Day 5 In Dhaka

Jan 16, 2012

Today was a busy and productive day. I met 3 gentleman from the Defense and interviewd them. Last Sat I was at a party of a retired Navy comander, MA Majid. He introduced me to some of his colleagues who expressed their interest in talking about their partition experience.  I met Comander (retd) MA Majid of Bangladesh Navy, Lt. Col.(retd) MS Alam Joarder and Brig (retd) Mohammad Shahidul Islam of Bangladesh Army. All three gentlemen were born in British India and told me about their pre-partition and post-partition lives.

Comander MA Majid was born on Aug 23, 1930 in KandoPasha, Gouronodi, Barishal. He was from a well respected family. Mr. Majid remebers the days of WWII. Often times Kerosene and Salt would be unavailable. After the war there he heard that India will be devided. Young Majid did not support the partition, and was a minority who followed Fazlul Huq's principle. Gouronodi was a Hindu majority thana with only 15% muslims. However, things changed drastically after partition, most of the Hindus left for Kolakata as they did not feel secured in the new land for Muslims, Pakistan. Mr. Majid feels that eventhough partition is a sad chapter of the Indian sub-continent, without partition there would be no Bangladesh today.

Navy Comander (retd) MA Majid talks about his partition experience

My second interviewee was with Lt. Col (retd) MS Alam Joarder of the Bangladesh Army. Mr. Joarder was born in village Nagdah, Alamdanga, Nodia district in British India. His early days were spent in Jagaddal.  Jagaddal is a town in North 24 Parganas district, on the banks of the Ganges river in the state of West Bengal,  On the eastern banks of the river, the town has many jute mills which drew a large labour force from the neighbouring states of Bihar and Orissa, as well as eastern Uttar Pradesh, quite often forming an overwhelming majority of the population in the area. Mr. Joarder's father, Golam Rasul Joarder was an employee of the Alliance Jute Mills in the town.
Life was happy and peaceful in the small town. Little Alam and his sister went to Kolkata almost every weekend to visit the famous sites, such as, the Victoria memorial, the zoo..etc. Mr. Joarder recalls riding the trum and the city of Kolkata in the 40's. It was a beautiful city with lots of attractions for tourists. One day in 1946, there was a big procession on the GrandTrunk Road (now Jessore Kolakata Haridaspur Road). Little Alam and his sister also wanted to join the procession with their father. But it was too crowded and his father decided not to take them to Kolkata. Later, he came home in sweat and blood. An awful riot had broken down in Sealdah. Hindus were killing Muslims and Muslims were killing Hindus without any reason. Mr. Joarders'a father said, "Thank God I came home alive. If I took two of you with me, I 'd not have been able to save you from the mobs".


A rare photograph of the Joarder family taken in the 1930s. Mr. Joarder's father is wearing a Dhoti, which was the outfit for both HIndu and Muslims males in the pre-partition period.


Mr. Joarder's father felt things becem tense between Hindu and Muslims after partition and decided to move to E. Pakistan. He sent his family to his ancestral home in AlamDanga and loaded his furniture and belongings on a truck and headed for the border. However, the border patrol did not allow him to take a single piece with him. Thus, the family migrated to E. Pak only with their clothes on. Mr. Joarder and his family migrated to the new country and started all over again. He completed his intermediates from the Magura college and joined the Pakistan Army. He retired as a Lt. Col from the Bangladesh Army. Today he lives in his residence in Dhaka and has 4 grown children. Mr. Joarder spends most of his time preaching Islam and for humanitarian causes.


Farhana Afroz With Lt. Col (retd) MS Alam Joarder at his Dhaka residence

The last interview of the day was with Brigadier (retd) Mohammad Shahidul Islam (Bir Protik). Mr. Islam was a young boy of 8 years in Noakhali during partition. He remembers a few deatils of the last days of WWII and partition. He remebers running and hiding in the bunkers when the Japanese planes were heard. The British had build many hangers and an airport in the small town. The district Noakhali and his village had Hindu majority in the pre-partition era. But most of the Hindus left for W. Bengal in the '40s and '50s. Mr. Islam remembers the Eid of Aug 1947 when they stayed up all night along with many others to guard the Eid Maidan fromt the mobs. The fear was that the Muslims might be attacked during the congragation.


Interviewing Brigadier (retd) Mohammad Shahidul Islam

Mr. Islam lagter joined the Pakistan Army and fought for Bangladesh in 1971. He was awarded the prestigious title, Bir Protik for his bravery in the war. Today Mr. Islam is retired and lives in Dhaka at his residence.