A true Martyr & Soldier of Islam

[Bang_Ali]

These days the words “martyr” or “soldier of Islam” are used by some to describe any idiot that goes out to blow him/herself up, but I’m going to tell you about a man who I consider a real “Shaheed” (martyr). He was Bengali and called Matiur Rahman and was a Flight Lieutenant. Here's his picture. http://www.bangladesharmy.info/history/birsreshtho.htm (scroll down, second picture from the bottom right)

He was born on the 21st February 1945 and was the eighth child. His father was called Abdus-Samad, his mother Syeda Mubarakunnessa Khatoon. Matiur was from Ramnagar village in Narsingdhi (South-Western part of Greater Sylhet district) and had 8 brothers and 2 sisters.

Matiur attended Dhaka Collegiate School and passed matriculation with 1st class distinction after which he entered the BAF College. In 1963 he gained commission as general duty pilot.

In February 1971 he came to Dhaka on leave and on 26th march he left for his home village Ramnagar to visit his mother

The terror assault on occupied Bangladesh by the infidels began on the evening of 26th march. After this, the formal declaration for resistance was made.

Matiur decided to go to the homeland of these infidels, he went west- to pakistan to bring back a fighter plane. This brave Bengali son of the soil was prepared to go into the hornets nest, knowing that if he was caught he would be subjected to a very painful and slow death. Matiur wanted to bring back what was really ours, part compensation from years of deprivation. He wanted the skies of Bangla to be free. “Banglar akash rakhibo mukhtho”.

Friday the 20th August 1971. At an airstrip in karachi:

A T-33 fighter plane was proceeding towards the runway. The infidel pilot was called rashid minhaz. Matiur drove to the plane and signaled him to stop, as if there was something wrong with the engines. He stopped and opened the hatch while Matiur climbed onto the wings and got close to him.

Matiur struck him in the face and removed his radio speaker and then rendered him unconscious by placing a handkerchief soaked in chloroform over his mouth. He then took off from the airstrip and proceeded towards Indian airspace, the pakistani controllers hadn’t noticed.

Allahu-Akbar

Matiur reached within 4 minutes of Indian airspace, but alas, something went wrong.

The incompetent pakistanis hadn’t maintained their aircraft very well and the engines failed (no surprise there then!).

We don’t know exactly what were Matiur’s last thoughts, but we do know that on that day, he was thinking about the Bengali people and was doing his part for our struggle.

Our struggle was not one just for independence, but for life itself. Matiur was fighting for the lives and freedom of our people.

Even though he did not achieve his goal, his actions on Friday the 20th August 1971 destroyed an ill-founded and ignorant idea that the infidel pakistanis had about Bengalis. They thought we were little brown men with no courage. They didn’t think we could or would resist them. What Matiur did that day epitomized the spirit of our liberation and showed them what we were prepared to do.

For the bravery and initiative shown by his actions on Friday the 20th August 1971, Matiur has been post-humously decorated with the award of “Bir Shreshto”. It is the highest honour that any soldier can get (similar to the “George Cross” in the UK and the “Param Veer Chakra” on India).

He died aged just 26years old, but even though it was almost 33 years ago, his memory still lives on. And when we read about our “shadinotha shongram” Matiur’s name stands out.

And as long as the Bengali people send their children to school, they will learn about Ft Lt: Matiur Rahman and his sacrifice. The story of Matiur’s bravery is read by children attending Class 1 in Bangladesh (it doesn’t mention his death and refers to pakistanis as “the enemy”).

Matiur died fighting for life and country. Therefore, according to Islam he can be regarded as a “shaheed”

[Amar-Sonar-Bangla]

The battle at Shaldanadi


-Tanim Ahmed
The New Age


A guerrilla war in its essence, the Liberation War of 1971 saw few conventional battles between the occupying Pakistani forces and the regular forces of the Mukti Bahini. The battle at Shaldanadi was not only one such rare frontal battle, but also a crucial one — both in capturing a strategic communication point and in hitting the morale of the occupying forces in the way a company-strength (numbering 150 soldiers) Mukti Bahini unit defeated a battalion-strength (900-plus soldiers) Pakistani unit.


Seven am, November 12, 1971. Headquarters, Charlie Company at Mondobagh. It was decided at the meeting with all the platoon commanders, including the new commanding officer — twenty-year-old Second Lieutenant Jamilud Din Ahsan — and his seasoned 2IC (second in command) Subedar Abdul Wahab, that they would launch an attack on the Pakistani stronghold of Shaldanadi. The commanding officer (CO) of 4 East Bengal Regiment, Captain Gaffar Haldar, approved of the plan.


Only about a month ago three battalions with full artillery support launched an offensive on the Pakistani positions but failed to dislodge them. Sector commander Khaled Musharraf had himself planned the attack. Taking that into consideration, it was implicitly accepted all around that this new plan would be a routine attack with limited firepower.


Charlie Company would launch a three-pronged attack with platoons 7, 8 and 9 under Nayeb Subedars Mongol Mia, Belayet Hossain and Shahid respectively. The H hour (time for commencement of attack) was set at 4:00am, November 13. Captain Abdul Aziz Pasha, commander of the Mujib Battery, had been contacted for artillery support.


As planned, platoon 7 would take up position at Mondobagh village and advance west. Platoon 9 would take up their position immediately south of platoon 7 at Chankhola village. Further south, Platoon 8 under Subedar Belayet would take up their position on the north bank of the river Shalda, facing enemy positions to the south. The young commanding officer and the 2IC would accompany platoon 7, advancing west. The Battle of Shaldanadi would commence early the next day. Little did they know it would be a decisive one.


The river Shalda enters Bangladesh through the rolling hills of Tripura that mark the landscape about 25 kilometres north of Comilla, almost halfway towards Akhaura. The river also demarcates the border between Comilla and Brahmanbaria districts before dying out into a number of canals and rivulets. The railway station south of the river — hence in Comilla — is also called Shaldanadi. The sleepy stretch between the Mondobagh — further north in Brahmanbaria — and Shaldanadi railway stations turned into a full-fledged battle-ground during the war.


The Pakistan Army had concentrated their forces in the cities. Their forces were deployed near the eastern borders of the country mainly to contain infiltration. But later these areas became to be of prime importance since they were considered to be the probable routes of assault on Dhaka itself.


Another strategic importance was the railway line. With road communications vulnerable to ambushes at numerous places and air traffic being too expensive, the only efficient and effective line of communication between Dhaka and Chittagong was considered to be the railway.


Throughout the war Shaldanadi remained a virtual death trap for Pakistani troops, with their convoys and supply trolleys regularly ambushed. This area remained a conventional war zone with the Pakistan Army and the Mukti Bahini in fortified positions exchanging fire and banter for days on end.


Jamilud Din Ahsan, currently a major general, recollects, “Our machine gun was aligned with theirs almost as if their bullets would be countered with ours. We had regular exchanges of fire, sometimes it would be a bit too much and we would get the ‘Uthan’ Battery out and fire away a few rounds.”


In one of the Mukti Bahini ambushes, they had recovered a 2-inch mortar but the sight was not there. Even without that they figured out the right angles so the shells would land at the right place. It was kept at the Charlie Company headquarters and occasionally taken out to the yard. “Hence the name Uthan Battery,” Jamil says, laughing.


The assault at H hour did not at all seem like it would become a successful engagement. About that fateful day, Jamil says, “I remember it was in the Ramadan because we had deployed our forces before sehri. There were a number of abandoned villages between our positions and the Pakistani defences. But before we could proceed halfway, the enemy forces got wind of our advances and opened fire.”


Both platoons 7 and 9 had to retreat to their original positions faced with heavy resistance from the 30 Punjab Regiment, which was deployed in the adjacent areas of Shaldanadi.


“The night sky had become lighter by the time we came to our positions, but Nayeb Subedar Belayet, with his platoon, had consolidated his position by the river. He kept saying over the radio that he was in a good position and wanted to forge ahead. The CO, Captain Gaffar, tried to appease him saying it was merely a routine attack and it really would not matter much if they did not succeed.”


By that time, sensing that platoon 8 could indeed succeed, Subedar Wahab joined them. The 106mm RR (recoilless rifle) and the 75mm RR along with other ground attack support weapons were brought down from the battalion headquarters and set up where Belayet had taken position. As Wahab went over to platoon 8, a soldier was hit and died right in front of him. Belayet apparently became infuriated and wanted to avenge the death. He started asking for permission to cross the river.


Back at the battalion headquarters, Captain Gaffar was in a hurry to leave for Agartala where he had to attend a conference at 11 o’clock. Before leaving, Gaffar granted permission for the ‘reckless’ move and left. Captain Akhtar Ahmed, the medical officer of Sector 2, and Shahadat Chowhdury, a guerrilla fighter and special assistant to Khaled Musharraf, were there listening to the conversation.


Wahab, as he reached where Belayet had taken up position, noticed that the enemy forces were hiding behind their fortified bunkers and firing from within. “I noticed the bullets were going well over our heads and the trees around us were shaking from the hail of bullets. I had the 106 RR set up on the ground and commenced firing,” Wahab says.


The 106 RR was originally mounted on a jeep when it was inherited from the original 4 EBR. It was later modified to act as a ground support weapon. The Mukti Bahini soldiers launched the attack on enemy bunkers as Belayet swam across Shalda with several of his men.


“It was towards the railway tracks from Nayanpur bazaar where they crossed over and charged the bunkers,” says Jamil.


Anticipating some good action, both Shahadat and Akhtar decided to walk all the way to the front. They watched the battle as Belayet’s men forged ahead.


Shahadat, currently editor of Shaptahik 2000, says he had just come to visit Akhtar from Agartala. “I was getting frustrated at Agartala, with nothing to do there, especially after Khaled’s injury.”


“I realised as I looked on that those few men who swam across the river with bullets flying over their heads were the ones who would win the battle for us. All the support from this side of the bank would not be of any effect if their positions could not be taken over. And that was what Belayet was doing,” Shahadat says.


Akhtar recounts, “The enemy had not thought that a routine shooting match would take such a turn. Once across the river, Belayet charged one bunker after the other and kept sending back POWs (prisoners of war).”


At one point, the company commander also crossed the river and moved ahead. During this time the Mukti Bahini intercepted enemy messages being relayed to their headquarters asking for air support. Akhtar remembers hearing “Send the birds” in Urdu. It transpired from their messages that the enemy forces were under the impression that a battalion strength force had engaged them and they starting retreating.


“And once you start to retreat, there is no way you can turn back and regroup. It is virtually impossible. And we had rightly concentrated our efforts on one of the flanks of the 30 Punjab deployment. One should not attack through the middle, because then you become surrounded and might suffer heavy casualties,” explains Subedar Wahab.


By mid morning the Mukti Bahini had completely dislodged the enemy forces from across the Shalda river and had pushed them further south towards Comilla. In fact, the stretch captured was so large that two companies from an Indian regiment were deployed in that area.


With success in Shaldanadi, virtually the whole stretch of the railway line from Brahmanbaria to Comilla came under Mukti Bahini control. The Indian forces found it inconceivable that a company-strength force had achieved such a victory and that too with minimum casualties.


There was one Mukti dead and seven wounded in the battle. There were congratulations all around from sector headquarters saying, “Heartiest congratulations on your excellent performance in capturing Saldanadi area and retaining liberated position repulsing every enemy counter attack, inflicting heavy casualties on 30 Punjab at the cost of only one killed and seven wounded to yourself. Well done, keep it up.”


The Pakistan Army suffered heavy casualties with 80/90 troops killed or wounded and about 12 POWs. There was also a huge amount of ammunition and ration recovered from the bunkers. “It took 500 men about three days to carry all the stuff back to our sector headquarters,” says Wahab.


Brigadier Sabeg Singh was scheduled to come and inspect the captured area and congratulate the Mukti Bahini himself on November 15. But for Subedar Belayet, it was not to be.


The next day on November 14, enemy forces tried to recapture their lost territory. Belayet was in charge of defending the area. As soon as the enemy came within range, Belayet’s men opened fire. With the Mukti Bahini’s determined resistance the enemy troops started fleeing, while shooting back at times. Belayet was chasing after the enemy when a stray bullet hit him in the chest. By the time the men carrying his body met up with the medical officer, he was dead. He was awarded the Bir Uttam posthumously. Today, Shaheed Belayet Road in the Dhaka Cantonment bears testimony to his gallantry.


The next day, on November 15, hundreds of people came to see the captured area. Area commander Brigadier Sabeg Singh along with other senior officers came over to congratulate the troops.


The Battle of Shaldanadi remains one of the legends from the Liberation War. It is cited as an exemplary instance of uncommon valour and unconventional tactics in the battlefield.