ABM Nurul Alam or ''Abu Barek Mohammad Nurul Alam'' was a Bangladesh physician who was killed in the

Bangladesh Liberation war The Bangladesh Liberation War ( bn, মুক্তিযুদ্ধ, , also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence, or simply the Liberation War in Bangladesh) was a revolution and War, armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Benga ...

. He is considered a martyr in

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

Early life

Alam was born in Dhantala, Bochaganj,

Dinajpur Dinajpur ( bn, দিনাজপুর ) is a city and the District headquarters of Dinajpur district situated in Rangpur Division, Bangladesh. It was founded in 1786. It is located 413 km north-west of Dhaka in Bangladesh. It is bounde ...

East Bengal ur, , common_name = East Bengal , status = Province of the Dominion of Pakistan , p1 = Bengal Presidency , flag_p1 = Flag of British Bengal.svg , s1 = East ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

in 1929. He was involved in the Bengali language movement. He graduated from

Dhaka Medical College Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (abbreviated DMCH) is a public medical college and hospital located in Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh. It houses medical school as well as a tertiary care hospital on one campus. The country's first eve ...

in 1961 after completing his MBBS.

Career

Alam joined the Santahar Railway Hospital as an assistant surgeon. On 25 March 1971, the

started with the start of

Operation Searchlight Operation Searchlight was the codename for a planned military operation carried out by the Pakistan Army in an effort to curb the Bengali nationalist movement in former East Pakistan in March 1971. Pakistan retrospectively justified the opera ...

. Communal riots broke out between the Bengali and non-Bengali ( Bihari) residents of Santahar. He provided medical aid to the injured. On 26 March 1971, he and his family sought refuge in the hospital after the

Pakistan Army The Pakistan Army (, ) is the Army, land service branch of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The roots of its modern existence trace back to the British Indian Army that ceased to exist following the partition of India, Partition of British India, wh ...

with the help of non-Bengali people attacked the

Bengali people Bengalis (singular Bengali bn, বাঙ্গালী/বাঙালি ), also rendered as Bangalee or the Bengali people, are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group originating from and culturally affiliated with the Bengal region of S ...

. He and his family moved Haisabari,

Naogaon Naogaon ( bn, নওগাঁ ''Nôogã'') is a city and district headquarter of Naogaon District in northern Bangladesh. It is located in the bank of Mini Jamuna river. It is the centre of commerce within the Naogaon District Naogaon Di ...

then Shahbazpur, Rajshahi. He moved to Rajshahi town (now city) with the aim to move to India. He was arrested by Pakistan army from a pharmacy in the city on allegations that he helped

Mukti Bahini The Mukti Bahini ( bn, মুক্তিবাহিনী, translates as 'freedom fighters', or liberation army), also known as the Bangladesh Forces, was the guerrilla resistance movement consisting of the Bangladeshi military, paramilitary ...

. He was taken to Zoha Hall of

Rajshahi University The University of Rajshahi, also known as Rajshahi University or RU ( bn, রাজশাহী বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়), is a public co-educational research university in Bangladesh situated near the northern Bangladeshi cit ...

Death

Alam was shot and killed on 20 November 1971 while in Pakistan Army custody.

References

1929 births 1971 deaths People killed in the Bangladesh Liberation War Dhaka Medical College alumni People from Dinajpur District, Bangladesh Bangladeshi surgeons 20th-century surgeons {{Bangladesh-bio-stub