Gruesome murder of a bright star of Bangladesh Army

Shaheed Colonel Quadrat Elahi Rahman Shafique, ndc, psc was born on Thursday November 14, 1962 in Rangpur. My family surname being Rahman, his mother and I decided to name him Rahman Shafique. Being our first child, I added Quadrat Elahi (Blessings of Allah) to express our gratitude to our Creator. From his very childhood he was spreading his radiance of the morning sun to mid-day brightness when he was almost touching the stars, as Brigadier General in six months time when the Army Promotion Board sat in July-August 2009. Finishing his Cadet College studies, he joined the Bangladesh Military Academy (BMA) and was commissioned on June 10, 1983. While undergoing his military training at Bhatiary, he stood first in BSc examination from Chittagong University. Then as usual he was going through his career as an officer of 3rd Bengal. As a Captain, he was sent to the School of Infantry & Tactics (SINT) in Sylhet and was appointed an Instructor, the post given only to the first boy in each course. In the history of Pakistan and Bangladesh Army, for the first time three officers were sent to the Institute of Business Administration (IBA) appearing through its normal intake examination for the same. In the two years' course he stood first in MBA (Marketing), bringing glory to the Bangladesh Army. He went on UN Peace Keeping Mission to Bosnia for one year. Soon after his return, he was posted as Brigade Major in Bandarban Cantonment just for a few months. Meanwhile, he appeared at the examination for Defence Services Command & Staff College (DSCSC) to do his PSC. He came out with flying colours and for his meritorious result, he was sent to Malaysia for doing his second PSC for a year where he also kept the head of Bangladesh high as an officer. In recognition of his merit, he was again placed in SINT after his return from Malaysia as a Major to train a group of elder officers whose further promotion was barred for some reasons or the other. And from there he was posted 2IC (2nd in Command) of the 1st Bengal Infantry Regiment in Sylhet. Meanwhile, the government decided to open a Military Institute of Science & Technology (MIST) to impart education to military officers as well as civilians for BSc. (Engineering), MBA, Computer Engineering etc, which previously were being done in BUET and other places. The Army decided to put Col Elahi as an Instructor there. Soon he was promoted to the rank of Lt Colonel. As a normal practice of the Army after being promoted to Lt Col, one is immediately sent to Command a Battalion as first posting. As a special case in order to set up the MIST, Quadrat Elabi's file was called by the Chief of the Army Staff and he wrote that Lt Col Elahi is essentially required to design and commence the first MBA Course, which he did in one year. After that, Elahi was posted as Commanding Officer of the 18 Bengal in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Finishing his Command for two years he was brought back to the Staff College (DSCSC) as Directing Staff (DS). After a few months, he was promoted to a full Colonel and posted as Senior Instructor (SI) in the Staff College. After a few months he was sent to Sudan in 2007 in the UN Peace Keeping Mission as Sector Commander for one year. While in Sudan the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon came to Sudan and decorated him with the Medal of Gallantry which only a few officers of the UN Peace Keeping Mission from Bangladesh had received so far. A year later, from Sudan he returned to the country and was sent to NDC (National Defence College) for a one-year course which normally is given only to officers of the rank of Brigadier General and above. The exception was made possibly for his extraordinary merit. He successfully completed his NDC, in December 2008. While doing his NDC he completed M Phil from Dhaka University which itself is not an essential part of the NDC course. But when he decided to join the Army in his teens, myself and my wife were not very keen that he joins the Army. In consideration of his merit, we wanted him to finish his studies in the country, go abroad, do his PhD and become a Professor in a foreign university. It was at the back of his mind to be a PhD to fulfil my desire and to make us happy. However, it was Allah's Will which eventually led him to join the Army and be shot dead by some wayward BDR soldiers. On January 11, 2009 as a full Colonel, he joined as Sector Commander of BDR (Bangladesh Rifles) in Dinajpur (being there for only one month and ten days). He came to Dhaka for the observance of the BDR Week on February 21, 2009. As ill-luck would have it, the hellish BDR carnage occurred on February 25-26 at Pilkhana in Dhaka. Among others, he was also held hostage inside the Darbar Hall and reportedly shot in the head on the same day and he left this world forever. While alive, it is learnt that he sent text messages to his colleagues and friends that he was still alive and asked them to save his life, if possible, but it was only a cry in the wilderness. We, in the family, were sitting before the television, watching the events taking place for two days, and saw his name on the screen in the afternoon of the 27th. Although, wounded and counting moments to breathe his last he sent messages to his colleagues and we were frantically trying to contact him on his telephone, but received no response. He was very responsible as a son, as a father and a husband that he always used to telephone or send text messages from wherever he was. But in this tragic event, he did not make a single call or send any message to any of us, lest we would worry and run hither and thither to find news about him in vain. It simply shows how considerate a child, a father and a husband he was! The heart-bleeding part of the story was that after finishing the BDR Week on February 27, he was supposed to take me and his mother to Dinajpur for a few days, but a day earlier he breathed his last and that programme never saw the light of the day. The Promotion Board sat in July-August 2009 and Elahi was to be a Brigadier General-- pity he left this world in the prime of his career without a Star (Brigadier) although he proved himself a star in the Bangladesh Army. He was only 46 years and 3 months old. Quadrat Elahi was throughout his life a sweet and loveable person to his superiors, colleagues, friends and relations. He was most caring and dutiful to his parents, wife, child, brothers, sisters and all members of the family. He was even very dear to his drivers, batmen and domestic help. He was soft-spoken and would always give thoughtful advice to all whenever anybody wanted his help or guidance. I found them most prudent! After the BDR carnage, while his dead body was being lowered to the grave, one officer whom I did not know remarked, "Wherever Elahi served, his juniors or even his seniors had many things to take lessons from." At the same place a Brigadier General in uniform said, "In the loss of Colonel Elahi the countrymen will never know what the Army has lost." An officer with tears in his eyes was commenting: "In the BDR Mutiny, the loss the Bangladesh Army has suffered cannot be recovered in 50 years." Out of the thousands of BDR men, only a handful of them knew him in a month and 10 days in Dinajpur. He had no enemies - what then was the cause that 57 brilliant unarmed officers were so brutally shot dead? Was it a conspiracy national or international to weaken the Bangladesh Army? Will the truth ever come out? Possibly not. We look upon the government to unearth the mystery. Perhaps, it was the Will of Allah that He took him on His lap at the zenith of his life. May Allah the most magnificent and merciful grant him Jannat-ul Ferdous and give us enough strength and fortitude to bear the irreparable loss. Amen. As I write the above lines in memory of my son, my eyes are becoming hazy, tears are flowing down my cheeks and my heart is bleeding. I cannot write anymore. Those of us who have lost our sons, husbands, fathers, brothers or someone so dear on earth, our heart-rending cry and ocean of tears will certainly fall on the conspirators and murderers from the Creator Himself today or tomorrow in one way or the other. If earthly justice is denied or delayed, justice from Allah will never spare any one of them, sooner or later - this is our firm faith in Him, the omniscient and the greatest judge in heaven and earth. The writer is the father of Shaheed Col Quadrat Elahi Rahman Shafique, and can be reached at e-mail: rahmans_2009@yahoo.com