Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra, Kalurghat--1971
mbho...@aardvark.ou.edu
Introductory note :
The following article was given to me for making it available
to SCB readers. It is written by Mr Moslem Khan, a retired
Radio Engineer, who was employed at Kalurghat Radio Station
during March, 1971. The author narrated his personal
experience during the early days of our liberation war--
in particular related to radio broadcast of the declaration
of independence.
I am not responsible for the contents of the article.
However, I should be held responsible for
any misrepresentation/error due to English rendition.
Bilayet Hossain.
* The Letter from Mr Moslem Khan :
Dear Sir,
This is to inform you that I am a retired officer of
Bangladesh Radio. In 1971, I was employed as an Engineer
of Radio Pakistan. I retired from Radio Bangladesh in 1988.
I actively participated in the setting up of the
initial Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra. For historical record,
I have compiled some of the facts that I have seen or known
about the birth of Swadhin Bangla Betar.
I hope you would oblige me by publishing this .
Sincerely yours,
Moslem Khan
390/465 Shulkabahar
Chawkbazar, Chittagong.
HOW SWADHIN BANGLA BETAR KENDRA STARTED
By MOSLEM KHAN
In absence of any detail reporting of how the Declaration of
Independence was broadcast from the Chittagong Kalurghat Transmission
Station on the 26th of March, 1971, many historical events remained
in obscurity. With the sacred responsibility that history projects
the real truths, I, as one of the participants of the Swadhin Bangla
Betar Kendra of March 26th, 1971, am advancing the following facts.
I woke up around 4 a.m. on the morning of 26th March by the loud
slogans from the streets. The slogan was, " Jago, Bangali, Jago---
Bangabandhu Swadhinatar goshona dieyechhe ". Curious, I came out on the
street. As I advanced a few blocks, I could see some Bengali jawans
of the army--were going round the Katalganj residential area giving
out various slogans. Many people like me came out on the street
and were curious to find out what was happening. We came to learn
from the jawans that the Pak Army suddenly attacked the
Bengali soldiers around 10 o'clock last night and killed many---and
others have escaped. Even after that not many people showed any support
to the soldiers, as there was no national declaration on independence.
The jawans then marched along the Arakan Road.
I came back home and decided to listen to Radio. I put my set
on around 6-30 a.m. I heard the relayed program from Dhaka, instead
of the usual local programmes from Chittagong. I became curious.
The program was that of Radio Pakistan and the transmission was of
low quality ( very faint). Around 8-30 a.m. this relay program
went out of the air. Within a short time, my colleague
and Radio Engineer,Mr Delwar Hossain, who was in the Kalurghat Station
during the morning shift, came to my house. He told me, quite bewildred,
how he transmitted the Dhaka programmes when he did not receive
any communication from the control room of the Agrabad Betar Bhavan
( as a part of our regulation). He also told me that he was asked
over the telephone by the Awami League office to transmit Bangabandhu
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's Declaration of Independence, which reads :
" Tonight around 12 a.m., the barbaric Pak Army suddenly attacked
Peelkhana & Rajarbagh Police Line---lacs of Bengali have become
shaheeds. The war is on. In this situation, I am declaring the
independence of Bangladesh and asking cooperation & help from all the
freedom loving countries of the world. Joy Bangla."
He also informed me that as he could not take a decision, he shut
down the station and came home. He wanted my advice. I told him
the enginners should not take the decision what to transmit. This
is the duty of the programme division, and engineers duty is to
transmit. Besides we should consult with the regional head
engineer. It was around 10 a.m. Delwar Saheb finally went home.
I again got out of the house, to assess the public mood. While going
around Chawkbazar & Badurtala, I found people crowding together,
discussing about independence. I came back towards my residence,
and engaged in discussions with one such group near my house.
It was around 12 noon. Suddenly, a microbus came near us and stopped.
I saw our regional chief engineer Janab Mirza Nasiruddin Saheb
raising his hand to greet me. Beside the regional enginner Mr
Nasiruddin, there were Radio Engineer Mr Abdus Sobhan and
Zilla Awami Leaguye President Mr M. A. Hannan inside the microbus.
They all came out of the microbus, and Nasiruddin Saheb told me
that they are going to the Kalurghat Transmission center to broadcast
Bangabandhu's declaration of independence. He told me further,
" You dont have to go now. But in the subsequent programmes,
you have to fully cooperate with the Awami League workers."
He introduced me to Mr Hannan by saying, " He is our experienced
engineer. You will get cooperation from him from now on. I will
not go to transmitting station any more." He informed me that
on the way he would pick up engineer Delwar Hossain from his
Badurtala residence. Later on I came to know he did pick up Delwar
Hossain.
I came back home, and put my radio on to listen to that declaration.
Time was around 1-10 p.m. or so. I heard Mr Hannan's voice,
"Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra thekey ami Bangabandhu Sheikh Muji-
bur Rahmaner ek jarury ghoshona pat(h) korchhi."--With that
he read the entire text of Bangabandhu's message quoted earlier.
The whole thing took about some 4 minutes. After this I heard
the closing noise of the transmission. That 4-minute broadcast
was transmitted through the 10KW transmitter, and I heard the
broadcast clearly.
In the afternoon, the renowned playright Mr Mahbub Hasan and
Belal Mohammed came to my residence. As they could not find me
at my place, -- following my wife's suggestion they came to
Delwar Hossain Saheb's residence at Badurtala. It was probably
around 3-30 p.m. I knew Mr Mahbub Hasan intimately, but I never
met Mr Belal Mohammed before. Mr Mahbub introduced me to Belal
Mohammed. Both of them told me that the regional Engineer Mr
Mirza Nasiruddin has sent them to me to open the radio transmission
center. It should me mentioned here that neither Mr. Mahbub Hasan
nor Mr Belal Mohammed was a regular staff of the Radio Station. Yet I
trusted them and went to the Transmitter. When I went there--
I found that things were not organized for any broadcasting.
Still I followed their direction and started the transmission
center, and put on the regular cue. Then Mr Mahbub Hasan and
Belal Mohammed went out in a car to gather the participants for the
broadcast--leaving me alone in the center. In the meantime,
the regional engineer Mr Mirza Nasiruddin called me at the
transmission center, and wanted to know why did I put the
transmitter on without his permission. When I told him about
Mr Mahbub Hasan & Belal Mohammed, he told me that no one contacted
him. He also told me that because of the 1-10 p.m.'s broadcast
of Bangabandhu's declaration, he was charged for treason by the
higher authority. He asked me to shut down the transmitter.
I also found out from a radio receiver that Dhaka Radio is
contnuing its broadcast with regular Radio Pakistan programmes.
It may be mentioned in this context that since Mr Mahbub Hasan
and Belal Mohammed left to look for artists, there was no trace
of them. Considering my security, I finally decided to take a
rickshaw and go home.
After I have gone a little distance,
( near the present Wasa office)--I saw Mr Belal Mohammed and another
gentleman( later on I came to know--it was Dr Anwar Ali). Mr.
Belal asked me to go back to the transmitter. I went back to the
transmitter. In the meantime, Mr Belal brought a few participants.
He then contacted over the phone to the president of Zilla
Awami League, Mr. M. A. Hannan. Within minutes, Mr. Hannan came to
the Station. Mr Hannan and I then called our regional enginner
Mr. Mirza Nasiruddin seeking his permission to start the
transmitter. He refused to give permission, and told me I can
put the transmitter 'on'--only on my own responsibility.
Thereafter, I put on the 10KW-powered transmitter taking the
full responsibility around 7-30 p.m.
First, an announcer gave the station call for Swadhin Bangla Biplobi
Betar Kendra, then Mr. Hannan read Bangbandhu Shekh Mujibur Rahman's
Declaration of Independence again, and poet Abdus Salam read a
piece on Independence. The second program of Swadhin Bangla
Betar Kendrer was ended with a patriotic song. This second
program lasted about 15 minutes. After that I shut down the
transmitter and went home by a rickshaw.
That night( 26th March) there was heavy shelling from the Pakistani
warship Babar. None of us could sleep the whole night because of the
frightening noise of shelling. In the morning of 27th March, people
started leaving their city residence for the village. As our house
was close to the highway and near the shortest connecting road to
Arakan Road---my wife has been asking me to live the place for our
village home. My children--who were all frightened by the shelling
the night before--also started crying.
I went out to see the situation in the city. One could here
Tikka Khan's statement from the Radio in the stores --broadcast
from Dhaka Radio. Under those conditions, I decided to leave
for the villages.
That morning ( 27th March), around 10 a.m., the mechanic of our
office, Mr Abdus Sukkur came to my residence. He informed me that
the Assistant Regional Director, Mr. Abdul Mannan ( who was a
Bihari) told him over the telephone to ask me to broadcast Tikka
Khan's speech. I refused to comply with that proposal. Around
that time, the general secretary of Chittagong Zilla Awami League,
Mr. Abdul Mannan accompanied by radio engineer Delwar saheb came
to my residence, and asked both of us to start Swadhin Bangla Betar
Kendra again.
I told him about the location of my house and about the conditions
of my children. He then asked Mr. Delwar to accompany him, but
Mr. Delwar refused to go there without me. I then asked mechanic
Mr. Abdus Sukkur to help start the transmitter. He agreed to my
suggestion. Mr. Mannan left for the transmitter station with
Mr. Sukkur. In this manner, the 10KW transmitter of Swadhin Bangla
Betar Kendra was started at 10-30 a.m. on the 27th of March.
Through this programme, the people were encouraged to join the
war,--and prepare for the war--
they were asked to collect arms from the Laldighi Maidan--
how to protect themselves from the enemy by using chilli powder-
and how to prevent fire etc. The programme continued for an hour,
and was totally managed by the AL workers.
For better security, I made preparation to go to my village home.
But at that time it was difficult to find a car. After many attempts,
I finally got a car from one of our relatives---and I moved
my entire family to the Chandgaon residence of our mechanic,
Mr. Sukkur. On the way, I saw that Major Ziaur Rahman has set up
a full-scale armed guard around the transmitter station to secure
it. That night ( 27th March) around 7 p.m., in a broadcast, Ziaur
Rahman introduced himself as the Chief of Liberation Army and call
on the people to join the war. Beside that, he also instructed
people how to protect themselves from the enemy--by moving at least
three people at a time---and not to approach any strangers. That
progamme lasted about an hour, and mechanic Mr. Sukkur operated
the transmitter. I heard the entire programme through a receiver
sitting at Mr Sukkur's house.
Ziaur Rahman's introduction of himself
as the Chief of Staff of Liberation Army in that night's broadcast
was protested on behalf of the Awami League. Because--that
declaration had no political content. The whole affair appeared
to be a uprising by the armed forces. Whereas, the spirit of
seventyone had a political perspective in which the great
majority of the people were involved. Accepting this reality,
the next morning Ziaur Rahman gave a declaration on behalf
of Bangabandhu Shekh Mujibur Rahman, the entire content of
which I quote here :
" The Government of the sovereign state of Bangladesh on behalf
of our great leader, the Supreme Commander of Bangladesh Sheikh
Mujibur Rahman, we hereby proclaim the independence of Bangladesh
and that the government headed by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman has
already been formed. It is further proclaimed that Sheikh Mujibur
Rahman is the sole leader of the elected representatives of
seventyfive million people of Bangladesh and the government
headed by him is the only legitimate govt. of the people
of the independent sovereign state of Bangladesh which is legally
and constitutionally formed and is worthy of being recognised by
all the governments of the world. I, therefore, appeal on
behalf of our great leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to the
governments of all the democratic countries in the world,
specially the big power and the neighbouring countries to
recognise the legal govt. of Bangladesh and take effective
steps to stop immediately the awful genocide that has been
carried on by the army of occupation from Pakistan. The
guiding principle of a new state will be first neutrality,
second peace and third friendship towards all and enmity
to none. May Allah help us, Joy Bangla."
This way the broadcast from Swadhin Bangla Betar with the help of
the 10KW transmitter continued till 30th March, 1971. It ended
around 1 p.m. on the 30th March, when the Pakistani fighter plane
bombed near the transmitting station --snapping the cables.
That is how the broadcast of programmes from the 10KW Kalurghat
tramsmitting station came to its end.
After this, the Pakistani Army took control of the 10KW transmitter.
There was also a 1KW transmitter at Kalurghat. Some activist
workers of the Radio Bangladesh took this transmitter to Patiya
on the 31st of March. At that time I was staying at my village
residence along with my family. My village home is in the village
of Oshakhain in Anwara Thana. The radio workers asked my help
to set up this transmitter in Patiya Madrassa--as none of them
had any experience to set up a transmitter. I reasoned with
them that the people in the Madrassa are generally pro-Pakistani,
and opposed to liberation. Before the Pak army, the people
of the Madrassa will destroy the transmitter and possibly kill
us all. Besides, Patiya was close to Chittagong City and has
easy access by road. The Radio Station of the liberation war
should be located in a remote place. I advised them to go near
the Indian border and set up the station. It may be mentioned
here that within a few days the Pakistanis bombed the area where
the radio workers were planning to set up the station.
Conclusion : Till now there have been no effort on the part of the
govt. to immemorialise the place from where the declaration
of independence was first broadcast. However, after independence,
on the 26th of March, 1973, Mr. M. A. Hannan, the President
of Chittagong Zilla Awami League, organized a ceremony to
remember the occassion. Many distinguished social and political
leaders attended this function. He planted a 'krishnachurha'
tree in memory of the occassion. The tree was given the name,
"Mukti Toru". That tree is still alive.
The 10KW transmitter that was used to broadcast the first
declaration of independence, is still lying unused in the
Kalurghat transmitter building. I feel that this 10KW transmitter
should be kept in the National Museum as a momento of
Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra.
sd/ Moslem Khan.
brao
In article <1998Mar31...@aardvark.ou.edu>,
<mbho...@aardvark.ou.edu> wrote:
* Introductory note :
* The following article was given to me for making it available
* to SCB readers. It is written by Mr Moslem Khan, a retired
* Radio Engineer, who was employed at Kalurghat Radio Station
* during March, 1971. The author narrated his personal
* experience during the early days of our liberation war--
* in particular related to radio broadcast of the declaration
* of independence.
* I am not responsible for the contents of the article.
* However, I should be held responsible for
* any misrepresentation/error due to English rendition.
*
* Bilayet Hossain.
What a stirring account, more so because of its matter-of-fact
professional tone. Moslem Khan is a true hero, yet modest and hardly
conscious of anything extraordinary on his part.
My personal views.
Bapa Rao
anatul...@gmail.com
Bangabandhu then told me that on the night of 25 March the main phone line at his home was cut. But there was a second phone line about which the Pakistanis did not (yet) know. He used this to send a message declaring independence.
I did not ask Mujib any further details, as I was content with his reply and had no idea that one day the topic rather would become contentious. But from the wording he used with me it was clear that this call by Bangabandhu was by way of the dictation of a message rather than a phone conversation.
Anatul Fateh
