Khondakar Abu Taleb (1921-1971) was a Bangladeshi journalist who was killed by Pakistani Army in the Bangladesh Liberation and is considered a "martyr" in Bangladesh.

Early life

Taleb was born on 23 March 1921 in Satani, Satkhira,

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 Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was him ...

. He finished school from Satkhira PN School in 1944. He graduated from Kolkata Ripon College. In 1948 he competed his bachelor's degree in commerce and in 1956 he completed his law degree from

Surendranath Law College Surendranath Law College (''Bengali'' :সুরেন্দ্রনাথ আইন কলেজ) formerly known as ''Ripon College'') is an postgraduate law college affiliated with the University of Calcutta. It was established in Kolkata in ...

Career

Taleb started his journalism career in

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

, West Bengal, after the partition of India he moved to

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city i ...

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 ...

. He worked in a number of East Bengal newspapers, including '' Pakistan Observer'', ''Sangbad'', ''

Daily Azad Daily or The Daily may refer to: Journalism * Daily newspaper, newspaper issued on five to seven day of most weeks * ''The Daily'' (podcast), a podcast by ''The New York Times'' * ''The Daily'' (News Corporation), a defunct US-based iPad new ...

'', ''Ittefaq'' and ''Paigam''. From 1961 to 1962 he was the general secretary of East Pakistan Journalist union. Till 1965 he was the chief reporter of the '' Daily Ittefaq''. In 1966 the Pakistan government closed down ''Ittefaq''. He joined the ''Daily Sandhya Awaz'' as the managing director, of which then

Abdul Gaffar Choudhury Abdul Gaffar Choudhury (12 December 1934 – 19 May 2022) was a Bangladeshi-born British writer, journalist, columnist, political analyst and poet. He wrote the lyrics to "Amar Bhaier Rokte Rangano", a widely celebrated song commemorating the ...

was the editor. His paper was the first to the publish the Six Point demand of Sheikh Mujib in Bangla, which demanded autonomy of East Pakistan. The translation was personally done by him. In 1969 he joined a law firm as a consultant and worked as the feature editor of the ''Daily Paigam''. He was supportive of the non-cooperation movement in

East Pakistan East Pakistan was a Pakistani province established in 1955 by the One Unit Policy, renaming the province as such from East Bengal, which, in modern times, is split between India and Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India and Myanmar, wi ...

and Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971.

Death and legacy

Taleb was arrested on 29 March 1971 by members of Pakistan army with collaboration of the

Biharis The Biharis () is a demonym given to the inhabitants of the Indian state of Bihar. Bihari people can be separated into three main Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic groups, Bhojpuris, Maithils and Magadhis. They are also further divided into a v ...

in Mirpur. His dead body was found afterwards. On 14 December 1993 the

Bangladesh Post Office The Bangladesh Post Office ( bn, বাংলাদেশ ডাক বিভাগ) also known by trade name Bangla Post is a government-operated agency responsible for providing postal services in Bangladesh. It is a subsidiary of the Ministr ...

released commemorative stamps with his image and name. In 2011,

Abdul Quader Molla Abdul Quader Molla ( bn, আব্দুল কাদের মোল্লা; 14 August 1948 – 12 December 2013) was a Bangladeshi Islamist leader, writer, and politician of the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, who was convicted of war crimes and ...

, a leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami, was charged by the Bangladesh International Crimes Tribunal with the killing of Taleb, among five other charges of crimes against humanity. The charge was that Molla along with other members of Al Badr and non-Bangalees, detained Taleb from Mirpur 10 bus stand and tied him up with a rope, brought to the Mirpur Jallad Khana Pump House and killed. In 2013, Molla was found guilty and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment for the murder of Taleb, and life imprisonment on other charges. Many activists reacted to the verdict by protesting and demonstrating, demanding the death penalty, which culminated in the

2013 Shahbag protests On 5 February 2013, protests began in Shahbag, Bangladesh, following demands for the execution of Abdul Quader Mollah, who had been sentenced to life imprisonment and convicted on five of six counts of war crimes by the International Crime ...

. The Supreme Court revised the sentence to death, and Molla was hanged in 2013.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Taleb, Khondakar Abu 1921 births 1971 deaths Bangladeshi journalists People killed in the Bangladesh Liberation War Surendranath Law College alumni 20th-century journalists