Hidden in an exclusive neighborhood of Dhaka, Dhanmondi-32 witnessed two crucial moments in the history of Bangladesh, until February 5, when a mafia shattered the iconic residence of Sheikh Mujbur Rahman, the founder of Bangladesh. A call to social networks for an ‘excavators procession’ led to vandalism when Rahman’s daughter and overthrown Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina gave a resistance speech against the government.
Mrs. Hasina, who has been living in India since her expulsion last August, seemed to be crying while talking about vandalism in an audio direction. “A structure can be erased, but the story cannot be eliminated,” he said in his direction.
India, who has been part of the history of this building, condemned the act as “unfortunate” and acknowledged that it was a “symbol of heroic resistance” of the people of Bangladesh.
“Those who value the struggle for freedom that fed the identity and pride of Bangla are aware of the importance of the residence for Bangladesh’s national consciousness,” said Indian’s Foreign Ministry.
The building is still crucial not only in the history of Bangladesh, but is in the center of a discouraging rescue mission by an Indian soldier, who entered alone and disarmed despite the repeated warnings of the Pakistani guards.
The 1971 episode
Bangladesh won independence in 1971 after the Pakistani troops left their arms to the Indian army. On December 16, Lieutenant General of Pakistan, Aak Niazi, signed the Dhaka Delivery Document against Lieutenant General of the Indian Army Jagjit Singh Aurora.
The kilometers away, in Dhanmondi, Rahman’s wife and the three children, including Mrs. Hasina, still kept captive since Pakistani soldiers did not know that their soldiers had left their arms, and that, in fact, Bangladesh now It was free.
At that time, Rahman was imprisoned in Pakistan.
When the Indian troops were informed the next morning, a team of four soldiers arrived to free the hostages. But there was a danger: it is believed that the Pakistani troops had been ordered to kill all the captives if there was an imminent defeat.
The greatest Ashok Tara, who led the team, asked his men to stay behind and take the discouraging task of approaching the guards.
“Another step and we will shoot you,” warned the troops, training their weapons to the Indian officer.
But he remained calm and tried to reason with them in a mixture of Hindi and Punjabi.
“They had no idea that Pakistan’s army had surrendered and that Dhaka had fallen. I told them that a disarmed Indian officer would not stand before them if that were not the case,” he said in an interview.
The troops finally let the greatest tara in after convincing them that they would be returned to their unharmed families. The rest is history.
The Indian officer received the “Bangladesh” friend in 2012 for Mrs. Hasina, then Prime Minister.
The 1975 episode
The Dhanmondi house returned to the global news in 1975. During the early hours of August 15, a group of Bangladesh army personnel entered the house and massacred everything present there at that time. This included Rahman and 18 family members.
The massacre sent shock waves through Bangladesh and the country immersed itself in a period of political agitation. The army took over and General Ziaur Rahman became the president.
During the massacre, Mrs. Hasina and her sister Sheikh Rehana were in Europe and, therefore, survived. He learned about the murders when he returned to Delhi, and his family, including her husband, her children and Mrs. Rehana, received asylum for India.
Later he had described his stay in Delhi as that of a “secret resident.”
Upon his return to Bangladesh in 1981, Mrs. Hasina saved the house to be auctioned and handed it over to Bangabandhu Memorial Trust, which then turned the building into the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Memorial Museum.
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