awami League leader MR Siddiqui. She requested Siddiqui to inform Major Zia of the East Bengal Regiment about the situation, so that he could launch a counter attack on the Baluch Regiment. Later, when she tried to contact Dhaka, she found that the telephone line was dead.Earlier in next morning Colonel Shigri of my Centre came to my residence and asked my wife to get ready to go to Dhaka. When she required how she would go, she was told that a helicopter from Dhaka was waiting in the Baluch Regiment. She tried but failed to get her ornaments, cash money and clothes for the children, due to interception of Colonel Shighry. On the way to the Baluch Regiment, she was horrified to see number of Bengali soldiers bodies on both sides of the road leading to the centre. She identified the body of Colonel MR Chowdhury lying in a pile. On March 27, I was sitting in the varendah waiting for Amin to go to Chittagong with him after offering morning prayers. Suddenly I saw military vehicles coming towards the house. I came outside the house and saw many soldiers guarding the house. They asked me, “Sir, are you Brigadier Majumdar?” “Yes”, I replied.“We have come here under orders of Tikka Khan to take you cantonment. Get ready,” they said. I went with them. From March 27, I became a prisoner. They confined me, along with my family members, at an abandoned house in the cantonment area. We stayed there for two days. They did not allow us to come out of the house. Thus began physical and mental torture upon me and my family. 

In 1971, the Pakistanis tortured me in two ways. Firstly, they looted my house-hold goods and tortured me physically and secondly, they tortured my family members, relations and others. On March 26, morning, Pakistan Army went in search of me to went to my Shamoli residence in Dhaka. As they could not find me, they brought our servant Tasir out of the house and slaughtered him publicly. They also attempted to kill his son but he survived hiding in water tank on the roof top. The army arrested thehusband and two sons of my youngest sister living at Zakiganj in Sylhet. When the army took them, my sister fell unconscious. She was taken to a hospital at Sylhet, where she died of the shock. The army also burnt the house of my sister. Yahya Khan’s postponement of the session of the National Assembly on March 1 flared a bloody clash
between Bangalees and Biharis at Railway Colony, Wireless Colony and Sher Shah Colony at Chittagong on March 2 and 3. During the clash, the Pathan soldiers led by Colonel Fatemi set ablaze the houses of Bangalees. 

They killed and burned hundreds of innocent Bangalee men, women, children. Fatemi was then the martial law administrator of Chittagong. On March 4, General Yakub removed Fatemi and appointed me to the same post. Aftert taking charge, I went to visit the Railway and other affected colonies. I saw the Bangalee houses were burnt to ashes. I saw the Pathan soldiers guarding over the burnt houses. Almost all the inhabitants of thearea had already fled. I came to know that many people were killed there. The injured were admitted to Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH) and other hospitals. Then I went to CMCH and observed many people with burn injuries on various parts of their bodies were receiving treatment there. I checked their addresses recorded in the hospital register and found that most of them were Bangalees.

On March 30 in the midnight, somebody knocked my prison door. I was told to get ready in 15 minutes. I came to know that we were being taken to West Pakistan. They took us to Dhaka airport when it was raining cats and dogs. From Karachi airport, we were taken to Malir Cantonment. We stayed there for a night and next morning we were taken to Kharian Cantonment. We were confined at an old rest house, about 14/15 miles away from Kharia. The army authorities turned the rest house into a prisoners cage as it was secured with barbed wire and soldiers with machine guns. They kept me and my family members separately. I got a small room at a corner of the house. There was no furniture. I was told, “This is exclusively for you. Your family members are allowed to move inside the house, but you are not allowed to go outside the room. This restriction is not for your family members, but they would not be allowed to go outside the boundary.” I had to sleep on the floor. There was an open toilet. One soldier always stood nearby to guard me round the clock. I was kept there from Arpil to August 10 under the supervision of army. They used to take me to Jhelum, about 10 kilometres away from there every morning for interrogation. After interrogation they used to take me back to the rest house.Sometimes I was interrogated round the clock, sometimes continuous two days and nights. I had to remain standing until the end of interrogation. I was not given food during interrogation. However, they did not torture me physically. The interrogators used to ask me the same questions regularly. They alleged, “Sheikh Mujib, Colonel Osmani and you planned a rebellion and muting in East Pakistan to break the country and make East Pakistan an independent. Your East Bengal Regimental Centre was the operational headquarters.”*

They also alleged, “You wanted to capture all the arms and ammunition of Pakistani soldiers with the help of EPR (East Pakistan Rifles), Police and students. You planned to remove all the border posts with India to bring arms from that country. For this purpose, you (Majumdar) had a meeting with Commander, Indian Eastern Command, Khulna. You gave out your plan to the Eastern Command and sought their help. You toldthem that beside arms and ammunitions, you’ll need military training in India. You also had a plan to arrest all non-Bangalees at Chittagong and kill them if they tried to resist.”

The members of ISI (Inter Service Intelligence) and Pakistan Army Intelligence Unit interrogated me. I denied all allegations as false. In the first week of August, Colonel Anjum and Colonel Mokhtar of Army Intelligence took me to Jhelum. They said, “a Bangalee officer named Colonel Yasin told us that you had meetings with Sheikh Mujib, other leaders of Awami League and also with the Commnader, Eastern Command of India. You have discussed in those meetings how India could help you.” At one stage they said, “As the army failed to get a confessional statement from you, it has been decided that you’ll be handed over to Special Police.”

The next morning several military vehicles came to the rest house cage and escorted me to the headquarters of the Special Police at Lahore leaving my family members there. The Army handed me over to the Special Police. Police Inspector Durrani received me and confined me in an underground cell. He said,”Sorry Brigadier, we cannot provide you with mosquito net, pillow or bedsheet. You’ll have to stay here without all thesethings.” Cell No. 12, where I was held captive, was like a bathroom. It was actually built for prisoners. It had an iron door with grill. There was no window, fan or even ventilation. A high-power bulb was always kept on which made the cell very hot. There was a commode. There was no arrangement for food. Before confining me in the cell, the authorities took away my shirt and trousers and replaced them with prison clothes. Their was an ozifa (religious book) in my suitcase. I wanted it, but I was told that it would be
given to me later after examination. On the first day, I was not given any food. Inspector Durrani came to visit me on the second day, but he did not talk to me. I had to go hungry the whole day. At night, a sepoy came with three West Pakistani rotis (bread) and a bowl of vegetables for me. They passed the food through the narrow space under the iron door. When I got the food, I noticed a lot of dust in it. It was not fit for human consumption, and so I did not take it. A few minutes later, the sepoy returned and took the plate back. So I remained without food for the whole night. 

In the morning, Durrani came and asked, “Did you have your meal?” “No, I haven’t,” I replied. He said, “Why? Didn’t they serve you food?” I replied, “I’m not hungry.” I did not disclose to him the real reason for not taking the food. Then Durrani said, “You’ll have to take some food. If you don’t take it, there is nothing we can do. We can’t serve you any better food.” Then he ordered for tea and a big bread. The space under the door was so narrow that they couldn’t pass the mug of tea through it. So one sepoy opened the door and gave me the tea mug. After I finished it, Durrani took the mug away and left.At about 11 am, Durrani returned along with two sepoys. They opened the door and the sepoys held my hands strongly. Then they took me upstairs to the room, where I had earlier been handed over to the police by the Army. Durrani sat on a high chair, like the boss of an office. I sat in front of him on a stool. Two police officers — Shafi and Safdar Kazi interrogated me there. They asked me many questions. They said, “You have killed many non-Bangalees in Chittagong. What have you to say about it?” I said, “I didn’t kill any non-Bangalee. They were killed before I had taken the charge as Martial Law Administrator of Chittagong. Before me, Colnel Fatemi was in charge. He could not control the situation. The army also killed many Bangalees. That’s why General Yakub Khan removed Fatemi and appointed me in his place. Yakub gave me the charge on the telephone. There was no political killing after I had taken charge as Martial Law Administrator.”

As I was speaking, Police Inspector Shafi suddenly sprung up on his feet and slapped me so hard that I fell down from the stool. I was totally shocked. I got up and said in mixed Urdu-English, “You are of my son’s age. Look at my rank and age. For God’s sake, don’t beat me.” Then Durrani took me to the cell and said, “I’m sorry. Don’t mind.” I was crying like a baby. Durrani said, “Don’t worry. They will not do it again in future.”After being put in the cell. I started to read out Sura Yasin, an important verse from The holy Koran, with firm belief that whoever recites the holy scriptures will never be humiliated. While, reciting I banged my headagainst the wall again and again. I could not believe what was happening as I never imagined that a policeinspector sould slap a senior army officer like me. Even army personnel did not show such impertinence.

As I was lost in thought, Durrani came again. He took me upstairs where I found five or six fat men inside the room either sitting or standing. There was no chair or table in the room. Durrani told Shafi, ‘Don’t beat him even if he does not admit anything.” Shafi roared in anger saying, “What are you saying? This fellow will not say anything unless he is beaten, killed thousands of Pakistani brothers in Chittagong. He sided with Sheikh and betrayed Pakistan. He looks small, but he is a culprit. I will not get peace until I beat him.”  Shafi and Kazi started beating, slapping and kicking me. When they stopped, the people who had been standing outside, came into the room. They were carrying bags, ropes, waterbags and hockeysticks. Shafi and Kazi proceeded to tie me up from the back.All of a sudden Durrani said, “Majumdar is a Hindu name. Examine whether he is a Hindu or a Muslim.” Immediately the sepoys stripped me naked and I started crying. I told Durrani, “Inspector, you said that no torture will be unleashed on me. What can be more inhumane than this? I am an elderly man. Look at my face and my rank. You got me naked in front of the sepoyes” Humiliated and pain stricken, I continued to cry. Durrani ordered the sepoys to return my trousers and thereafter I was sent back to the cell. The pain increased slowly and my body became blue. It was increasingly unbearable as the night approached. The nights were more terrible as high-powered lights were kept just over my head and the cell used to become hot like a oven. I kep crying throughout the night. Brutal physical torture coupled with humiliation of being stripped anguished me bitterly.

The following day they came at about 10 or11am. Durrani took me away. I saw the same people were standing outside the interrogation room. The room looked like the same as it was on the previous day. Shafi and Durrani said, “Yesterday you told us that you knew nothing and that you had no meeting with Commander, Eastern Command of India. But Colonel Yasin has told us everything about you.” I said, “Okay, bring Yasin to me, and I will ask him some questions. You will then understand that he has made false statements. I had no meeting with Indian Commander of Eastern Command.” Both of them went out to bring Yasin and returned after sometime saying, “Yasin is reading the Koran andholding the Koran he said everything he said was true, but he does not want to meet you.” “Then bring the Koran and I will affairm that Yasin was a liar do the same.” I said, but they simply repeated, “Yasin touched the Koran. He cannot lie.” Suddenly Shafi jumped on me and the others tied me with a chair. I was kept in between the two other chairs as if a goat was being tied for slaughter. In the meantime, they had removed my shirt and trouser. Durrani brought a wire and connected it with a rod. In my hanging position with a hocky stick between the chairs, Durrani himself pushed the rod into my rectum and started giving electric shocks. I shouted as the pain of electric shock was unbearable and almost fainted. Durrani said, “You will not be freed until you say what we want you to say.” I said, “Please kill me. Don’t give me so much brutal pain.”

He then said in Urdu, “Marne se pehele to bohut kuchh baki hai (there are lot of things to be done before dying).” I was then again sent back to the cell. These inhuman torture continued for the following few days. One day at noon, I was put in a gunny bagand kept outdoors in the scorching sun of August. The interrogators continued their effort to get a confessional statement, and I continued to deny everything. One day, I was taken to another room adjacent to the room where I was tortured earlier. The room was full of electrical equipment. The interrogators said, “Tell us what conspiracy you hatched along with your prophet Mujib and patron Osmany.” As they did not get the required reply, they tied me upside down, hung me the ceiling and beat mercilessly with hot waterbag and a jute rope. They used the technique to ensure that no beating of amrks were visible on my body.
 After failing to extract anything from me, they brought me down on the floor. I cried, “Please give me a glass of water.” Shafi opened his zipper and urinated on my face and said, “Ye lo pani (here is water).” I cannot describe in words what a terrible physical and mental torture it was. The painful memories of those brutalities still hurt me often.I was left alone lying on the urine. Ten minutes later the interrogators came back. Shafi made me stand up, and said, “Tum insan ho ya hiwan ? Tumhara upar itna zulum ho raha hai, fir bhi tum sach nehi bolta? Job tak tum sach nehi bolega, hum tumko nehi chhorega (are you a human being? Even after so much torture, you are still not telling the truth will not leave you until you tell the truth).” They tied me on a cot holding my legs upward and Durrani again started giving electric shock on my wounded rectum and I groaned in pain. A soldier squeezed my scrotums with his hands and I screamed. The prolonged squaeezing pain was so unbearable that I had to give in. I said, “Please stop the torture. I will say whatever you want to say.” Durrani said, ‘Aab dimag thik hua, aab hush aaya. Thik hai, utho (well, now you have to come your senses. Ok, get up).’ The soldiers brought a chair, a tool and a jug of water, with which I quenched my thirst.
Durrani told me, ‘Write all the charges brought against you. Otherwise, look at the consequence.’ He pointed to the rooftop from where a rope, electric wire and other equipment of torture were hanging. ‘All these things will be applied on you. If you want your good, you will do as told.’ I said, ‘Better you write. I will sign.’ He thought I will not be able to write or if I wrote the charges may be not be rightly worded weakening the case and agreed. Then they started to behave properly with me and for the first time I was given rice and moat. But my body was sore with pain, specially the rectum and scrotum. I told Durrani, ‘Brother, my condition is very serious. My rectum and scrotums are seriously injured. I cannot urinate.’ He said, “We will take you to a doctor in the evening.” 
 There was a hospital in the fort and the doctor found that the tip of my penis had been plugged, the scrotums were swollen and the rectum was infected. The doctor said, “His condition is very serious. He has to be given treatment here.” Durrani disagreed, saying, “It is not possible to keep him here.” Then the doctor told Durrani something, which I could not hear. That convinced Durrani to allow me to stay in the hospital. I was given pain killers at night. After two to three days I was discharged from the hospital. Back at the interrogation centre, Durrani said, “You know good English. I will dictate in Urdu and you will write in English.” After that was done he said, “You will have to make a statement in front of the magistrate that you wrote it yourself and then sign. I will take you to a magistrate tomorrow.”  The following day Durrani and Shafi took me to a magistrate’s chamber in Lahore by car.While entering the chamber, I saw the name of the magistrate in the name plate as Bajwa”. He offered me some soft drink. He asked me some questions, such as, where I came from and where was I educated. I told him that I was a graduate of Calcutta University. Then I told him, “Brother, you are not policeman, you are a magistrate, an educated person. My brother was also a magistrate. I know magistrates are men of principles. When the police take someone to a magistrate after beating him up, the detainee expects that he would get justice and makes a true statement. I also want to make a true statement. The statement produced before you is not my confessional statement. I was ruthlessly tortured by the police who forced me to sign it. One army colonel Yasin had made a false statement and they took my signature on it. I am denying in front of you that I made that statement.” The magistrate replied, “Mr. Brigadier, we are under martial law and if you decline the confessional statement that you have given to the police, you would be tortured more harsh than before. You could even be tortured to death. It is better to confess everything.”

So I understood that the magistrate belonged to the same class as the police. I said, “If you say so, I will sign”. Thereafter, I was taken back to the police headquarters. After a few days Brigadier Ejaz was came there and he told me that I would have to face a court martial, on account of my confessional statement. Earlier, Durrani, had threatened me not to do or say anything that would give a hint to Brigadier Ejaj that I was tortured. I was kept in solitary confirment in at least 10 condemned cells and jails making my meals,prayer and sleep irregular. I was worried that I might be killed or handed a court martial verdict.

I became ill in Malakand Fort. I suffered from fever, rectum infection and my face was swollen, when I was finally taken to the Mardan Combined Military Hospital for treatment. I came to know from the hospital bed that on December 16 Bangladesh had gained its independence. On January 15,1972, the Pakistanis freed me and I went to a relative’s house in Rawalpindi, where I learned that my family members had left for Dhaka. I was summoned by the Pakistan Commission of the1971 War headed by the then Chief Justice of Pakistan in March, 1972. Appearing before the court on March 10, I gave oral and written statements and informed the Commission that the police took the so-called deposition after torturing me. It, however, resulted in my re-arrest, and I was sent to Wana Fort in remote south Owaziristan where I was kept in solitary confinement until November 5, 1973. I returned to Bangladesh on the following day as per the extradition agreement between the two countries. 

Interviewed by Ruhul Motin 

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