Name Nurul Mohammad | ||
 | ||
Lieutenant Colonel Dr. Nurul Absar Mohammad Jahangir (born East Pakistan 13 May 1931, died Comilla, Bangladesh 30 March 1971) was a Bangladeshi nationalist and Pakistani military physician extrajudicially killed in the 1971 Bangladesh War of Independence.
Contents
Education and career
Lieutenant Colonel Dr. Nurul Absar Mohammad Jahangir was the eldest son of Doctor Abdul Qader and Mrs. Jahanara Begum resident of Pangsha, Rajbari.
Role in Bangladesh Independence Movement
While he was the final year student of Dhaka Medical College, Jahangir participated vehemently in the 1952 Bengali Language Movement.
In 1970, Dr.Jahangir was assigned as Coordinator of Relief and Rehabilitation Operation for the victims of the cyclone of 12 November 1970. He observed discrimination and nepotism in the distribution of relief materials by the West Pakistanis, and protested this.
During the same time he was also assigned as Deputy Chief of Marshal Law Court in Chittagong. He noticed that some of the cases in court were fabricated and motivated for framing Awami League leaders and workers and against the members of Hindu communities. Among them one famous case was against Bengali nationalists M. A. Hannan and Amulya Sen for burning the flag of Pakistan. After examining all documents, he provided them full acquittal from the charges.
In March 1971, a conference of senior officers was held at the [Comilla Cantonment] for a discussion of taking lethal action against anti-Pakistan protesters, which Dr. Jahangir objected to.
On 27 March, Dr. Jahangir's superiors ordered him to turn in all his unit's arms and ammunition. He turned in only some of the arms, but hid a large portion for reserve for future mutiny of his troops against West Pakistan control. He summoned the unit members and said, "If death is inevitable, you will use the last arms of your hands against the enemy before accepting death, but never defile the country and yourself by surrendering to the Pakistanis."
On March 28, Dr.Jahangir lost contact with his fellow officers, and the next day learned of a plan to kill Bengali nationalist officials and soldiers. He tried to return to his office several times but was obstructed; He made a phone call to his office but some messages from the other side of the phone made his face stiff, and he told ‘if they use machine guns against you, don’t keep silent, whatever arms you have in your hands, use them. Nothing is comparable with the glory to be a martyr doing war for the country.” Under the hypnotic call of this leader, 47 heroic freedom fighters out of 50 of the 40 Ambulance unit valiantly embraced death in a fight with Pakistani soldiers for two hours. One hundred Pakistani soldiers also died in the fight.
On 30 March, around 6:45 A.M, two Pakistani soldiers came to Jahangir's home with orders to escort him away for a meeting.Dr.Jahangir surrendered to his 'fate' and sensing he would be killed Dr.Jahangir hugged his children (Maruf, Mithu and Mimi) goodbye, and handed his wife Ms. Jebunnesa Jahangir a .32 caliber revolver for her protection. At 9 A.M. Dr.Jahangir called home, and told his wife: "I have been taken to the conference with Pakistani Colonel Yakub Malik.". These were to be his last words to her. Dr.Jahangir disappeared on March 30, 1971. After the liberation War on March 1972, he was exhumed from a mass grave at Comilla and was buried in front of Comilla CMH with military honours.