In 2017, I was fortunate enough to participate in the ‘Freedom Fighters Reception and Victory Day Celebrations’ held in Kolkata, India as a member of the Bangladesh Delegation.
One of the highlights of the three-day event was a visit to the Fort William Eastern Command Museum. Collected here are pictures of various wars that took place in India, collection of weapons and all rare documents.
As soon as I stepped into the Bangladesh section of the museum, my eyes were caught in a picture of the officers standing in the open order formation in the parade of the first war course of Bangladesh. Standing on the far left of the front row of the picture is a young officer, a large pair of mustaches, stylish black framed glasses, lean body and a confident look. He is none other than Captain Sheikh Kamal, the eldest son of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. The image of the handsome young officer is still etched in my mind. Also in the picture were Ayakizzaman, Niranjan, Abul Hossain, Didar, Moin, Samad, Firu, Azizul, Kamrul Sir and 61 vigilant army officers commissioned in the Bangladesh First War Course.
Captain Sheikh Kamal was an enterprising, creative and lively army officer who was commissioned in the Bangladesh Army for training at the Siliguri Murti Camp in India during the War of Liberation.
As he took up arms in the war of liberation, he left exemplary examples in music, drama, sports, social work, "An Officer Leading from the Front". I brought up some unknown things about him.
Sheikh Kamal, the eldest son of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, was born on August 5, 1949 in Tungipara, Gopalganj. He passed secondary from Shaheen School in Dhaka and higher secondary from Dhaka College. From his childhood, he was very enthusiastic in various sports including football, cricket, hockey and basketball. He was a student of the setar instrument department of 'Chayanat'. Was the stage drama organizer. He formed 'Spondon Shilpi Gosthi' with his friends. He was an actor and one of the founders of Dhaka Theater. He later passed BA (Honors) from the Department of Social Sciences, Dhaka University.
This Sheikh Kamal was endowed with the talent of ‘Officer Like Qualities’. His officer's cheap qualities were easily noticed. But Sheikh Kamal wanted to be a representative of an independent country, so after graduating from high school, when the Pakistan Army recruit team gave a presentation to the meritorious students by showing various false temptations, Sheikh Kamal humbly and confidently recruited the Pakistani army in East and West Pakistan. He raised the question. The delegation did not have the answer to that question. But since then, Sheikh Kamal has been in the spotlight of Pakistani intelligence.
Sheikh Kamal played a special role as a student organizer in the mass uprising of 1969. From then on, Sheikh Kamal, the legacy of Bangabandhu's politics and blood, continued to mobilize students and youth for the war of liberation. Under the direction of Lt. Col. Shawkat Ali (former Deputy Speaker), one of the accused in the Agartala conspiracy case, Sheikh Kamal and Tanvir Islam Tanna started imparting night-time combat training at the Dhanmondi Institute of Physical Education. After Bangabandhu's speech on March 7, that training continued in public. Sheikh Kamal's resistance was broken when the Pakistan Army launched Operation Search Light on March 25 night, 1971. He already knew the plans of Bangabandhu's provisional government, so he left Dhaka with his companions for India. He entered India through the Satkhira border. The first officer of Bangladesh passed the preliminary and physical examination for the War Course by the Bangladesh Provisional Government of Calcutta. The beginning is the military life of Cadet Kamal.
As per the agreement between the Provisional Government of Bangladesh and the Government of India, the Officer Training Center of the Bangladesh Army has been set up at the Murti Camp in Jalpaiguri, India, and the officer training of Bangladesh War Course-1 has started. Brigadier T. Day Yashwai of the Indian Army was the Commandant of the Training Center and Colonel Das Gupta was the Chief Instructor. Cadet Kamal was the morale of this course of 61 people. The Murti camp was in a remote area in the dense forest, in this rain-soaked camp mosquitoes, flies, jokes were commonplace, there was often a panic of tigers or wild elephants. Cadet Kamal used to remove all the complaints and fatigue of the trainees with the difficulty of eating and living, rigorous training. He kept the whole group mesmerized with liberation songs, poems or stories; he knew how to keep the team alive. Cadet Kamal knew good English so he built a bridge between Indian trainers and local trainees. After successful training, 61 cadets of the first Bangladesh War Course including Sheikh Kamal got commissioned. On October 9, 1971, the first commission of officers of the Bangladesh Army was formed through the Passing Out Parade. In the passing out parade Sheikh Kamal expressed his ambition for the training results. The curriculum of Bangladesh War Course-2 was also fixed on the basis of his course report. The commissioned officers participated directly in the war in various sectors as lieutenants. In the meantime, a panel was formed for the sensitive appointment, and the Provisional Government of Bangladesh appointed Lieutenant Kamal as the ADC of General Osmani, the Commander-in-Chief of the Liberation War. Captain Sheikh Kamal played a heroic role in the great liberation war of 1971.
"Freedom flags are flying in all directions, freedom fighters are raising their voices, the day of martyrdom is gone and everyone will be Ghazi today." After the independence of the country, Sheikh Kamal voluntarily left the army and concentrated on studying at Dhaka University again. But ‘Once a Soldier, Always a Soldier’. Sheikh Kamal was also a deep patriot in his civil life. His patriotism and creativity seem to be even stronger in military training
He resumed his studies in the Department of Social Sciences, Dhaka University. He became a member of the Central Committee of the Jatiya Chhatra League, an affiliate of the Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Awami League.
Sheikh Kamal was a socially conscious leader. He noticed that the defeated forces of '71 were uniting and leading the students astray. He turned his attention to sports to get the youth back from that situation. Sheikh Kamal introduced modern football in the country through the establishment of Abahani Sports Club. He appointed the first foreign football coach, Bill Hart, to Abahani. In 1973, the club was far away, there was no foreign coach for the national team in this subcontinent. Sheikh Kamal revolutionized football in the entire subcontinent.
Cricket was also his favorite; he used to bowl fast. Sheikh Kamal played for Azad Sporting Club in the first division league at that time. Under his leadership, the basketball team at Dhaka University was unrivaled.
This man could not stand the news of the flood in 1974, so he jumped on the bandwagon with the leaders and activists of political and socio-cultural organizations.
On 14 July 1975, Sheikh Kamal married Sultana Khuku, a student of the Department of Sociology, Dhaka University. She was martyred by the assassins of Zia-Mustaq on the terrible night of August 15, 1975, without removing the color of Mehdi from her hand. And that night Sheikh Kamal also made the first resistance against the killers. And so the first bullet hit him in the chest, he was the first martyr. At just 26 years old, we lost a potential youth icon, freedom fighter Captain Sheikh Kamal.
Today, on his birthday, I pay my deep respects to his memory, "Salute Captain Kamal."