GOPALGANJ, July 6, 2019 (BSS) – It was 9 in the morning on May 19 of
1971,when the Pakistani occupation troops, guided by their Bengali speaking
cohorts, approached a local government office at the Pikerdanga union on the
outskirts of this tiny southwestern town.
Their target was visibly specific- two junior revenue department
officials.
They dragged the local land officers ‘tahshildar’ and the ‘assistant
tahshildar’ away from their office, ruthlessly tortured them to an extent
that they suffer extreme pain and subsequently shot them dead.
The fact that exposed tahshildar Abu Motaleb Miah and assistant tahshildar
Mir Abul Quashem to their fate was – they put in their all out efforts to
mobilize the people in the neighborhood for the liberation of Bangladesh
after the March 25 black night crackdown by Pakistani army.
Forty eight years after their martyrdom, the grave of these two patriots
were rediscovered to officially honor them through installing plaques,
acknowledging their supreme sacrifice for the country.
“Two of our colleagues’ had embraced martyrdom for the country forty eight
years ago while performing their duties as government officials . . . today
we took measures for conserving their graves coming to know that they are
laid to their eternal rest here,” Gopalganj’s deputy commissioner Mokhlesur
Rahman Sarkar said unveiling the plaques on June 21.
Along with other officials of the district, people in neighborhood and
local public representatives, Sarkar also prayed for their eternal peace and
said if the grave of any other unidentified freedom fighters were found
undetected in the district, steps would be taken for their preservation as
well.
Talking to BSS later, Sarkar said he came to know about the sacrifices of
Motaleb Miah and Abul Quashem at a revenue conference, which prompted the
district administration to take the initiative to preserve their graves.
Motaleb Miah was the son of Noimuddin Miah of Lohair village under
Moksudpur Upazila of the then Gopalganj sub-division while Abul Quashem was
the son of Alhaj Mir Tafiz Uddin of Kumarbhog village of Lawhajong upazila of
the then Dhaka division (now Munshiganj district).
Elderly people in the neighbourhood recalled that Motaleb Miah used to
live at the Tahsil office building along with his pregnant wife and a two-
year-old son while Abul Quashem used to live along with his wife and eight
kids at a rented house in the village.
Freedom fighter Aiyub Ali Khan, a resident of Pikerdanga, said Motaleb
Miah and Abul Quashem devoted them to organize the Liberation War by
mobilizing local youths through small group meetings and helping the freedom
fighters with necessary supplies, which soon earned wraths of the anti-
liberation elements and local razakars.
“Almost every day these two government officials used to hold meetings
with youths at different yards of local households . . . two infamous
razakars (Wadud Shikder and Ratan razakar) of neighbouring Shuktail Kuthi
Bari came to know about their activities through their agents in Pikerdanga,”
Aiyub Ali said.
Ayub recalled that the razakars in turn reached the information to the
Pakistani troops, who by boat crossed the Modhumoti river and entered
Pikerdanga where they also killed several innocent people including a 60-
year-old widow, sister of village chief Sitanath Sarkar on their way to the
Tahshil office.
On their way back as well, the Pakistani troops sprayed gunshots from
their automatic weapons leaving many dead and wounded, set fire to the
households and also destroyed a Hindu temple near the Tahsil office.
After the brutal killing of Motaleb Miah, his wife Momtaz Begum left
Paikerdanga for Gopalganj Sadar along her son Sajjad Parvej and later gave
birth to their daughter Trisha Islam during the war.
Quashem’s wife Rehana Begum went to Faridpur with the help of the local
people where she educated her children Mir Abul Quayum, late Nazma Soheli,
Mir Abul Kaisar, Nazneen Sohely, Mir Abul Quayes, Ivy Ahmed, Shaila Shameem –
several of them are now living a dignified life at home and abroad.
But sadly their youngest daughter Kumkum died at the age of one and a half
year within a month of her father’s martyrdom due to starvation and lack of
medication.
Motaleb Miah’s name was officially enlisted in the freedom fighter’s
gazette by the Ministry of the Liberation War Affairs. But unfortunately the
name of Mir Abul Quashem is yet to be enlisted as martyred freedom fighter.
Quashem’s family urged Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to intervene into the
matter for immediate enlistment of his name as a martyred freedom fighter.