Shafi Imam Rumi
This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
|
Shafi Imam Rumi | |
---|---|
শাফি ইমাম রুমী | |
Born | Freedom Fighter , BNCC Cadet (UOTC then) | 29 March 1951
Parents |
|
Relatives | Saif Imam Jami (brother) |
Awards | Bir Bikrom |
Shafi Imam Rumi (29 March 1951 – 30 September 1971) was a guerilla fighter of the Bangladesh Liberation War. He was the eldest son of Jahanara Imam. In her memoir about the war, Ekatorer Dinguli, Rumi was portrayed as the premier character. Rumi was murdered by the Pakistani Army
Early life
Rumi was born on 29 March 1951 in the higher middle-class family of Jahanara and Sharif Imam. He started his education at a local kindergarten school in Azimpur. Rumi passed his matriculation from
Bangladesh Liberation War
We are fighting a just war. We shall win. Pray for us all. I don't know what to write... there is so much to write about. But every tale of atrocity you hear, every picture of the terrible destruction that you see is true. They have torn into us with a savagery unparalleled in human history. And sure as Newton was right, so shall we too tear into them with like ferocity. Already our war advanced. When the monsoons come we shall intensify our operation.
—Shafi Imam Rumi in a letter to Syed Mostofa Kamal Pasha[3]
During the earlier part of the war, Rumi constantly attempted to convince his mother for giving him the permission to attend the war. As his mother finally agreed on 19 April 1971,
Arrest by Pakistan Army and aftermath
After his operation he became an icon to his fellow warriors. He stayed the night of 29 August 1971 to his house, the night when Pakistan Army caught most of the guerrilla fighters based on their information from an unknown source. His father, younger brother and a cousin were also arrested with him by the Pakistan Army , led by a Captain Quayyum.
Rumi's cousin, who was arrested with them, was freed on 2 September 1971 reportedly because he was able to show a bus ticket which incidentally was in his pocket and proved him not be a permanent resident of Rumi's residence. Sharif, Jami were cut loose two days later on 4 September. They returned with harrowing tales of torture.[7] Sharif, exhausted from tiredness and injured from severe torture, drove his car to his Elephant Road residence. Rumi with others of his co-fighters Bodi, Jewel and others, were later never found, assumably became one of the hundreds of thousands of people massacred by the military junta.[9] Some sources claim that a number of arrested freedom fighters were executed at midnight of 4 September and Rumi had been one of them. Among the captured, Chullu, one of Rumi's valiant co-fighters, was confined in the Central Jail of Dhaka, from where he was rescued by a group of sector-2 freedom fighters after the allied forces occupied Dhaka on 16 December.[10]
As Rumi along with his co-fighters had been acting as the key masterminds of
As Yahya Khan was set to announce mass mercy on 5 September 1971 many family relatives instated to ask mercy petition for Rumi to the government. Rumi's parents took the suggestion and thought over it but later decided to not do so because they considered it to be a dishonor to Rumi's views and ideology.[9]
Rumi's father
Verdict for killing Rumi
On 18 July 2013, Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed was found guilty and received life sentence on the charge related to the killing of Rumi along with Badi, Jewel, Azad and Altaf Mahmud at the army camp set up in Nakhalpara, Dhaka, during the Liberation War.[12]
In popular culture
In 2022, Pakistan's Geo Entertainment diffused the period drama Jo Bichar Gaye about the Bangladesh Liberation War and one of the main characters was Rumi, who was played by Wahaj Ali.
References
- ^ a b (Imam 1986, pp. 64–66)
- ^ (Imam 1986, pp. 209)
- ISBN 978-984-8765-00-5.
- ^ (Imam 1986, pp. 79–80)
- ^ (Imam 1986, pp. 159–60)
- ^ (Imam 1986, pp. 168–170)
- ^ a b c Hensher, Philip (1 March 2013). "Bangladesh's bestseller about its brutal birth". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 December 2013.
- ^ (Imam 1986, pp. 175–191)
- ^ a b (Imam 1986, pp. 196)
- ^ (Imam 1986, pp. 267)
- ^ (Imam 1986, pp. 262)
- ^ Khan, Tamanna (18 July 2013). "They now can rest in peace". The Daily Star. Retrieved 29 December 2013.
- ISBN 984-480-000-5.