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Excerpt from History Wars - Kamal Hossain Interview (Part 2)

30 November 2015

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Alal O Dulal

History Wars: Kamal Hossain Interview (Part 2)
Posted on November 27, 2015 by tokai

With Awami League members after the 1970 elections

Our history is never still, and there are always processes of rewriting Bangladesh’s history, erasing crucial figures. The best response to such history wars is to let the record speak, when possible. In an Alal O Dulal exclusive, we have translated a 37 page interview of Kamal Hossain (from Shaptahik magazine, 2014). This is the second part.

To political analysts the name Dr. Kamal Hossain evokes wide-ranging emotions: from respect and reverence to disappointment and frustration. ‘Nostalgia,’ ‘lost moment,’ and ‘could-have-been’ have been the dominant moods to haunt Dr. Hossain in the last two decades. His role as nation’s lonely conscience extends to his public admission that a “historic mistake†was made in excluding Adivasi and other non-Bengali communities from the 1972 Bangladesh Constitution –- a document that he was the primary author of. We say lonely because such admission of mistake is a rare characteristic in Bangladesh politics. Perhaps that is why he could never prevail in the political scene, as he appealed to morality and truth, not paranoia and coercion.

The chief legal negotiator at Sheikh Mujib’s side during the Yahya-Bhutto-Mujib tripartite talks before March 1971, Kamal Hossain is also one of the few members of the core 1971 group of the AL who survived the brutal August 1975 coup, because he was outside the country at that time. He was also the man who contested national elections from AL as the party started coming above ground again. Later he also was involved in the return of current PM Sheikh Hasina to Bangladesh.

Because of the poor electoral performance of his later political party Gono Forum, in radical contrast with his international stature, Kamal Hossain represents a strand of “bhodrolok†malaise (even more than Dr Yunus): a class of people educated few generations earlier than the mainstream of East Bengal, who reached high international achievement, but domestically were never able to be in charge of political events. Some see in this a weathervane shift in Bangladesh politics, where there is increasingly no space for those who play by the rules and do not use muscle power.

Kamal Hossain 3Yet, his achievements in last days of pre-71 Pakistan, and the first years of independent Bangladesh, are undeniable. It was possibly his, and our, shining moment.

Today we present the concluding Part -2.

– Editors, AlalODulal

Continued from Part 1

Shaptahik: Then what did they say?

Dr. Kamal Hossain: Said that we can’t save you anymore. You will be tried. There is no way to save your leader either. We thought you are young, if you could be saved somehow. But you have refused to cooperate. This was June. July, August had also passed. Uncertainty continued. Summer was fierce. On 5 September an officer ranked at major level produce a paper, “receive this†. That was the charge of conspiracy against me. I said, after reading, “this cannot be structured this way. It is not proper. When bringing charges, specific complaints have to be identified definitely. As a lawyer, I am aware of this. Although on this charge sheet they are absent†.

Then the Major replied, “I do not know the law. I had been ordered. So I brought it. I have nothing to say about this. I know nothing about this†.

I said, “I object. I want to know about the complaints in detail†. He replied, “Ok, lodge your complaints through the jail authority†.

I received the charge-sheet. The next day I told the jail authority that I was writing an objection to this. I did not get a radio or the newspapers. There were a number of privileges mentioned in the jail codes. Ordinary detainees had them, but I did not. For example, I was not allowed to get out the enclosure. I had been here from April to September. I had been there for so many months, still I was not shown any jail rules. Although I knew that other prisoners walked about from morning to evening. They were involved in other activities. And only went back to their cells at lock up times. Whereas I was locked up all the time. I was not even allowed beyond the enclosure.

Why was this? I had asked the Major. He replied that none of these was his concerns. He had come from the Peshawar Army Headquarter. He had been instructed to deliver the charge sheet and gather the receipt. He had no authority beyond that. “Lodge your complaints in writing through the jail authority†.

When I had asked him who should I write this to, he replied, “To the concerned authority†.

Shaptahik: Didn’t you tell the jail authority?

Dr. Kamal Hossain: I told this to the jail superintendent. He replied that these were beyond his authority. That I was in Military custody in the Jail. Home Ministry was not the appropriate authority in my case. Rather, Martial Law headquarter was. He would forward my objections there.

In the meantime a doctor came in the cell. Enquired about my illness, He would prescribe medicine. I was feigning illness thinking that they would let me out of the cell. But none of my tricks to get out had worked.

Then either at the end of October or beginning of November they told me that there will be a trial of me. That they had been instructed to make arrangements within the jail for the trial. For the first time, I was allowed to walk outside of my cell. I went out and turned right to walk a few paces – there was a one storey building which looked like a barrack, that was the jail hospital. There was a room inside where a few chairs had been arranged to conduct hearing of the trial. A stage was put where the judges would sit. A rehearsal was carried out. I was shown the path on which I would be brought to the court, “this way you would be taken back to your cell†. I actually felt a bit better with the change.

Shaptahik: Where was your family?

Dr. Kamal Hossain: My family was in Karachi. After this notice, they came to see me once in the jail. Sometime in April, they had managed the approval for the visit. My father-in-law lived in Karachi. My wife stayed with her father after getting the permission to see me. May be a letter came in September. When I met my family in September, I had asked them to arrange a lawyer for me. When they intended to see me after getting this notice, I had asked to prepare legal defense etc.

Shaptahik: Did you family suffered any torture?

Dr. Kamal Hossain: My wife was instructed not to leave Karachi. The kids were very young. Of my brother-in-laws, as far as I can remember, one was perhaps in the Pakistan Foreign Service, another was a high official in C.S.P – most probably was the secretariat of the Governor. Probably my brother-in-law had singed my arrest order. My family was in Karachi in such circumstances.

Shaptahik: What did they say about the trial?

Dr. Kamal Hossain: My wife had come to see me when she heard about the trial. I said, please arrage a lawyer for me. I thought, if there was a trial my family could also come and observe the proceeding in the court. We would get to see more of each other.

The jail authority said they did not know when would the trial begin. A date was set in November. I was eagerly waiting. All of a sudden the officials at the jail said to me, look the team had arrived for my trial was packing up and leaving.

I was very nervous, hearing this. I told the jail superintendent, I had prepared for the trial. My lawyer was yet to arrive. I had told my family that they would be able to come here during the trial. I was getting no news of them.

The superintendent said Eid was coming up soon, may be the trial team would return soon after the trial. I realised that he was only trying to console me. Later I understood that from then on the politics had changed sharply. It was end of November. It was also turning points of our freedom fight. I understood because, they had muddied a wall which was whitewashed only a while ago. I thought that it was interesting. When asked, they replied “civil defense†. Fearing bombing from the sky. That’s why this precaution. It was very interesting. It was preparation for a war. They did not say war, but used the words “civil defense†.

Shaptahik: Did notice any big change?

Presenting-the-draft-constitution-in-the-Parliament-web

Dr. Kamal Hossain: Within two weeks two things happened. One, all lights were turned off. Within the jail compound there were very bright lights, they were turned off which made the compound very dark. It was eerie. I was already confined. I asked, what was the issue. They replied, no, no, it’s just “civil defense†.

After a few days, a siren went off. I was instructed to stand under a tree whenever the siren went off. Again, same response to my query, “civil defense†.

It was November’s cold. The place was Haripur. Meaning the highway leads to Kashmir. Meaning cold winds flows thorough the region in winter.

On the second day when they started the same routine for “civil defense†, I said, “look in doing this routine you as well as I will die of the cold. Rather, lets stay inside. If we are bombed, we are bombed. And as bombs are likely to destroy a large area, we would die when it fell whether we are inside or out under the tree†.

There was an open space like a field. A few people hurdled there for shelter whenever the siren had gone off. I asked why I was not allowed to go there. The guard replied I was not allowed. Then I told him that I had rather stayed inside my cell. Then I had an agreement with him that if there was an inspecting officer on round we both would get out to stand under the tree, other wise not. There were many such agreements. With this arrangement for the next few days I was able to stay under my blanket, inside the cell. The next few days would have been perhaps December 7, 8, 10.

Shaptahik: Then?

Dr. Kamal Hossain: All of a sudden one day all lights were lit. Almost all lights at once. It would be 15 or 16 December.

The superintend came the next morning to my cell, “How come there is no arm-chair in your cell? These people do not look after anything. Hey, someone bring an arm-chair. Winter days, this jail produces quality carpets. No one laid a carpet here. Hey, bring a carpet†. Then he opened the next cell, brought a few more arm-chairs to make it a sitting room of a sort, etc. The meals had started to arrive in trays with three items. I thought, what’s the matter? For nine months I had been getting Daal in a tin-box and a bread wrapped in clothes, sometimes rice. But why so many items today? They replied, “The Doctor had asked to give me improved diet. Tomorrow we will take you to tour the jail. Said, you guys are political people, you come here only for few days. And when you get out of here you become ministers. Please look after us. Other VIPs planted trees here. Abdul Gaffar khan, during the British period, and some prominent personalities from the Congress†. I said I wasn’t anywhere near that stature. He showed me the compound, “This is the jail hospital, this is the factory where we make carpets†.
[. . .]
SEE FULL INTERVIEW AT: http://alalodulal.org/2015/11/27/khpart-2/

P.S.

The above excerpt from Alal O Dulal interview is reproduced here for educational and non commercial use