Shaheed Janani Jahanara Imam, who played a leading role in the movement to bring war criminals to justice in Bangladesh, is being remembered on her 32nd death anniversary on Friday.
Born on May 3, 1929, in Sundarpur of Murshidabad district, Jahanara Imam was the daughter of Syed Abdul Ali, a deputy magistrate, and Syeda Hamida Begum.
Because of her father's profession, she studied at several educational institutions across present-day Bangladesh. She graduated with a BA from Lady Brabourne College in Kolkata in 1945 and later completed a Bachelor of Education (BEd). In 1965, she earned an MA in Bangla from the University of Dhaka as a private candidate.
Jahanara Imam began her career as a school teacher. She served as headmistress of Siddheswari Girls School in Dhaka from 1952 to 1960. A Fulbright scholar, she later pursued higher education in the United States before joining Dhaka Teachers Training College in 1966. She left the college around 1968 and became involved in social and cultural activities.
She also taught at Vidyamoyee Girls School in Mymensingh and worked as a part-time teacher at the Institute of Modern Languages of the University of Dhaka.
During the 1960s and 1970s, Jahanara Imam gained recognition for her children's literature and writings for young readers. She is best known for her diary-based book, "Ekattorer Dinguli."
During the 9 months of the 1971 Liberation War, she documented daily events, personal experiences and activities supporting the war effort in notes, loose sheets and coded writings. Published in 1986, "Ekattorer Dinguli" received widespread acclaim and remains one of the most significant firsthand accounts of Bangladesh's Liberation War.
Following Bangladesh's independence, Jahanara Imam devoted much of her time to writing. Her notable works include "Onno Jibon," "Birshreshtha," "Jibon Mrityu," "Chirayat Sahitya," "Buker Bhitore Agun," "Natoker Oboshan," "Dui Meru," "Nisshongo Pine," "Noy E Modhur Khela," "Cancer-er Songe Bosobash" and "Probasher Dinlipi."
The Liberation War profoundly shaped her life. Her eldest son, Rumi, joined the war for independence and was killed by the Pakistani military after participating in several guerrilla operations. During the war, her husband, Sharif Imam, died after falling ill without receiving treatment.
After the country's victory, Rumi's fellow freedom fighters embraced Jahanara Imam as the mother of all freedom fighters. Since then, she has been honored with the title "Shaheed Janani."
In the post-independence period, Jahanara Imam became widely known for her role in social and political movements. Although she had not been directly involved in politics, she remained active in preserving the spirit of the Liberation War and raising public awareness against the rehabilitation of anti-independence collaborators.
In 1992, she became the convener of the Ekattorer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee (committee for uprooting collaborators and killers of 1971). Responding to her call, intellectuals, cultural activists, political leaders, pro-Liberation War activists and Projonmo '71 (an organization of children of martyrs of the Liberation War) joined the movement.
With their support, she helped establish the Gono Adalat, or people's court, to symbolically try those accused of collaborating against Bangladesh's independence during the 1971 Liberation War.
Jahanara Imam died of cancer on June 26, 1994, at a hospital in United States, at the age of 65. Her body was later brought back to Dhaka, where she was laid to rest.
She continues to be remembered for her contributions to literature, the Liberation War and the movement to bring war criminals to justice in Bangladesh.