‘It was then 2.15 am…March 26 in 1971’

Weekly Bicitra, a sister concern of the same newspaper, reprinted the piece on the same day in 1974.

“The time was very precious. I called the (Bengali) officers, JCOs (junior commissioned officers) and the jawans (ordinary soldiers) . . . I directed them to appear in armed struggle. They unanimously accepted the order willingly,” Zia wrote.

Ziaur Rahman then moved the troops to the Kalurghat area on the outskirts of the port city where Bengali radio employees had by then set up the makeshift clandestine Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra from where he proclaimed the Independence of Bangladesh.

In that reflective article, Zia recounted the Bengalis’ cultural repression and political marginalisation under Pakistani rule, particularly the prolonged military regimes, as he spent the earlier part of his army career.

“After the creation of Pakistan when (Pakistan’s founder) Mr Jinnah declared in historic Dhaka city that ‘Urdu and only Urdu’ would be the state language of Pakistan, in my opinion from that day Bengali nationalism was sewed in the hearts of Bengalis,” he wrote.

Zia added, “The founder of Pakistan himself had sewed the seed of destruction of the unnatural country on that very day on this field of Dhaka.” He said the actions of the Pakistani junta made armed resistance imperative as well as inevitable.

The article recounted the chronological political developments — the 1952 Language Movement, the 1954 general elections, the military rule under Ayub Khan, the 1965 Pak-India War, the nationalist movements of the 1960s and the subsequent 1970 general elections — as major events that shaped his thinking.

Zia particularly noted Pakistani rulers’ deliberate attempts to obstruct East Pakistan’s development, their despicable attitude towards Bengalis and their efforts to suppress the nationalist uprising as factors that led Bengalis towards their eventual Liberation War.

The 1969 mass uprising and the Agartala conspiracy case accusing Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as the prime suspect reinforced the demand for independence.

“The fate of the case (resulting in unconditional release of Sheikh Mujib) forged the unity of Bengali soldiers, sailors and airmen . . . in solidarity with the Bengali civilian population,” Zia wrote.

Awami League’s landslide victory in the 1970 elections was a major setback for the Pakistani rulers, but their deliberate delay and conspiracies to halt transfer of power heated up the political situation, leading to the start of the nationwide Non-Cooperation Movement in March 1971.

Zia wrote that the Pakistani army began to secretly strengthen military preparedness for the crackdown and, in that backdrop, Sheikh Mujib delivered his landmark 7 March address.

“The historic 7 March speech of Sheikh Mujib at Race Course Maidan appeared to us as the ‘green signal’. We gave our plan its final shape . . . then appeared the black night appeared between 25 and 26 March,” the article read.

Zia wrote that on the night of 25 March, Pakistani forces carried out a brutal massacre of unarmed Bengalis in Dhaka and other major cities, making the horrific hours a pivotal moment for Bengalis to take a “right decision” for waging the Liberation War.

He wrote that at 1am of that black night, his commanding officer ordered him to report to Pakistani General Ansari at Chittagong Port in a navy truck, where he awaited him possibly like an ambush predator “perhaps to receive me forever (for killing)”.

He recalled that on the way to the port, Bengali Major Khalequzzaman Chowdhury intercepted him and informed him about the launch of the Pakistani crackdown, prompting him to return to his battalion where he saw Bengali soldiers had by then detained all Pakistani officers in a room.

Zia wrote that upon reaching his office he tried to communicate with Bengali Lt Colonel MR Chowdhury and Major Rafiqul Islam but could not reach them. After failing to reach the military officers, he called the telephone operator of the civilian service.

“I requested him to inform the deputy commissioner, police superintendent, commissioner, DIG (police) and Awami League leaders that the 8th Battalion of the East Bengal Regiment had revolted and they would fight for the independence of the country,” he wrote.

Zia also wrote that initially he tried to contact all civilian officers by phone but could not reach any, forcing him to approach the telephone operator, who agreed to carry out his request.

He then turned to the Bengali soldiers of the unit and delivered a speech addressing them.

“They knew everything. (Yet) I briefly told them everything,” Zia wrote, describing the moment of revolt.

The article, available on the internet, contained over 3,650 words, while he said a journalist encouraged him to write the piece ahead of the first anniversary of independence, although Zia was initially skeptical about his own writing skills.

“I am a soldier. Writing is a God-gifted talent and soldiers do not naturally possess that rare artistic ability. But that historic moment was so emotional that I too had to write something. I had to pick up the pen,” he wrote.