Rahnuma Ahmed “If you have come to help me you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together” – Lisa Watson, aboriginal activist 1971 ‘No, I … Continue reading
Winter, War and Refugee Camps Julian Francis “So, what were you doing in December, 1971?”, asked a colleague the other day. Every year at this time, as well as in the month of March, I remember vividly the birth of … Continue reading
Subscribe to ShahidulNews By Rahnuma Ahmed A national convention of freedom fighters organised by supporters and activists of Jamaat-e-Islami and its students’ wing Islami Chhatra Shibir. An outright appropriation. The only problem is, Mohammad Ali saw through it. A single … Continue reading
Subscribe to ShahidulNews The Bangladesh war was one of the 20th century’s bloodiest, yet outside the region, little is known about it. Now, 37 years on, an exhibition records the painful birth of a nation. Tahmima Anam report Victorious Muktis … Continue reading
Subscribe to ShahidulNews They had risked all to hold on to this moment in history. The scarred negatives, hidden from the military, wrapped in old cloth, buried underground, also bore the wounds of war. These photographers were the only soldiers … Continue reading
Thirty five year ago, even longer perhaps, just a camera in hand, they had gone out to bring back a fragment of living history. Today, those photographs join them in protest. Peering through the crisp pages of the newly printed … Continue reading
14th December 1971. The stark dismembered face stared from the bricks in the Rayerbazar graveyard. It was a last ditch attempt by an occupation army to leave a nation they had been unable to subdue, crippled intellectually and culturally. Rashid … Continue reading
Subscribe to ShahidulNews Keeping the door ajar, so she wouldn’t get accidentally locked out, Amma stood waving at the doorstep of 1, Birkdale Road, long after the taxi was out of her view. I didn’t bring it up then, but … Continue reading
25th March 1971. My eldest niece had just been born the day before. It was a premature birth. Amma had found a Mariam flower and the flower had bloomed, heralding the birth. She had stayed behind at the clinic. We … Continue reading
Subscribe to ShahidulNews Iqbal had asked me when we first met. “Bhaiya, where are Barkat and Salaam’s graves?” I didn’t know. He was 10, I was 39. As a 15 year old in 1971, I had felt the warm flush … Continue reading
