- Abu Taher
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- For the Buyid ruler of Hamadan see Shams al-Daula.
Lt.Col. Abu Taher
Lieutenant Colonel Abu Taher (retired - BD Army)(Bengali: আবু তাহের) (1938–1976) a communist and a left-leaning radical activist of the Jatiyo Samajtantrik Dal, responsible for the Soldiers Uprising and the radical breakout that occurred in Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh on Nov 7th 1975. He joined the Bangladesh Liberation struggle against West Pakistan as Sector Commander of the 11th Sector in the northern front, which was also the largest Sector in the Liberation War of 1971. Taher was badly wounded in battle on November 14, 1971 when his leg was blown away by an enemy shell. He was taken to Pune, India, where his leg was amputated.
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Early life and education
Taher was born in Badarpur, Assam Province in then British India on 14 November 1938. His family hailed from Kazla village in Purbadhala of then Bengal Province, today a town in the Netrokona District of Bangladesh. After completion of higher secondary school from Sylhet M C College in 1959, he studied at the Social Welfare and Research Institute of the University of Dhaka. He joined the Pakistan Army in 1960 as an officer candidate and received his Commission in 1962.[1]
Military career
In Pakistan Army, Abu Taher joined the elite Special Service Group (Commando Force) in 1965. Following his training, he participated in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 in the Kashmir sector and the Sialkot sector. For his part, he received a gallantry award from the Government of Pakistan. After the war, Taher took advanced training on Guerrilla Warfare at Fort Bragg and Fort Benning in the United States in 1969. He was posted to the Quetta Staff College, Pakistan in 1970.[1]
Role in Bangladesh Liberation War
In July, 1971, Taher along with several other Bengali officers defected from the Pakistan Army and crossed over the border near Abbottabad, West Pakistan, into India.[1] Later he was posted to Sector 11 in the Rangpur District, which comprised Mymensingh District, Tangail District and parts of the Rangpur District,. The battalion led by Taher was the first to advance toward the Pakistani army’s Dhaka Headquarters.[2] On November 14, 1971, Taher was injured during a battle at Kamalpur.[1][3][4] For his valour, he was awarded Bir Uttam, the highest living gallantry award in Bangladesh.[1][3]
Post-liberation activities
Following his return, Taher was appointed the Adjutant General of Bangladesh Army. He received a promotion to Lieutenant Colonel and in June 1972, he was appointed Commanding Officer 44th Infantry Battalion East Bengal Regiment at the Comilla Cantonment.[1] However, due to his left-leaning communist ideas of organising and reforming the Bangladesh Army in the model of the Chinese army he resigned from the Bangladesh Army and joined Jatiya Samajtantric Dal (National Socialist Party).[5] After three weeks of uncertainty and confusion resulting from the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on 15 August 1975, a rebellion followed on Nov 3rd 1975 among senior officers in the army, which Taher quickly took advantage of and created a sense of dissent among ranking Non-Commissioned Officers and regular soldiers.[5] Abu Taher organised a socialist uprising of the soldiers on 7 November 1975. A number of military officers were attacked and killed by these soldiers. These soldiers freed Major General Ziaur Rahman, then Deputy Chief of Army, who was under house arrest. General Zia thereupon proclaimed himself deputy Martial Law Administrator with Chief Justice Sayem being Chief Martial Law Administrator (CMLA) on 7 November 1975.
As Abu Taher's ideas of a social revolution with a central communist army grew. Zia later placed Taher under charges of treason and Taher was arrested on 24 November 1975. He was tried by a military tribunal inside the Dhaka Central Jail and was sentenced to death. He was executed by hanging on 21 July 1976.
The High Court has declared illegal secret court martial
On 22nd march 2011 The High Court has declared illegal Col. Taher's secret court martial and asked the government to consider him as a martyr.[6]
Sources
Ministry of Defense Gazette Notification No.8/25/D-1/72-1378, Dated 15 December 1973. Sector Documents/1971/No.11 Sector/Liberation War, Ministry of Liberation War Affairs, Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Bangladesh Army, Personnel Services Directorate - Records Office.
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e f Biography at Banglapedia at the Wayback Machine (archived January 10, 2008)
- ^ Codron, Jérémie (October 2007). "Putting Factions 'Back in' the Civil-Military Relations Equation: Genesis, Maturation and Distortion of the Bangladeshi Army". Putting Factions 'Back in' the Civil-Military Relations Equation: Genesis, Maturation and Distortion of the Bangladeshi Army: Par. 20. http://samaj.revues.org/docannexe232.html. Retrieved 2008-02-02. "And Taher was personally difficult to ignore: the 'Taher bahini' was the first battalion to make its way toward the Pakistani army’s Dhaka Headquarters."[dead link]
- ^ a b Ahmed, Emajuddin (1988). Military Rule and the Myth of Democracy. Bangladesh: University Press. p. 84.
- ^ বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধের দলিলপত্র (Liberation war documents, ed. Hasan Hafizur Rahman). Bangladesh: Hakkani Publishers. 1984. pp. 640–657.
- ^ a b "History of Jatiya Samajtantric Dal". http://www.jsdbd.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1&Itemid=3. Retrieved 2009-12-02.
- ^ HC declares Taher trial illegal, retrieved October 28, 2011
Lt. Col. Taher's Writings
External links
Categories:- Bangladeshi military personnel
- Executed activists
- Bangladesh Liberation War
- People from Dhaka
- People executed for treason against Bangladesh
- Executed Bangladeshi people
- 20th-century executions for treason
- 1976 deaths
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