Noshin Nisa
About My Father
Sultan Alam: Retired Professor (1st BCS, 1973)/Freedom Fighter, 1971 — Tetulia, Panchagarh, Bangladesh.
This is about the things my father carried when he was fighting in the Liberation War of 1971. He didn’t carry much with himself other than a towel and a shaving kit, but he always kept a diary with him. During the war, my father stayed at the training camp. Life wasn’t easy there. The freedom fighters led a hard life during their training sessions. Having said that, they tried to enjoy their lives as much as they could in order to survive the War. My father made a lot of friends at the camp with whom he is still much in touch with. They formed a family among themselves within those few months. In the diary, my father wrote about his everyday life at the camp and the memorable time he spent with his fellow fighters. Well, the diary is the physical thing he carried. But he also carried a lot of emotional and psychological loads that I am not aware of. At the camp, there were different types of people. Though they all were there for the same motive, they had different personalities and characteristics. Some of them liked each other and some of them didn’t like each other. As they had to live together, they carried a tension among themselves because of their different backgrounds.
My father is the eldest son of the family. He decided to go to the War spontaneously. He told his parents that he was going for it only at the time he was about to leave. He carried the guts and courage to leave his home and family for the sake of his country and endanger his own life. My father and all the freedom fighters carried the strong purpose and passion to fight for the liberation of the country first, putting themselves at risk. My father carried true bravery. He wasn’t brave just to show anybody else that he was brave. He was actually fearless and ready to die for the country. But, it is not true that he wasn’t scared at all. The War made it clear that anybody could die at any moment. He carried the anxiety of dying till the very moment he accomplished what he was there for in the first place. He carried the stress to execute a mission in time corresponding to a particular plan without hurting any innocent people.
My father carried a sense of responsibility. He thought that if the country where he was born is in trouble, it was his duty to free his Motherland from the trouble, even if it meant that he needed to jump into that danger-zone first. So, he fulfilled his duty.
At the time of the war, my father was a young man of 23. When he thought of participating in the war, he carried an indescribable thrill/excitement and pride with himself. Even when he was done with all the training sessions and saw the bloodshed of millions of innocents, he wasn’t ready to lose hope because he knew that the day the sun rises over the horizon was not too far away from where he was. He arose into the great fighter that he still is today.
So, these are the things my father carried in the Liberation War of Bangladesh in1971. And I being his daughter, couldn’t be any prouder.