Since the morning of 5 August 2024, people have been marching towards Dhaka on foot and in rickshaws. Thousands of protesters stormed Sheikh Hasina’s official residence. Protesters are strolling in bedrooms and gardens. The army is deployed on the streets, but they are unable to stop the marchers.
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This footage of Sheikh Hasina is before boarding the helicopter. It is going viral on social media.
49 years ago on 15 August 1975, Sheikh Hasina’s father and founder of Bangladesh Sheikh Mujiburahman was assassinated at his home. That day, Sheikh Hasina lost not only her father but also 17 members of her family. Hasina and her sister were saved because they were abroad.
In this story, we will know how Bangladesh’s President House became a pool of blood after the murder of Sheikh Hasina’s family members. Hasina had written about this entire incident in Dhaka Times last year. The rest of the story in Sheikh Hasina’s own words…
Sheikh Hasina with her father and founder of Bangladesh Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
It was not yet morning, the sound of Azan was coming from the distant mosque. Suddenly the area echoed with the sound of gunfire. Bullets were being fired around a house at 32 Race Course in Dhanmondi area of Dhaka. That house was not an ordinary house, but the President of Bangladesh, the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujiburahman lived there.
It was a simple two-storey building built on one bigha of land. The President of the country lived there like any other middle class citizen. He was like that; a man of normal life. This house was also a silent witness to every movement and struggle for our independence. Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had declared the independence of Bangladesh from this house on 26 March 1971.
On the morning of August 15, amid the sound of gunfire at that same house, the sound of azaan first faded and then vanished.
Usually the responsibility of protecting the President’s residence is with the Infantry Division of the Armed Forces, but just 10-12 days ago, this responsibility was taken away from the ‘Bengal Lancer’ and given to officers and soldiers, which was not a simple matter. My mother, Begum Fazilatunnesa Mujib saw that soldiers wearing black uniforms were engaged in protecting the residence. She raised questions, but did not get any satisfactory answer.
My father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujiburahman had complete faith in his countrymen. He could never imagine that a Bengali would shoot him or point a gun at him. No Bengali would ever try to kill him or harm him in any way – he lived with this belief.
That day, bullets were being fired from all sides at his house. A military vehicle stopped in front of the house at 32 Race Course firing continuously from a machine gun. By then, everyone present in the house woke up due to the deafening sound of bullets.
My brother Sheikh Kamal rushed to the reception to find out what was happening. My father’s personal assistant, Mohitul Islam, was then trying to call different places, but no one was picking up the phone.
After waiting there for a few minutes, Kamal came out to the verandah. He saw Major Noor and Captain Hooda entering. Kamal said to them- ‘Oh! You have reached. Please see what is going on. Who attacked our house…?’
Before he could finish his statement, the army officers started firing at him. Kamal died on the spot. The sad thing was that both Major Noor and Major Huda who fired at Kamal had worked with him during the Liberation War. They knew each other very closely.
Major Syed Farooq was firing from a military tank targeting our house. My father made the first call to Army Chief Shafiullah and gave him full information that the President’s residence had been attacked. To this he replied – ‘Let me see. Meanwhile, you try to get out of there.’
Then the telephone in our house started ringing. On the other end was Agriculture Minister Abdur Rob Serniabat, my uncle, the husband of one of my father’s sisters. He told my father that some unidentified people had attacked his house. Papa told him that our house had also been attacked. My father then called two prominent Awami League leaders – Abdur Razzak and Tofael Ahmed.
Razzaq, who was in charge of the volunteer force – ‘Shwesashebok Bahini (Volunteer Force)’, said- ‘Leader, let me see what can be done.’ Meanwhile, Tofail Ahmed, who was the head of another paramilitary force called ‘Rakkhi Bahini’, also repeated similar words.
The picture published in the newspaper is of the killers of Sheikh Mujiburahman. Who were also officers of the Bangladesh Army.
Interestingly, while putting down the receiver, he said what can he do? Then Papa came out of the room to go downstairs. Going towards the stairs, he was asking about his son Kamal. While talking, he reached the stairs.
Then the goons standing on the middle platform of the staircase started climbing towards the upper floor. My father could recognize Huda among them. My father called Huda by his father’s name- ‘Aren’t you Riaz’s son? What do you want?…’ Before he could complete his words, they opened fire. By that time Risaldar Moslehuddin also joined the killers.
My father fell lifeless on the stairs after being shot by the killers. My mother was also coming towards the stairs. By then the killers had reached the upper floor. They blocked my mother’s way and asked her to come with them.
She said, ‘I will not move a single step, I will not go anywhere. Why did you kill them? You should kill me too!’ Then they killed my mother too immediately. My mother’s lifeless body fell on the floor.
The picture is of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and 17 members of his family who were murdered on 15 August 1975.
My two brothers Kamal and Jamal were newly married. Kamal’s wife Sultana Kamal and Jamal’s wife Rosie Jamal were in my parents’ room. The killers shot and killed both of them there.
Roma, our maid, was standing in a corner holding Russell in her lap. My youngest brother Russell, who was 10 years old, could not understand what was happening. One of the killers took Russell and Roma downstairs. They also gathered all the other people who were at home at that time.
Our other servant Abdul was shot. They took him away too. There was a mango tree in front of our house. They lined them all up under that tree and started identifying them. My uncle, a freedom fighter, was handicapped. He repeatedly pleaded for their lives to be spared.
He pleaded for his pregnant wife and young children. What will happen to them? But the killers paid no heed to any of his pleas. After identifying him, they took him to the office bathroom on the ground floor and shot him dead.
Meanwhile, my younger brother Russell was holding Roma’s hand. He was crying and repeatedly saying, ‘I want to go to my mother!’ Roma was trying to pacify him. At that very moment, one of the killers recognized my brother.
After knowing his identity, he said to Russell, ‘Come, I will take you to your mother.’ They dragged my younger brother upstairs over the bodies of my mother and father and shot him dead near my mother’s body. The killers did not spare even the life of a ten-year-old child.
The picture is of Sheikh Mujiburahman and 17 members of his family who were murdered on 15 August 1975.
The house from where Bangabandhu had once declared the independence of Bangladesh was filled with his blood and that of his family members.
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