Following Strachey's argument, one could surmise the same about the history of the Bangladesh War of Independence; and yet, we find a plethora of books on various aspects of the war available as we cross the fifty-year mark. Among the major ones, one would point to a few gems of books by some famous writers, namely, Marxist thinker Badruddin Umar's two-volumes titled 'Emergence of Bangladesh' published by the Oxford University Press and the voluminous 'Birth of Bangladesh' from Sanghati Prokashan, Dhaka, by the historian-editor Nurul Kabir.
Among the non-major countless publications are those with elements of incorrigible factually and first-hand knowledge that roam the market with satisfying degrees of readership and acceptability. These include those from actual participants from all sides- warriors, intelligence-gatherers, and knowledgeable Bengalis.
Muhammad Idrish was studying physics at the Dacca University when the War broke out on March 26, 1971, and now a British citizen for the past half-a-century, has done a commendable job by writing mostly what he saw during the nine months of 1971. His 'The making of Bangladesh as I saw It' published by Swapno 71 in the middle of last year, is a glorious attempt at piecing together his personal experience of all that went around him and notably around the district town of Faridpur and its suburbs from where he hails with a tinge of background events of wider significance.
The twenty chapters of the book give a picture of the ancient times, the coming of the British, rise of Pakistan, then guide us through the dictatorship of Ayub, the Agartala Conspiracy Case, happenings of a hot spring day in Faridpur that changed the political map of the place, the 1970 elections and its aftermath and all that took place throughout 1971, including one on the India-Pakistan war ending with 17 December, the first day after victory- the dawn of a country without occupation. Though he has never posed to be a historian, various elements of history and those necessary for a future historian are therein aplenty. The smooth readability of the book keeps one glued to it from start to finish.
After the historic March 7 speech by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bengali young men were taking part in training everywhere, as in Faridpur, with dummy rifles till the second week of April. It was as if freedom had already arrived; and a friend of his demonstrated this by enacting the last effective Nawab of Bengal Sirajudddoulah on an open thoroughfare. And then when the marauding Pakistani Army came to town, things changed overnight; and people started to run for safe places. In the case of Idrish, the whole family moved out with a tiny tot, the youngest brother, wrapped in towel. It symbolised the picture of most towns in the country. Like elsewhere in the country, the Pakistan Army started to retake towns from what they called the 'miscreants', forcing everybody to flee to supposedly safe places in the rural countryside. As Idrish writes:" We were refugees in our own country".
Idrish prudently sliced a part that affected primarily his personal and family's life and the immediate surroundings, although he also touched major issues that were relevant. He succeeded in his venture immaculately. His sleek and handy production is something to be kept and returned to again and again. A physicist, and an optical technologist, Idrish's effort has given us a beauty of a book. He works out of Birmingham and is deeply involved in civil rights issues.
akhtarhk@gmail.com