Recollecting SK. Kamal's attempt of bank robbery...

[Shamim A. Khandekar]

It was in Feb. of 1972 when I had my first and last interaction with
Sk.Kamal. It was on the basketball court beside Mohammad Ali Boxing
Stadium at the old Dhaka Stadium. I was leading a basketball team from the
National Coaching Centre. The other teams were also practising at that
court to get famialiarized with it, as the tournaments were played there.
One of the teams was the Spurs, at that time a reputable team among the
basketball fans. Sk. Kamal, the son of BB was also a member of that team.
As such, that team at that time had a special look. I found him arriving
at the court with his friends in a fancy sports car.

Our team, though, belonged to a Govt. organization; we were fortunate
to have a new basketball. That drew the attention of the other players. As
a leader of the team, I was authorized to use it only during our team
participation. The scenario at the court was a little confusing. All the
teams did not have a fair opportunity to practice. As a new team, we had
to leave the court after a little warm up. Therefore, we were not happy
with the deal that we recieved. Then, I noticed that Sk. Kamal was asking
his friends to ask me whether I could let their team use our new ball.
When his friends made the request to me I had to remind them of our team
policy. After a little bit of arguing and finding my stubborness, they
left unhappily.

Then, in 1974, I was a 2nd yr. student of Dhaka Medical College. In the
morning, I arrived there to attend my classes. I heard the news that Sk.
Kamal had been hospitalized at the DMCH with a bullet injury. He narrowly
escaped death, as the bullet lacerated his neck vessels. The story going
around for the cause of this bullet injury was that, in the middle of the
night, he and his friends were in a microbus and they went to commit a
bank robbery at the Motijheel Commercial area. The plain-clothed security
forces found them suspicious and challenged the microbus. The microbus
was chased for sometime by the security officers and was fired upon when
it refused to stop.

I am sure the Home Ministry has removed this whole incident from the
record at BB's instructions. This incident must have made BB realise that
if the neck vessels of SkK could be repaired by the surgeons of DMCH, then
his gallbladder surgery was also possible in BD. At the time he made the
trip to UK for his surgery, there was a famine-like condition throughout
BD. The cry of the beggars "...ammago!!.. bhater phanta amar jonno
rayykkha dien..." may not have reached the Road No.32 of Dhanmondi Res.
area but it does remind me of those shameful days. BB out of euphoria
tried to prove his allegiance to his masters in New Delhi by opening the
borders of BD. It was during this period, Indira Congress for the first
time in 30yrs could win in the West Bengal elections.

As my two kids get older and become inquisitive about the BD history,
should I have to hide the fact that, there was a time in our history when
our head of the state and a bank robber slept under the same roof !!!

[M. Shakil Quayes]

I would like to make two observations

1. I always was lead to believe [according to other people's observations]
that Sk Kamal was fairly arrogant and got what he wanted. According to
your encounter with him he seems to be a nice person backing off in trying
to get the new ball since it was government porperty. Thank you for
correcting my misconception about him.

2. I thought I would finally get a first hand [or in the least second
hand] account of what was teh real cause of his injuries. Too bad your
source as no better than any of our sources [heresay/rumour]. Everyone
knows that he was injured. Why, how and where, those are the unanswered
questions.

The heading of the post is quite misleading indeed.

[Shomir]

Khandekar Saheb:

You have cleverly let all the readers of the NG know that you are a medical
professional (at least you attended a medical institution through year 2, but
that is a secondary issue. You have no grounds to make the assessment that Sk.
Kamal was a bank robber. You yourself posted that "The story going around for
the cause of this bullet injury......" . Now being an educated person (or so I
assume), how do you justify slandering the good name of someone, based on a
rumor and innuendo? You also left no doubt in our minds that you did not like
either BB or his role as the father of the nation. So what is your credibility
in posting such a here say? I will say this, please refrain from ignoring
history, and for heavens sake leave BB alone. As far as I am concerned, you
are not even his fart's worth!!

Shomir.

==============================

"Shamim A. Khandekar" wrote:

> It was in Feb. of 1972 when I had my first and last interaction with
> Sk.Kamal. It was on the basketball court beside Mohammad Ali Boxing
> Stadium at the old Dhaka Stadium. I was leading a basketball team from the
> National Coaching Centre. The other teams were also practising at that
> court to get famialiarized with it, as the tournaments were played there.

rest deleted to save space....

[Shamim A. Khandekar]

> for heavens sake leave BB alone.

Thank you for your reply. I have voted him twice....

> his role as the father of the nation

If this is true, then, don't you think he is accountable of his actions to
BDs !!!

[Shamim A. Khandekar]

> Why, how and where, those are the unanswered
> questions.

Assalamoalikum. Thank you for your reply. I am glad that at least you
believe this much....

[Jaffor Ullah]

Mr. Khandekar,

Bangladesh has myriad problems as you know very well. Why not share your
ideas with others as to-- how well can we help our motherland come out of
the ruts? Instead, you've started a personal jihad against Sheikh Mujib and
his family members. Tell me please, how this is going to help Bangladesh to
solve her problem.

I am not particularly fond of Sheikh Mujib or any of his family member, but
that does not mean I have to be involved in spreading hate against him or
his family members. Your "erudite" writing is not going to change anything
regarding Sheikh Mujib's place in Bangladesh's history.

Smart people discuss ideas. Little people talk about other people. Won't
it be better if you would refrain from discussing personal stuff about
others? Prove your worth in the newsgroup by writing serious stuff. Be
forward-looking and tell us how would you like to see Bangladesh prosper.
Make some positive contribution, please!

[SEJamil]

It is amazing how innuendos can sometimes determine the fate of a nation. Socio
cultural Bangladesh forum, although does not seem to be what it was meant to
be, still, a lot of people from Bangladesh browse through it, including,
obviously this one. Mr. Khanekjer has figured that out well. He is on a
disinformation campaign here to 'assasinate' a dead man. Sheik Kamal was not
the perfect man after 1971, but the examples that Mr. K brings here to prove
irrelevent points is amazing. It is almost silly to try to refute the
basketball incident. Incidentally, I read this piece somewhere else couple of
years ago.The summary of that story: a disgruntled Sheik Kamal with someone
else's posh car left like a 'chicken'. What kind of conclusion are we supposed
to draw from this and what kind of 'naive' will put this on the Internet to
enlighten us on the behaviour of a "monster"? Then the incident of Sheik Kamal
getting a bullet through his throat. A guy that was the son of Sheik Mujib did
not need to rob Bangladesh Bank to be cash rich. Any stupid can understand
that. All he had to do is to blackmail a few collaborators to get that money.
It is only a naive and guillable mind that will buy the story that he was out
there to rob Bangladesh Bank.

It probably will be a good idea for Mr. K to come up with some credible stories
to 'assasinate' dead Kamal. Whatever he is upto here to justify the atrocities
of 15th August (a cowardly act by the murderers) is not sell worthy. It is pure
junk. Sheik Kamal, as far as I know, falls into the catetgory of those people
that naively weilded power, but too many stories about him are really, simply,
what it is supposed to be -- "stories". At the extreme, even if he did wrong,
nobody has the right to murder him before a trial and butcher his innocent
pregnant wife with immunity. That has to be clear to Mr. K before he comes up
with another incredibly stupid story.

The ulterior motive of Mr. K to justify and come in a disguise to defend the
murdereres in a roundabout way is foolish. The destiny of the conniving ones is
kind of sealed. Sheik Mujib may not have been a smart one in taking the proper
helm of Bangladesh after 1971, but the murderers bite his bait of seeking
martyrdom, and in the process made sure that sooner or later these guys are
fallen into the categories of traitors.

[Mijanur Rahman]

IT IS the same-old myth recycled by detractors to undermine the image
of BB and his family. While history has offered him an indelible place,
this sort of indictment hardly serves its desired purpose. Only those
people who do not love Bangladesh and its independent entity resort to
such malafide tactic to tarnish Bangladesh and its glorious birth. They
do it with one single objective -- if BB can be portrayed as bad, his
very creation, Bangladresh, is also bad.

Shamim A. Khandekar wrote:
>
> It was in Feb. of 1972 when I had my first and last interaction with
> Sk.Kamal. It was on the basketball court beside Mohammad Ali Boxing
> Stadium at the old Dhaka Stadium. I was leading a basketball team from the
> National Coaching Centre. The other teams were also practising at that
> court to get famialiarized with it, as the tournaments were played there.

[mhz...@my-deja.com]

I say Amen to Dr. Jaffor Ullah's comments. I will also seek
Dr. Jaffor Ullah's indulgence to quote exactly the chinese proverb
he apparently alludes to.

Dr. M. Harun uz Zaman
The Ohio State University

"Great people discuss ideas.
Average people discuss events.
Little people discuss people."

- Ancient Chinese proverb

In article <zzow3.1524$sR6....@news2.mia>,

--
M. Harun uz Zaman, Ph.D.
The Ohio State University

Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Share what you know. Learn what you don't.

[Shamim A. Khandekar]

> > I am not particularly fond of Sheikh Mujib or any of his family
> member, but
> > that does not mean I have to be involved in spreading hate against him
> or
> > his family members. Your "erudite" writing is not going to change
> anything
> > regarding Sheikh Mujib's place in Bangladesh's history.

Assalamoalikum. Thank you for your mail. When I see 'BB SMR' worshippers
distorting the history of BD, calling him 'Father of Nation' in the tune
of his PM daughter that irritates me a lot. It reminds me of the past.

> spreading hate against him
> > or
> > > his family members

Why should hate him ?? I have voted BB SMR twice. He was hired by the
people to do certain job. He miserably failed...came to power through
democracy but betrayed it and became a dictator. Will it be wrong to call
him 'a successful rebel but a failed administartor' ???

> Your "erudite" writing is not going to change
> > anything
> > > regarding Sheikh Mujib's place in Bangladesh's history.

Don't you think recollecting the past will produce better leadership for
BD in future ???

> Smart people discuss ideas. Little people talk about other people.
Won't
> it be better if you would refrain from discussing personal stuff about
> others? Prove your worth in the newsgroup by writing serious stuff.
Be
> forward-looking and tell us how would you like to see Bangladesh
prosper.
> Make some positive contribution, please!

I have high regard for your highly publicised 'Ph.D' and am sure you will
continue to enrich the soc.culture.bangladesh in future. At the same time,
the common readers of soc.culture.bangladesh who may not like to brag
about their degrees but at least have that little intelligence to judge a
posting whether it reflects any intellectual honesty or dis-honesty !!!!!

[moee...@gmail.com]

We may never know what did really happen. But lack of clear explanation about the injury by BB and Co. is suspect. So is explanation like this ( which does not hold water or even somewhat laughable) : "An adverse condition was prevailing in the country at that moment. He was patrolling the bank area in microbus with some friends. A vehicle carrying policemen was also patrolling the same area. People from both the vehicles suspected one another as robbers. They started chasing one another," Dr Farash Uddin said.

This discussion would be of little or no significance if the family Kamal comes from hasn't been shaping our nation to this day. The idea of gathering knowing of this family's past, with clarity, good and bad, is a good one to put things in perspective and hence help BD people decide how much of a shaping of he nation by this family is appropriate. And this approach should not be applied differently to any similarly influential family, e.g Zia/Khaleda. Our lack of putting things in perspective based on facts would be as flawed.

Don't get me wrong. With pragmatism in mind, I have cheering the opposition in every election since the fall of Ershad, even though I detest a lot of these families while giving them credit where it's due, because we don't have a better choice yet.

[moee...@gmail.com]

Here is the link of suspect Alibi: http://www.bssnews.net/newsDetails.php?cat=0&id=433328$date=2014-08-30&dateCurrent=2014-09-03

[tafr...@gmail.com]

On Sunday, August 22, 1999 at 2:00:00 AM UTC-5, Shamim A. Khandekar wrote:
Please tell me why they did not stop their micro bus when the security force asked them to. Only the criminals will try to escape from the police force. I respect Bongo Bondhu and I am proud for what he did for our country. It is a shame that the country could not protect their Father of the nation.

At the same time it was true that Sheikh Kamal was not the best of his father's sons. That Sheikh Kamal should have been brought to justice, rather not had been protected by his father, The President of the country. As a father Sheikh Mujib might try to protect his Son, but a righteous ruler is above these relationships.