Abul Khair (1929 – 14 December 1971) was a
Bengali
Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to:
*something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia
* Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region
* Bengali language, the language they speak
** Bengali alphabet, the w ...
educator.
[
]
Education and career
Khair joined the department of history of the University of Dhaka
The University of Dhaka (also known as Dhaka University, or DU) is a public research university located in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It is the oldest university in Bangladesh. The university opened its doors to students on July 1st 1921. Currently i ...
in 1955 as a lecturer. He did his Ph.D.
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...
on foreign policy in the United States as regards the Indian subcontinent from 1937 to 1947. An enthusiastic supporter of the independence movement of Bangladesh, he was an activist inside the university organizing movements for the autonomy of the university and the non-cooperation movement.
Death
Khair was picked up by the Pakistani army sometime in August 1971, together with a few of the other Dhaka University teachers. That time he was released after a month. He stayed back in his university flat from where he was picked up by the Al Badrs on 10 December, never to return. He was murdered.[ Khair's mutilated body was found gagged and blindfolded with a bedsheet 21 days later at an abandoned brick kiln at Rayer Bazar. It was his wife Sayeda's ]chador
A chādor ( Persian, ur, چادر, lit=tent), also variously spelled in English as chadah, chad(d)ar, chader, chud(d)ah, chadur, and naturalized as , is an outer garment or open cloak worn by many women in the Persian-influenced countries of I ...
that led to his identity being established.
/ref>
On the same site at Rayer Bazar lay bodies of dozens of other intellectuals killed in the same way.Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin
Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin ( bn, চৌধুরী মঈনুদ্দীন; born 27 November 1948), is a war criminal convicted for the killing of Bengali intellectuals in collaboration with the Pakistan Army during the Bangladesh Liberati ...
, a Muslim leader based in London, and Ashrafuz Zaman Khan
Ashrafuz Zaman Khan ( bn, আশরাফুজ্জামান খান, ur, ; born February 28, 1948) is one of the convicted masterminds of 1971 killing of Bengali intellectuals. In 1971, he was a member of the Central Committee of the I ...
, based in the US, were sentenced in absentia
is Latin for absence. , a legal term, is Latin for "in the absence" or "while absent".
may also refer to:
* Award in absentia
* Declared death in absentia, or simply, death in absentia, legally declared death without a body
* Election in ab ...
after the court found that they were involved in the abduction and murders of 18 people—nine Dhaka University teachers (including Dr. Khair), six journalists and three physicians—in December 1971.
Gallery
See also
* 1971 Bangladesh atrocities
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Khair, Dr Abul
1929 births
1971 deaths
Bangladeshi murder victims
People murdered in Bangladesh
People killed in the Bangladesh Liberation War