16 December is a constant reminder of all the sacrifices our leaders and all the people have made to give us our independence. We commemorate the writers and litterateurs who have contributed to bringing in social, cultural, and political changes. Anika Khan reports.
Shahidullah Kaiser
Born in 1927, Kaiser joined the communist party of East Pakistan after the great partition. He joined Ittefaq as a journalist in the 1950s. Shahidullah Kaiser played a huge role in the language movement of 1953, for which he went to jail for eight years. During his time in jail, Kaiser wrote a number of remarkable short stories, plays, and novels including Naam Nei, Jadu-i Halwa, Shanshaptak, and many more.
During the war of 1971, Kaiser provided rations to the freedom fighters and helped them by every means possible. He remained in the capital during the war till he was abducted and never found again.
Begum Sufia Kamal
Begum Sufia Kamal was born in Barisal to a Zamindar family. Today she is considered the pioneer of the feminist movement in our country. She was a popular poet and activist.
Sufia Kamal formed a Pakistan Mohila committee in 1948 and she continued her activism with the Language movement of 1952. During the liberation war of Bangladesh, she provided the freedom fighters with food, medicine, and shelter.
She spent her later years of her life, working for women’s emancipation. She institutionalized the largest women’s organization in Bangladesh ‘Mahila Parishad.
Abul Mansur Ahmad
Adul Mansur Ahmed was born in 1898 in Mymensingh. He was also one of the earliest proponents of Bangla to be the national language of East Pakistan.
From the beginning of 1940, he was writing extensively about the issues of the national language and contributed actively to the Language movement of 1952.
Mansur Ahmed was the founding editor of the daily Ittehad and the author of the famous 21-point manifesto for the United Front in the 1954 Pakistan election. This manifesto was a historic moment as it portrayed the economic, political, and cultural aspirations of the Bengalis who were oppressed by the Muslim Leagues in Power.
Begum Rokeya
Begum Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain stands as a name that is incomparable in the history of the women’s liberation movement. Not only did she fight against the social disabilities that put women into a vulnerable state like their rights for education, being the leaders of the society, or for contributing equally to the social system but she also tried to confront the oppressive patriarchal hegemony that existed and to an extent still exists today.
She began her literary career in 1902 and dedicated her entire life to creating a multi-racial, multi-lingual, multi-religious India where justice and equality could prevail.
Being a woman with sensibilities ahead of her time, Begum Rokeya Sakhawat’s contribution is irreplaceable in the history of Bengal holding posthumous social influence even today.
Archer Kent Blood
One of the American leaders who played an important role in the 1971 liberation war of Bangladesh is Archer Kent Blood.
On 25 March 1971, when the Pakistani Army carried out a planned military pacification to curb the Bengali independence movement, they made sure to deport all foreign journalists from East Pakistan. This was done so that the news of the genocide wouldn’t reach international media.
It was Archer Kent Blood who sent a series of dissent cables to Washington awakening the western media about the dire situation the country was in.
