Once the clock struck 12 midnight, Bangladesh in profound respect began observing the historic Homecoming Day of the Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
Bangabandhu’s homecoming has annually been celebrated since 1972 by a grateful nation in remembrance of the sacrifices made by the Father of the Nation in his long political struggle for the liberation of the country.
On January 10, 1972, Bangabandhu returned to independent and sovereign Bangladesh following his release from Pakistani captivity after over nine and a half months of incarceration.
To mark the day,the ruling Awami League has chalked out various programs, which will start with hoisting of the national and party flags at the party’s central office and offices across the country around 6:30am, reports BSS.
Then, around 7am, Awami League leaders and activists will place wreaths at the portrait of Bangabandhu in front of Bangabandhu Bhaban in Dhanmondi, setting in motion a queue that many will join to pay their respects.
Different political, social and cultural organisations across the country will also observe the day through various programs aimed at paying heartfelt tributes to the architect of Bangladesh’s independence.
President Md Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina have issued separate messages on the occasion, paying profound homage to Bangabandhu.
Before he returned home, Bangabandhu was subjected to a secret trial before a military court in jail in Pakistan, where he had been counting the moments to the execution of the death sentence earlier pronounced on him by the Yahya Khan junta.
As the people of Bangladesh waged war against Pakistan for their freedom, Bangabandhu remained in solitary confinement in Pakistan without any access to news or any other information. A complete blackout was decreed on his whereabouts by the Pakistani junta.
The then Pakistan president, Yahya Khan, had ordered Bangabandhu’s arrest, after he proclaimed Bangladesh’s independence from his Dhanmondi home in the early hours of March 26, 1971. Taken to Dhaka cantonment, Bangabandhu was kept a prisoner there before being flown to West Pakistan.
The arrest
The Pakistani military junta, on the night of March 25, 1971, resorted to mass killings in Dhaka to prevent the Awami League from coming to power following the party’s overwhelming victory at the elections of December 1970.
During the attack, christened “Operation Searchlight,” the Pakistani forces mercilessly killed the Bengali members of the erstwhile East Pakistan Rifles and police, students, teachers, doctors, intellectuals and general people.
They also torched countless houses and properties and looted businesses, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake.
On the same night, around 1am, a team of the Pakistan army led by Col ZA Khan reached Bangabandhu’s Dhanmondi 32 residence to arrest him.
Beginning the raid, the army personnel indiscriminately opened fire as they moved towards the gate of the house, killing one policeman tasked with Bangabandhu’s security.
Locking his wife and children inside a room on the first floor of the building, Bangabandhu shouted as loudly as he could: “Do stop firing,” wrote journalist Syed Badrul Ahsan in his masterpiece book “From Rebel to Founding Father: Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.”
The US-based journalist BZ Khasru, in his book “Myths and Facts: Bangladesh Liberation War,” also said that Col ZA Khan entered the house after the firing stopped and found nobody on the ground floor. He then took the stairs to the first floor, to find Bangabandhu standing in front of a room.
Soon after, the colonel escorted Bangabandhu out of the house, after he had bidden farewell to his family.
At the time, Bangabandhu asked Col Khan why they had not informed him before carrying out the raid. In reply, Khan said: “The army wanted to show you that you can be arrested as well.”
The return
Bangabandhu went through his nine-and-a-half-month-long captivity when the Bengali nation was passing through the most critical time in its history.
Languishing in solitary confinement in Mianwali jail in West Punjab, he too was facing a testing time as a Pakistani court had sentenced him to death in November 1971.
Final victory came on December 16, 1971 and Bangabandhu was freed on January 8, 1972. From there, he flew to London. A British air force flight then took him to New Delhi the next day.
At 1:41pm on January 10, 1972, Bangabandhu finally landed on the soil of an independent Bangladesh, receiving the heartiest welcome from his grateful nation.
Thousands of people, who were eagerly waiting to see the leader since the Victory Day after the bloody war, had gathered near the then Dhaka airport in Tejgaon, flooding the adjoining roads.
Later that day, he addressed a massive rally in Dhaka.
Two days later, Bangabandhu took the oath of office as prime minister of Bangladesh.
His return was crucial in the country’s subsequent political history. It was instrumental in deepening the spirit and values of the Liberation War in the national ethos.