By Sujit Chakraborty
Agartala(IANS) : Thirty-six years after Bangladeshi liberation war hero Hamidur Rahman was buried in Tripura, Dhaka has decided to take back the remains of the dead soldier to pay homage.
Rahman is one of the seven warriors who were posthumously conferred the Bir Shreshtha (greatest hero), Bangladesh’s highest gallantry award, for their role in the country’s 1971 war of independence.
Rahman was buried in Tripura’s Hatimarachara town in Dhalai district, 125 km north of state capital Agartala.
A five-member delegation led by Mohammad Humayun Kabir Khan, joint secretary of Bangladesh’s Liberation War Affairs Ministry, finalised formalities with the Tripura government for taking back Rahman’s remains. The Bangladeshi team is currently in Agartala on a three-day visit.
In April 1971, Rahman single-handedly launched an attack on a base camp of Pakistan’s 39th Frontier Force near Paharmura, about 145 km from here. Rahman had just two hand grenades – still, he demolished two tanks before being killed.
Rahman — a member of the then 1st East Bengal regiment of the Mukti Bahini (liberation force) — died at the age of 17 years and four months to become the youngest Bir Shreshtha.
“About a hundred soldiers of the first Bengal regiment were killed while trying to capture the Pakistani army base,” Lt. Col. (Retd.) Sajjad Ali Zahir, a member of the visiting delegation, told IANS.
“Rahman’s body was brought to Hatimarachara, 40 km inside India, by one Rehaman Mian and given a proper Muslim burial,” he added.
The Bangladesh government, freedom fighters and family members of the martyrs have urged New Delhi to allow the remains of the dead soldier to be brought back to their country.
“We are ready to provide all necessary assistance to recover Rahman’s remains. The Bangladesh delegation visited the burial site Tuesday,” Dhalai district magistrate B.B. Das told IANS.
“We want to take back the remains of Rahman in the first week of December ahead of the 37th Bijoy Dibas (victory day) celebration of the Bangladesh liberation war on Dec 16,” Zahir said.
Zahir was a second lieutenant of the Pakistani Army and deserted his post adjoining the Indian border in Kashmir before participating in the Bangladesh liberation war.
Last year, Bangladesh took back the remains of another gallantry award recipient, Flt. Lt. Motiur Rahman, from Pakistan. He was reburied at the Martyred Intellectuals Graveyard at Mirpur in Dhaka with full state honours.
Motiur took off on a T-33 aircraft from a West Pakistan airbase to flee to India and join Bangladesh’s war of liberation at the early stage of the 1971 war. He was killed when his jet crashed near the India-Pakistan border.
The Bangladesh liberation force supported by the Indian Army had set up hundreds of base camps along the India-East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) border with Tripura.
“We are sincerely grateful to the Indian and Tripura governments and its people for providing shelter to two million Bangladeshi refugees during the liberation war,” Zahir said.