Day 4 in Dhaka

Jan 14, 2012

Today was the last day of Biswa Ijtema. It is estimated that about 5 million people will attend the prayer at the end of the congregation. Tongi, the place where Bishwa Ijtema takes place is about 5 km from my house. Since early morning I saw trains full of people, even on the rooftops going towards Tongi. And thousands on foot.

I had scheduled to interview Mr. Ahmad Ilias at 11 AM today. Eventhough he lives only about 3 km away, I was told that it'd be almost impossible to meet him as the police have closed all roads and there is no means of transportation. The roads are only for pedestrians, who are headed for the Bishwa Ijtema. I did not quite believe them. So, my father and I started walking towards to main road. Nothing but a few rickshaws were on the local streets. We took 2 Rickshaws, walked and finally reached his house.


Sea of people headed towards Tongi, Bishwa Ijtema. The road on the opposite side is kept empty for the VIP cars

Ahmad Ilias is a Urdu speaking poet, journalist, human rights activist and a migrant in Bangladesh. He was born in Calcutta and migrated to E. Pakistan in 1953. The first years were full of struggles. But eventually he established himself as a journalist in Dhaka. However, after 1971, he along with many other Urdu speakers were mistreated with the suspision that they were against the liberation of Bangladesh. Mr. Ahmad was greatly disappointed and was forced to move to India. However, he and his family were not welcome there either. So, he moved back to Dhaka again in 1973. Today Mr. Ilias is the esecutive director of Al-Falah Bangladesh. Al-Falah is a non-governmental, non-profit, development and welfare organization. It was formed in1981 in Dhaka with its main objective to work for the socially and economically isolated Urdu-speaking miniroty community, specially in the camps for development and rehabilitation of it's members in the mainstream of Bangladesh. Mr. Ilias continues to encourage, assist and advice the young Urdu speaking generation.


Mr. Ahmad Ilias reads a poem from his book "Aina Reze"

 I also met and interviewed another gentleman, Mr. Asghar Ali Khan. He was born and brought up in CoochBihar, British India. However, after the partition his family was also forced to leave CoochBihar and migrated t the nearest town in GaiBandha, Rangpur, East Paksitan (now Bangladesh). He, along with his family also faced many troubes as 'Biharis' specailly after 1971(this term is loosely applied to all Urdu speaking people in Bangladesh). However, Mr. Khan graduated from the University of Dhaka with a degree in Law and is established in life. He too works for the betterment of the Urdu speaking minority in Bangladesh and is currently the president of Al-Falah Bangladesh. Both Mr. Khan and Mr. Ilias mentioned that the young generation of the Urdu Speaking community cannot speak Urdu. They are born and brought up in Bangladesh and are citizens of Bangladesh by birth. They have known this land as their own. The community is losing their mother tongue, Urdu as they only learn Bangla in schools where there is no option of getting education in the Urdu medium. 

Innterviewing Mr. Asghar Ali Khan at his residence in Dhaka