Seemin’s thank you to Tripura

Sonamura (Tripura): Sixty-year-old Seemin Hossain Rimi, daughter of the first prime minister of Bangladesh who along with her family escaped to Tripura after a murderous military crackdown during the 1971 war for liberation of Bangladesh, has made the journey back to thank the people of the tiny northeastern state.

Sonamura a small town bordering Comilla district of Bangladesh, sheltered thousands of refugees from East Pakistan during the war and also housed a training camp for Mukti Bahini (Free Bangladesh forces) as well as a makeshift hospital for them. Rimi, now a Member of Bangladesh’s Parliament, is the daughter of Tajuddin Ahmad, who led the Provisional Government of Bangladesh as its PM during the Liberation War in 1971 and is regarded as one of the leaders instrumental for the birth of Bangladesh.“I cannot believe that I am standing before the bungalow of the then Sub-divisional Officer, who arranged for our shelter and gave us security. My tears now are of joy... the educational institutions were closed in Tripura during that time to provide us shelter”, she said while reminiscing of those tumultuous days on Thursday.

She went to Delhi to attend a programme to celebrate fifty years of Bangladesh’s freedom and friendship between the two countries and on the way back made a detour to Tripura for three days to pay her “tribute to the people” of the state.

When her father was despatched to India by the Awami League to lead his countrymen’s war efforts, her mother Syeda Zohura Begum along with four minor children went into hiding to escape the marauding Pakistan army, and then moved from one safe home to another on her way to India and safety.

She narrated the family’s harrowing seven-day-long journey from Dhaka to Boxanagar, a distance of about 80 kms. —(PTI)