Lt Col Mohammad Ziauddin, Dhaka’s Brigade Commander and one of Bangladesh’s brightest officers, wrote a small article titled “Hidden Pride of Freedom Fighters”. It was prominently published in the front page in the Holiday on August 20, 1972. The article dealt with the demoralized state of the freedom fighters (FFs) due to a sorry state of the nation, a nation they fought and gave blood to liberate from the Pakistani occupants. He also challenged then government to tell the people what the 25-year secret pact with India contained, hinting Bangladesh subjugated itself to be a kind of vassal state to its big neighbor.

It was a bombshell to the Awami League government. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was in Moscow on a medical trip, but the news reached him immediately. Everybody waited for him to return and deal with the matter. Army chief Col (later Major General) Safiullah was praying “Ya Nafsi” at every breath.

When Sheikh Mujib returned home, Ziuddin was summoned and asked to apologize; and everything would be forgotten and forgiven. A proud Ziauddin declined. He was dismissed from service unceremoniously. Out of frustration, Ziauddin joined Siraj Sikdar’s Sarbohara Party. Later, however, he fell out on ideological question and lived a secluded life, only to surface after August 15, 1975.

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