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বিজয় দিবস সংখ্যা ২০০৮
Tales of
Bengalis in Britain: 1971
Ansar Ahmed Ullah
In 2005 the Swadhinata Trust
embarked on an oral history project, Tales of Three Generation of Bengalis in
Britain, which voiced three generations’ experience of being Bengali in
multicultural Britain. The project consisted of a collection of fifty eight oral
histories with a focus on three specific themes: ‘roots and memory’
(dialogue between first and third generation on the history of Bangladesh and
the 1971 war of independence); ‘community creativity’ (dialogue between
second and third generation on welfare and community involvement in the UK, from
the 1970s-80s) and finally ‘popular culture: between tradition and innovation’
(across three generations, mainly focusing on traditional and more recent
British Bengali musical heritage, from the 1970s-80s). For this article I will
only look at ‘roots and memory’ on the history of Bangladesh and the 1971
war of independence.
According to 2001 census there
are 283,063 Bengalis (from Bangladesh, excluding West Bengal) currently living
in the UK and in Inner London they constitute the third largest ethnic group
after the White British. Despite their substantial presence within the ‘global
city’ of London and in urban centres across the country such as Luton,
Birmingham and Manchester, oral histories of their settlement within this
country has been limited to a few pioneering publications. Many of the first
settlers are now elderly. Sadly some have already passed away and their memories
and experiences are being lost as their testimonies have not been recorded and
preserved.
The theme ‘roots and memory’
we looked at was - the history of Bangladesh and the 1971 war of independence.
We began with people’s memories of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and events
leading to the liberation war.
The interviews made it clear the
liberation war was not just fought in the Bengal delta. By 1971 a small but
growing Bengali community had been established in the UK and in many places,
such as London, Luton, Birmingham and Manchester, they worked with or lived near
Pakistanis, who had migrated from the Punjab and Kashmir. It is interesting to
note that Bengalis were active in political activity before 1971 as they
supported greater autonomy for East Pakistan in 1966 and campaigned for East
Pakistan’s leader, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s release after he was arrested in
1968.
During the war of Bangladesh in
1971, the community played an important role in highlighting the atrocities
taking place in Bangladesh, lobbying British government and the international
community and raising funds for the refugees and the Bengali freedom fighters.
It is said that some people donated their entire week’s salary and at least in
one case where a women donated her entire wedding gift of gold jewelry. There
were even people willing to go and fight in Bangladesh. Many Bengalis talked
about the prejudice they faced from Pakistanis in the UK. There were even
physical clashes between Pakistanis and Bengalis as the war started. Many
Bengalis talked about the prejudice they faced from Pakistanis in the UK. There
were even physical clashes between Pakistanis and Bengalis as the war started.
Tunu Miah, a school student
during the war said, ‘the Pakistanis treated us very bad, the played like the
kings, and thought that we were slaves. They are good, they are learned, they
are good Muslims also, and the Bengalis are a nation of slaves, they are not
good Muslims. And the Bengalis who originated from the Hindus are not good
Muslims at all. They talked (spoke) with (to) us without any respect, even when
we were talking to them with due respect.’ Another Bengali activist who was
active in Luton town said, ‘We had good relation with the Pakistanis at the
beginning. But as the war started, we had very critical relationship with one
another. We were annoyed and angry with them. They used to attack us on the
streets just after the war started but later we protested and used to fight
them. We used to move in groups and were prepared to fight them anywhere we
faced them.’
Mrs Anowara Jahan of the
Bangladesh Women’s Association (BWA) handed in letters to different MPs in the
House of Commons for support of the War of Liberation. She was closely linked to
Michael Barnes MP and John Stonehouse MP. She wrote letters on behalf of the BWA
to different world leaders and attended the Labour and Conservative annual party
conferences raising awareness among political leaders about the genocide in
Bangladesh.
Mrs Kulsum Ullah another member
and organiser of Bangladesh Women’s Association in Britain were associated in
raising fund and relief for the War of Liberation. In an interview she described
organising of rallies, ‘The campaigns were usually arranged in Sundays and
almost regularly. The whole nine months I was busy keeping aside my kids and
family…The largest women gathering was achieved in the biggest demonstration, I
alone took 150 women at least … People from all over UK participated in all the
rallies; they came from Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds and Bristol, all parts of
England.’
Mrs Badrun Nesa Pasha was one
the founding members of Birmingham Action Committee, a sympathetic supporter to
the War of Independence. She was the woman who donated her entire matrimonial
jewelry, after she delivered a passionate speech in front of thousands of
supporters, in a demonstration where the flag of Bangladesh was first raised in
Smallheath Park, Birmingham.
According to Mrs Pasha, there
were people willing to go and fight in Bangladesh. Mrs Pasha narrated, ‘we
organised a demonstration and a camp to recruit volunteer fighters for
liberation of Bangladesh, because the war was becoming quite heavy. There were
people in Birmingham who started to recruit young people who wanted to be
volunteers to go on the battlefield. There were queue for the selection and
recruitment. There was an English barman, who came and said, “I want to fight
for Bangladesh liberation movement”. That was quite interesting for us and we
couldn’t believe that white people were ready to fight for Bangladesh.’
A key feature of this period was
the support provided by members of the White British majority – in this case,
politicians, diplomats, lawyers and journalists. Interviews in this theme also
contained traumatic issues. Mr Aziz Choudhury vividly remembers in his
interview, during the war in Bangladesh, when he was placed before a firing
squad by the Pakistani army in Dhaka airport. By a strange twist of fate his
life was spared quite literally from the jaws of death. He was also an eye
witness to the massacre of ordinary people by the Pakistani army in the streets
of Dhaka in March 1971.
To date no comprehensive history
of the independence movement in the UK or the contribution of White British and
the local Bengali community has been documented. A few, including Justice Abu
Sayeed Choudhury, special envoy of Mujibnagar Govt, writer Abdul Matin,
community historian Yousuf Chowdhury, Sheikh Abdul Mannan of Steering Committee
and the Bangladesh Welfare Association have attempted to document the history
of the contribution of the diaspora Bengali community. In recent times both the
Bangladesh High Commission and Channel S have acknowledged the contribution and
have honoured a number of activists. Though Swadhinata Trust’s attempt to
record memories of the war of independence and the community involvement
through the oral history project added new information there are of course still
many facts to be revealed about the War of Independence of Bangladesh and the
movement that took place in the UK.
Ansar Ahmed Ullah: Political
and cultural activist
Uploaded: 16 December 2008 |
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