A FREEDOM FIGHTER

I interviewed a freedom fighter his name is MEJOR RAFIQUL ISLAM(Bir Uttam).He is a

member of parlament of my area(CHANDPUR 5).He fought as the commander of Sector 1 of
Bangladesh's independence war. For his courage in the war of independence, the
government of Bangladesh gave him the title of BIR UTTAM.

Birth and educational life:

Rafiqul Islam was born in 1943, the village of Naora of Chandpur district. His father's
name was Ashraf Ullah and his mother's name was Rahima Begum. He was the eldest of
three brothers and six sisters. He studied at Naora primary School, Bhandaria in Pirojpur,
Gopalganj, Palang in Faridpur, Chandina in Comilla and Brahmanbaria. After completing
his SSC from Annada Model High School the year of 1959 and Intermediate from Comilla
Victoria College, he entered Economics Department at Dhaka University. In 1981, he
completed the Senior Management Program course at Harvard Business School in the
United States.
CAREER:

During his university studies, Rafiqul Islam became directly involved in the student
movement. Due to his interest in journalism, he started working as a student at the UPP
news agency.In 1963 he joined the Pakistan Army . After receiving training from the Kakul
Military Academy in Pakistan, he received a commission in the Army's Engineering Corps in
1965. He was later taken to the Artillery Corps. He was transferred from Lahore
Cantonment to East Pakistan in 1968. He along with his regiments started working as
Adjutant of the Regiment in Jessore Cantonment. Shortly afterwards, he was transferred to
the deputation to the rank of assistant wing commander of the 8th wing of the EPR in
Dinajpur. From there, he was posted as Adjutant at the Chittagong Sector Headquarters of
East Pakistan Rifles in the first of the year.
e retired by the army on April 29, 1972, he worked as an associate editor of the then
widely publicized English daily 'The People's View' in Chittagong. He was appointed
chairman of Dhaka WASA in October 1977. He later served as chairman of the board of
handlooms and then chairman of the BIWTC until October 1981 to 1990. On December
1990, Bangladesh's first neutral caretaker government as the Adviser to the President
of the Government, with two ministries in the Ministry of Naval Transport and the Civil
Aviation and Tourism Ministry. He was elected a Member of Parliament from Hajiganj-
Shahraste constituency of Chandpur district in the 264th-Chandpur-5 and served as the
Home Minister of the Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh from June 23
to March 11 of 1999. He was again elected a Member of Parliament from Hajiganj-
Shahrasty in Chandpur district for the fourth time. He is currently the Chairman of the
Parliamentary Standing Committee of the Ministry of Naval Transport and a member of
the Parliamentary Standing Committee of the Ministry of Planning.
Contribution to the War of Liberation

In 1971 Rafiqul Islam served as Captain of the Pakistan Army as Adjutant in the East
Pakistan Rifles in Chittagong. Seeing the situation of the deployment of troops from West
Pakistan to the then East Pakistan and observing the political situation of the country, he
decided to revolt for the need for independence and accordingly took preparations. The
meeting is up for revolt,24th march of 1971 Captain Rafiqul Islam virtually started a
rebellion on the night . By his orders, the Bengali troops at the border area disarmed and
disabled the non-Bengali sepoys and came to Chittagong to join the war. On the request of
AR Chowdhury and Major Ziaur Rahman, Rafiqul Islam canceled their order to come to
Chittagong that day. But the next day, on March 25,1971, realizing the conflict was almost
inevitable, Captain Rafiq started an active rebellion and captured the non-Bengali soldiers
and officers of EPR and set up his headquarters at Railway Hill. The soldiers vested under
him.By using MV Swat ship the soliders started Arms from the Swat vessel obstruct the way
Later, Lieutenant Colonel Chowdhury and Major Ziaur Rahman, in the absence of
timely decision, killed thousand of Bengali soldiers and officers and their family of the
20th Baloch Regiment at East Bengal Regimental Center in Chittagong. The Bengali
officers and soldiers of the 8th East Bengal Regiment, under Major Ziaur Rahman, left
the cantonment and marched towards the Kalurghat Bridge. But for mysterious
reasons, Major Ziaur Rahman, under the command of Captain Rafiq, who arrived from
other border areas of Chittagong, barred from joining Captain Rafiq's forces in
Chittagong and forced the 8th East Bengal troops to remain in Kalurghat Bridge area.
Due to this reason, Captain Rafique failed to maintain proper occupation in Chittagong
due to lack of troops and at one point retreated with great loss of Pakistani army.
Later, Captain Rafiq fought with his forces in different areas of Chittagong and was
forced to deploy to the HORINA area on the outskirts of his headquarters under
increasing pressure. Later, from here he served as the 1no Sector Commander in the
Chittagong area. On 17 December 1971, Captain Rafiqul Islam lowered the Pakistani
flag at the Chittagong Circuit House and hoisted the Bangladesh flag.