Today is the 14th anniversary of the death of decorated war hero retired Lieutenant Colonel Quazi Nooruzzaman, Bir Uttam, the commander of the Sector 7 in the War of Independence.
He died in Dhaka on May 6, 2011 at the age of 86.
Nooruzzaman was awarded the second-highest gallantry award of the nation 鈥楤ir Uttam鈥� for his heroic role in the war.
Nooruzzaman joined the liberation war having retired from the Pakistan Army a few years earlier, the savagery of the genocide of March 25 prompting him to take up arms, according to a press release issued on Monday.
He continued to provide leadership in the fight against war criminals and collaborators after the war.
As the chairman of the Muktijudhha Sangsad in the early 1980s, he had demanded the banning of the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and the trial of war criminals. This movement led to him being jailed by the then dictator, General HM Ershad.
Later he was one of the primary founders and organisers of the Ekattorer Ghatajk Dalal Nirmul Committee and was one of the 24 accused by the state for holding the Gono Adalat (people鈥檚 court) to try the war criminals and collaborators, said the release.
Born to Quazi Sadrul Ola and Ratubannessa in Jashore on March 24, 1925, Nooruzzaman studied chemistry at St. Xavier鈥檚 College, Kolkata before joining the British Indian Navy in 1943 with whom he fought in World War II off the coasts of Burma and Sumatra.
In 1946, at the call of Jawaharlal Nehru, he transferred to the Indian Army and received his training at the Indian Military Academy in Dehradun.
As his family opted for Pakistan during partition, Nooruzzaman was then with the Pakistan Army only to retire at the advent of General Ayyub鈥檚 martial law and was transferred to the EPIDC to manage the Narayanganj Dockyard. He returned briefly to military service during the 1965 war.
He took up arms again in March 1971 to join the War of Independence聽and was the sector commander of Sector 7 spanning the present-day districts of Rajshahi, Chapainawabganj, Naogaon, Natore, Pabna, Sirajganj, Bogra, Jaipurhat, Dinajpur and Thakurgaon. 聽
Alongside his movements against war criminals after independence, Nooruzzaman was also a noted progressive writer and thinker.
He was the editor of the weekly Noya Pododdhoni and was the lead editor of the book Ekattorer Ghatok o Dalalra Ke Kothaye. His books include Muktijudhho or Rajniti, Bangladesher Samaj o Rajniti, Swadesh Chinta, and A Sector Commander Remembers Bangladesh Liberation War.
