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Salim Ullah and some of his family members were killed by non-Bengali collaborators in 1971
Published : 25 Mar 2023, 08:18 PM
“I can’t control my emotions when I talk about my father. He was killed right in front of my eyes,” said eminent singer Sadi Mohammad, son of Salim Ullah, a martyr of Bangladesh’s Liberation War, with tears in his eyes.
He recalled the gruesome memories during the war when bdnews24.com spoke to him at his Mohammadpur home ahead of Independence Day.
Salim Ullah and some of his family members were killed by the non-Bengali collaborators of the Pakistani forces on Mar 26, 1971, at his Mohammadpur home. “The non-Bengalis killed at least 25 people on that day. The dead were not even buried. The killers dumped them into a hole,” Sadi said.
The road leading to Mohammadpur from Asad Gate has a plaque installed by the Dhaka North City Corporation, bearing the name of the street in Bangla: ‘Shaheed Salim Ullah Road’. The first name is written in the wrong spelling and crossed out.
Banker Abu Zafar, a resident of Mohammadpur’s Tajmahal Road, was surprised to learn that the road was named after martyr Salim Ullah. “All I knew was that this road was named after Sir Salimullah,” he said.
Zafar referred to Sir Khwaja Salimullah Bahadur, the fourth Nawab of Dhaka and one of the leading Muslim politicians during British rule in India. Most of the roads in Mohammadpur are named after historical figures of the Mughal era and other periods.
Only two roads have a connection to the history of independence of Bangladesh. But that, too, is not quite clear to the new generation. Many of them mix up the two names when it comes to the Shaheed Salim Ullah Road.
Arif Abdullah, a student of Residential Model College who lives on Tajmahal Road, said he had initially thought the road was named after Sir Salimullah. Later, his uncle told him it was named after the martyr Salim Ullah.
“I feel that there should be two plaques at both ends of the road with a short biography of those who lost their lives in 1971, including martyr Salim Ullah,” he said.
Locals said they had some confusion over the names -- Sir Salimullah and Shaheed Salim Ullah.
Historians said the current Shaheed Salim Ullah Road was called the Quaid e Azam Road during Pakistan's rule. In 1972, the Awami League and Bangladesh Chhatra League changed the name to Shaheed Salim Ullah Road. Later, the government acknowledged it. But still, some people mistakenly call it Sir Salimullah Road.
“The government is accountable for presenting the correct history to the new generation. Also, schools, colleges, and other social and cultural organisations should take the initiative to disseminate accurate history through their programmes,” said Muntassir Mamoon, a historian and researcher.
Salim Ullah’s son Sadi said a name plaque at the entrance of the road read Sir Salimullah Road a few years ago.
Sadi and his brother Shiblee Mohammad, a famed dancer, met the Liberation War affairs minister and told him that the road was named after their father, not Sir Salimullah. “But he didn’t heed us. When we started to talk about it on TV channels and other media, the authorities changed the name plaque and wrote Shaheed Salim Ullah Road.”
WHAT HAPPENED THAT DAY?
It was Friday, Mar 26, 1971, when Salim Ullah had just returned home after the Jum’ah prayers at the nearby mosque. The non-Bengali collaborators spread rumours that some people at Salim Ullah’s house opened fire on the mosque.
The night before was the dark night of Mar 25, when Pakistanis killed Bengalis mercilessly. People in Mohammadpur were still talking about the killings.
“My father was involved in social welfare in Mohammadpur. He was close to Bangabandhu’s family. Sheikh Kamal was a good friend of my elder brother Shanu, and he used to come and stay over at our place,” Sadi said.
Sadi was a first-year intermediate student at Residential Model College when he went to the Racecourse Ground to hear Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s historic speech with his father on Mar 7.
Mar 23 was Pakistan Day, but on the night of Mar 22, Salim Ullah hoisted a large Bangladesh flag on their rooftop following Bangabandhu’s call. On the morning of Mar 23, a helicopter flew past the house several times.
“Shanu Bhai said we were being marked for hoisting the flag of Bangladesh,” Sadi said. Also, many meetings against the ruling Pakistan were held at Salim Ullah’s home.
Even on Mar 25, Awami League leaders Abdul Quddus Makhan, Nur e Alam Jiku, Sheikh Kamal and others came to his home for a meeting.
When Pakistani forces swooped on the unarmed Bengalis on the night of Mar 25, many people suggested that Salim Ullah should leave the area, but he never did.
“A meeting was scheduled at our place on the evening of Mar 25. Bangabandhu asked Makhan bhai to hold a meeting with the non-Bengalis living in Mohammadpur at our place and explain to them the logic behind the Bengali movement. All the non-Bengalis living nearby were invited to the meeting but none of them showed up. Rather, they informed the Pakistan Army about the meeting,” Sadi said.
After Salim Ullah returned from the mosque after Jum’ah prayers on Mar 26, some people began to pelt stones at his house.
“In the evening, one bomb landed on our rooftop. Then they hurled more -- one after another. Back then, the bombs were not very powerful.”
“Our house was the only four-storey building in Mohammadpur. We could see everything from the top floor. They torched the ground floor, and then we couldn’t stay inside the house anymore. My siblings jumped off the second floor and went to the next building. My mother broke both of her legs while jumping. She struggled for the entire nine months of the Liberation War with her broken legs,” Sadi said.
The attack on his father is still seared in his memory. “Father and I were looking outside through the window. A Pakistan Air Force officer shoved me and stabbed my father from behind at that time.”
“I came out to take my father to the hospital and found some non-Bengalis running toward us. Father asked me to flee. ‘Let them kill me,’ he said. I kept saying that I won’t go. Then he pushed me. I ran to a Bengali household for shelter, but they were scared to let me in. Then I forcibly went inside and sat near a water tap. I washed the blood [of my father] off my body,” he recalled.
Later, Sadi learnt that his father was alive until 9 pm. His uncle Suruj and cousin Chinu were killed on the same day.
“They tied up Chinu, dragged him all over the neighbourhood, and brought him to a ground near our house, where they slaughtered him. Chinu’s body was buried near a well beside the Mohammadpur graveyard,” he said.
Salim Ullah was born in 1924 in Chandpur’s Kachua to Hasan Ali Sarkar and Omar Jan. He had two brothers and two sisters. In 1971, his address was 12/10, Block-C, Tajmahal Road.
A leader of the Dhaka Metropolitan Awami League, Salim Ullah also headed a coordination committee of the Bengalis and non-Bengalis in Mohammadpur.
THE STRUGGLE OF A MARTYR’S WIDOW
After she broke her legs while jumping off their house, Jebunnesa, the wife of Salim Ullah, struggled to keep her children safe through the nine-month war.
“Everyone wants to know about my father, but no one asks about my mother. She is 96 and still living with brutal memories. We were 10 siblings. When they killed my father and brother, my mother took the rest of the family to a village on the other side of the Buriganga River. From there, we went to Chandpur. She kept moving from place to place with her small children,” said Sadi.
After independence, Jebunnesa returned to Dhaka and began another struggle to rear her children.
“I started tutoring music, and my brother Shiblee began tutoring dance. Mother took up stitching work to make both ends meet. Her 52 years of struggle in independent Bangladesh is another war,” he said.
“I believe my mother deserves the Independence Award.”
[Writing in English by Sabrina Karim Murshed; editing by Osham-ul-Sufian Talukder]
