Sajeeb Wazed Joy, grandson of Bangladesh’s founding father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, has written an account of the killing of his grandfather and most of his family by Mohiuddin Ahmed and his cohorts. Joy’s mother, Mujib’s eldest daughter, survived the massacre of August 15th, 1975 because she and her younger sister were in Germany at the time. The two daughters were the only members of Mujib’s family to have survived the events of August 15, 1975.
I wrote about Mohiuddin and his crimes yesterday. Today hear from a man who lives only by an accident of history:
My grandfather, even though he was the President, continued to live in his personal home in Dhanmondi instead of his official residence at Bangabhaban. It was an average house in a residential neighborhood. If any of you are interested in seeing the house, it is now a museum and I invite you to visit it. It has been preserved just as it was on that night in August 1975.
Mohiuddin and his cohorts killed the security guards and made their way into the house. They confronted my grandfather on the main stairway, where they shot him. They then proceeded through the house, shooting the rest of my family. They shot my grandmother, three uncles and my two older uncles’ wives.
My oldest uncle Kamal’s wife Sultana was five months pregnant and she begged for her life. They shot her anyway, but she was still alive until 9:00 in the morning. Mohiuddin Ahmed himself and another officer, Huda then ordered some of their junior officers to shoot her.
My youngest uncle Russell was just 10 years old. He was terrified and begged them not to kill him. One of the officers took pity on him and tried to save him. This officer took him downstairs and tried to hide Russell. Another officer said “He’s going to grow up like a snake and come back to kill us.” Then Mohiuddin Ahmed, Huda and another officer, Noor, shot Russell.
Along with my immediate family a total of 19 members of my family were murdered that night. My grandfather’s nephew and protégé Moni and his wife were shot in their home right in front of their two sons, Parash and Taposh, who were 6 and 4 at the time. My uncle Moni’s wife was pregnant as well.
The killers then buried the bodies in 18 unmarked graves at the Banani graveyard in Dhaka. To this day we do not know who is in which grave. Only my grandfather was buried separately in his home village of Tungipara.
This narrative was pieced together from confessions of some of the killers and eyewitness accounts, mostly by the staff that worked at my grandfather’s house. Some of them still work for my family.
Read the entire post on Sajeeb Wazed Joy’s blog.
Update: The Los Angeles Times published an article today that features an interview with Sajeeb Wazed Joy. The article also confirms that Mohiuddin’s deportation order will not be enforced until after April 16th.
