(This is what I collected from various sources about the events that took place inside the Mujib residence at that moment (In the morning of August 15, 1975). For 21 years, nobody talked about August 15. The coup leaders themselves remained mum, for whatever reasons. The only document is an interview given by Colonels Farook Rahman and Khandokar Abdur Rashid to the British journalist-author Anthony Mascarenhas in London in 1976. The interview was not very revealing though. Few eyewitnesses are available now. Still, few are willing to speak, for whatever reasons. The account of Major Bazlul Huda, one of the coup leaders, is appended at the end.)
Prelude: Guards at Mujib’s house
Army units by rotation provided security guard duties at the Bongobhaban, residence of the Prime Minister/President and a few other important and highly sensitive places. For the month of August 1975, 1st Field Artillery Regiment of Comilla took its turn for 32 Dhanmondi, the official residence of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. (Major Shariful Haq) Dalim had commanded this unit before he lost his job a year ago. Major Bazlul Huda, another officer of the coup, also served the unit as its Adjutant. Both these offices commanded respect and loyalty from their troops. Planners expected that those officers would succeed in switching the loyalty of the guards for the mission. So, it was.
At the Mujib residence, it was the Reveille and Flag Hoisting time. A platoon of about 30 men of 1st Field Artillery (Comilla) were ready for the ceremony in the front yard. Suddenly, a truck towing an artillery gun appeared from nowhere on the main Mirpur Road across the lake in front. Soldiers jumped down the truck to position the gun aiming at 32 Dhanmondi. All done in a lightning speed and quick precision. The gun fired three successive rounds at the Mujib house. The guards at the residence hit the ground. But the gun aimed a little high– perhaps the gunner failed to adjust the distance– and the 25 pounder shells flew over the house to land about a mile behind in Mohammadpur causing a few casualties. However, the gunshots provided sufficient shellshock to the residents and people around the place. Their miss of the intended target was a bliss for the Reveille guards; otherwise, there could be considerable casualties among them.
Almost immediately, a few truckloads of troops in khaki and black descended on the spot. An officer, perhaps known to the guards, told them why they were there and the guards switched loyalty without question. They broke open the gate and rushed inside. A few shocked and fear-stricken police personnel surrendered instantly.
Around 5:30 am, Mujib received a call from his brother-in-law and Minister Abdur Rob Serniabat that his residence at Minto Road had been attacked by armed groups. Mujib immediately asked one of his aides, perhaps a Police Inspector, to call the Police Control Room for help. Almost immediately, his (Mujib’s) own house came under attack beginning with the firing of heavy artillery shells (that missed). Mujib immediately called Army Chief General K M Safiullah (sometimes misspelled as Shafiullah) and his Chief Security Officer Colonel Jamil for help.
“Your soldiers attacked my house,” shouted Mujib at Safiullah. “Do something. Send force urgently.” The army chief was caught unaware and became confused.
“I am doing something?” said a baffled army chief. “Can you come out of the house, Sir? Try to escape from the back…” Before he could finish the sentence, the line got snapped.
As Mujib was making the calls, his older son Kamal picked up a Sten gun and came down the steps from the second floor shouting and firing wildly at the assaulting soldiers. Not knowing who the attackers were, he initially tried to rally the military and police guards to join him. It did not work, and he became wild. He kept firing and shouting threats at the attackers. Sheikh Naser, brother of Mujib, was a visitor and stayed in the house the previous night. He picked up a weapon from a nearby police and joined Kamal in firing at the soldiers. He also made loud abusive threats to the soldiers.
According to a cook at Mujib’s residence, the opening shots were made by Sheikh Kamal, a former army captain, and his newly married wife Sultana, who was an accomplished athlete. Kamal came down the steps from the first floor firing with his Sten gun. From the balcony, Sultana targeted the troops, felling a few. That infuriated the soldiers and one of them shouted, “শালার গুষটি শুদ্ধা শেষকইরা দে (Finish the whole family).” The cook escaped by scaling the back wall and ran a few blocks to take shelter in a house. One young man of that house, who later became a marine captain (Captain Razzak Syed) and now lives in Australia, heard the first-hand story from the cook.
Two officers with troops went upstairs to bring Sheikh Mujib, who locked himself in a room along with other members of his family. Displaying due courtesy, the officers repeatedly requested Mujib to come out. Mujib was defiant and made loud threats of dire consequences. After much cajoling from the officers and noting the troops around, Mujib gave in. He came out despite cries, pleas and resistance from his wife and others inside the room. He was in nightdress– lungi and Punjabi. Officers requested him to change to proper dress. An arrogant Mujib declined. “Pakistanis could not do anything to me,” he scolded. “What can you do?”
He now saw more troops at gunpoint downstairs and the commotion of many others outside. By then he learned of Kamal’s death and realized that he had no chance of standing his ground. He slowly came down the steps with officers and troops following behind, but still making threatening gestures.
It was difficult to know what exactly the officers had in mind when they were bringing Mujib down. If the decision was to eliminate him, why was the fuss and delay? According to one version, those officers perhaps wanted a “kinder disposal” of Mujib, not having to do the unfortunate act in front of his family members. Others thought the officers might have been overwhelmed at Mujib’s towering presence and forgot for the moment their assigned task. Mujib’s loud threats might have affected their resolve too. Yet, some others thought that those officers were perhaps not in favor of eliminating Mujib altogether.
Soon, an agitated officer showed up at the foot of the stairs. He saw that the situation was going out of control. It was now or never, he thought.
“What the hell are you doing?” he screamed at the officers who were escorting Mujib down. “Get down, all of you.”
A Sten gun rattled, and Mujib fell on the steps. The officers and troops behind Mujib narrowly escaped by making quick ducks.
Mujib’s family members, including Jamal and Russel, remained huddled inside a bedroom upstairs. Troops came up and requested them to come out. They refused. According to a source, Sheikh Jamal, Mujib’s second son, who was a Lieutenant of the army, fired from inside the room and hurled abusive shouts and threats. Colonel Rashid, one of the coup leaders, told Anthony Mascarenhas in London in 1976.that despite repeated requests for the family members to come out, they remained locked inside. At that point, angry soldiers lobbed one or two grenades inside.
Major Huda’s story
Let us see what Major Bazlul Huda had to say. He claimed to have been at the residence of Sheikh Mujib. It is taken from the book Three Military Coups and Some Untold Facts by Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) M A Hamid, psc. Shikha Prokashoni. 2003, pp 25-28. (The English rendering from the original Bangla is author’s).
“Major Huda was directly involved in the August 15 action. We discussed the case in a cordial atmosphere. He described the event of the day as follows. Let’s hear it from horse’s mouth.
“At midnight, Major Farook gave an outline of the operation. Accordingly, we came to House No. 32 (Sheikh Mujib’s residence) and surrounded the place. Before we took position, I went and talked to the military Guards. They belonged to 1 Field Artillery Regiment and knew me. I told them that the Government had been changed and Mujib was no longer the President. We have come to arrest Mujib and take him. Major (Shariful Haq) Dalim and Major (Abdul Aziz) Pasha are with us. All three of us were former officers of the regiment. Dalim was the Commanding Officer and I was its Adjutant. They agreed to join us. I told them to keep quiet and asked them to see that nobody entered the house without my permission. I then went to fix (station) a Machine Gun near the house.
“Meanwhile Major Mohiuddin arrived with troops of Bengal Lancers and tried to enter the house. As Artillery soldiers tried to prevent them, there developed a verbal duel between the two groups. Hearing the noise, Sheikh Kamal got alarmed and came down form upstairs. Picking an automatic rifle from the Reception Room, he took position. When he understood that the military came to attack, he started firing indiscriminately. One soldier died and a few were wounded.
At the same time, intense automatic firing started coming from the balcony upstairs. The (angry) soldiers returned fire. Situation went out of control. Kamal and a Deputy Superintendent of Police died in the Reception Room. There were considerable fatalities in the crossfires.
After the firing stopped, I ran to the place and went in. At the entrance of the stairs, I found Sheikh Mujib coming down from upstairs. After seeing me, he shouted, “What do you want? What do you want to do with me?”
“We came to take you, Sir,” I said.
“You want to kill me?” Sheikh Saheb was angry. “Where is Kamal? What did you do with him?”
“Kamal is at his place, Sir. And please do not use demeaning language.” He was addressing as Tui..Tora. “You are under arrest, Sir. Please come with me.” Sheikh Saheb was outraged and roared, “What, you have such audacity? Pakistan Army could not kill me. I am Father of the Nation. I love Bengalis and Bengalis love me. Nobody can kill me.” Mujib kept uttering disjointed words for some time. I said, “Sir, please stop the drama. You please come with me. You are in custody.” Mujib softened and said, “You want to take me like this? Okay, let me take my pipe and tobacco.?
“So, saying, Mujib proceeded towards his bedroom. I followed him. Major Mohiuddin also joined me. I took his tobacco and matchbox. We did not allow him to use phone or waste any further time. This altercation already wasted about three minutes. After he came out of the room, I brought him to the steps and were descending. I was behind him to his left. Major Mohiuddin and a few soldiers were behind us. As we were about to step down, suddenly someone from inside the house and through the corridor started firing at us. A soldier behind me fell wounded and I quickly dropped on the floor and aimed to return fire. Mujib remained standing. Six to seven feet below the steps stood a few black uniformed (Lancer) soldiers. They also started returning fire towards us. A few bullets hit Mujib in the chest and he collapsed on the steps. The soldiers also started firing at the room from where the fire started. The firing from both sides continued for a while.
“Everything happened before my eyes, so fast, so unexpectedly. I was perplexed.
“Sheikh Saheb was dead, streaks of blood from his chest flew down the steps. Leaving him in that state, I went down. Everybody was shaky, what with fear, what with excitement. Due to the suddenness of the action, I didn’t know what to do. Later, we brought the wounded soldier down and I sent him to hospital. A house servant also received bullet injury and sent him to hospital too.
“I went down to check the things. At that moment, brush fire restarted from upstairs. A few soldiers standing at the gate were wounded. The soldiers became agitated and brush fire continued from all sides. A brave soldier went upstairs and stealthily reached below the window of the room from where the fire was coming and lobbed a grenade or two inside. Everything became quiet. After a while, we opened the door and went inside. All inmates were dead. They included Begum Mujib, Sheikh Jamal, Sheikh Russel, Mrs. Kamal and Mrs. Jamal.
“If Jamal did not re-start the brush fire, all of them could have been saved. They were all alive inside even after Mujib was dead and the firing stopped.
“Everything happened before my very eyes, in an abrupt manner, so unexpectedly. All because of the preemptive brush fires by Kamal and Jamal. We did not want to kill them.
“Huda further dismissed the rumors that he had said Major Nur cold bloodedly fired at Sheikh Mujib. They were totally false and fabricated. Nur was managing the roadblocks outside the house on the Mirpur Road. I do not remember seeing him at the scene of incident. Even some books mentioned Risaldar Muslemuddin to have fired at Sheikh Saheb. The fact was he was not at the scene at all that day. I was the one by Mujib when he died. If any of them were present, I would have seen them. Those who fired at Mujib from the foot of the stairs, belonged to Armor Core (Lancer Unit). There was an NCO (Non-Commissioned Officer, usually a Havildar or Naik), but I did not know him. My understanding was, they got frightened when the brush fire came from inside the room upstairs. They lost balance and returned the fire. I was at the left side of Mujib and could have been killed (if I did not duck in time).
“During the operation at Mujib’s house, firing took place in three phases. First, Kamal started firing when the troops were entering the gate. Second, from the upstairs when Sheikh Saheb was coming down the steps. Third, by Sheikh Jamal from inside the room (through a window). There were a few fatalities of soldiers from those fires. Finally, firing commenced from the soldiers, and later grenades lobbed inside the room.
Sheikh Naser (brother of Mujib) died in another room. Perhaps he streaked his head outside the room and immediately received bullet fire. I did not see it (heard). Perhaps he quickly retreated to the room and died there. The outraged and somewhat uncontrolled soldiers kept firing at all directions, in all rooms. Except one room, all others were empty though.
“Colonel Jamil (Chief Security Officer of Mujib) died away from the house, at the roadblock (on Mirpur Road) near Sobhan Bagh. The soldiers manning the roadblock asked him not to cross the barrier. He did not heed. He became arrogant, came out of his car and started shouting at them calling names. At that point, he was fired in the head. His dead body was put back in the car, which was pushed to the driveway of Mujib’s residence. Some people say, Major Nur fired at him but I don’t think so.”
Author’s Note:
During the trial, it was said that Russel was hiding behind Mujib’s young staff member (Muhitul Islam, who lodged the FIR to police in 1996, after 21 years) when he was snatched away and killed. I doubt the truth in this story. Why would a 10-year-old leave his mother and other family members and hide behind an assistant in such a situation? Why would the mother part with the child in such a critical time? I suspect the story was cooked up to dramatize his death. Major Bazlul Huda, who was present at the Mujib’s residence during the military action, said that all the members of the Mujib family were locked inside a bedroom upstairs. They were all killed by grenade blasts. I am not aware if any inquest or forensic done after their death. If done, the report could say if the death was by bullets or grenade shrapnel.
News was also circulated that Sultana Kamal was pregnant. Perhaps, but not likely. Kamal and Sultana were married on July 14, 1975, a month before the incident. Even if she was pregnant, it was unlikely that it could be known so soon. I suspect another dramatization in the story! In fact, according to the cook at Mujib’s residence and other witnesses, Sultana fired with an automatic from the upstairs balcony at the troops, felling at least one. That infuriated the soldiers and perhaps went out of control.
Nonetheless, a death is a death, be that done at point blank or in a grenade attack. Unfortunate!
The 22 deaths perhaps saved the lives of thousands of patriots and innocents in the days to come had there not been August 15, 1975.
[1] Taken from the book A Soldier and the War Within: Post-Independence Bangladesh, Amazon, 2022.*The writer is a decorated freedom fighter from the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971. He is a prolific writer who has authored and co-authored about a dozen books.
August 21, 2023
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