Zia Memorial Museum | |
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জিয়া স্মৃতি জাদুঘর | |
General information | |
Type |
|
Address | Shahid Saifuddin Khaled Road, Kazir Dewri, Chittagong |
Country | Bangladesh |
Coordinates | 22°20′54″N91°49′26″E / 22.3482315°N 91.8238808°E |
Completed | 1913 |
Client | British Raj |
Owner | Bangladesh National Museum |
Technical details | |
Floor count | 2 |
Website | |
ziamuseum |
Zia Memorial Museum, also known as Old Circuit House was a circuit house building. Ziaur Rahman, the seventh president of Bangladesh, was assassinated in the building in 1981. Today it is a museum. It is located in Chittagong, Bangladesh.
In 1913, the British Raj authority established the circuit house in Chittagong which was used as a residential building for government officials. Seven years after the establishment of the state of Pakistan, on 5 June 1954, the newly established broadcasting center of Radio Pakistan in the city started its journey from this building. [1] During the liberation war in 1971, the Pakistan Army chose Chittagong Circuit House as their military base. They converted several rooms of the building into torture cells. They used to torture Bengalis in these rooms. From the circuit house area later skeleton skulls of some freedom fighters who were tortured by electric shock in this building were found. Moreover, girls were raped and tortured in this building. Raped girls were killed by the Pakistani army when they became pregnant. The bodies of the victims were later thrown into the well adjacent to the area. [2] On 17 December 1971, [3] after the day of the surrender of the Pakistani army and the liberation of Chittagong, the flag of Pakistan on the flagpole of the Circuit House building was lowered and the flag of Bangladesh was flown by Rafiqul Islam. At that time people gathered in front of Circuit House to welcome the freedom fighters. [4]
In 1981, President Ziaur Rahman, founder of Bangladesh Nationalist Party, reached the Circuit House building on 29 May to resolve the dispute between the leaders of the local wing of his political party. At that time, Colonel Matiur Rahman planned to capture Ziaur Rahman and bring him to Chittagong Cantonment to demand the demotion of Hussain Muhammad Ershad who was the then army chief of Bangladesh Army, and the army officers who had not participated in the 1971 war on their behalf and returned from Pakistan after the liberation war. For that purpose, on the night of 30 May, when the soldiers supported by Colonel Matiur Rahman and Lieutenant Colonel Mehbubur Rahman advanced towards the circuit house building, a fight started between Zia's security forces and them. At one stage the attackers forcibly took Ziaur Rahman out of a room in the building and Colonel Matiur Rahman shot him dead. [5]
Four days after Ziaur Rahman's death, a proposal to make the building a museum was approved by the ministry of Abdus Sattar. It was then inaugurated during the First Khaleda ministry on 6 September 1993. [6] The museum is currently closed. [7]
Here Ziaur Rahman's complete life is presented in 17 galleries that saw at least 150 visitors to the museum daily. The museum preserves the site where Ziaur Rahman was killed and the wall where the bullet hit when Colonel shot Zia. There is a replica of his mausoleum, his personal belongings [8] and the stretcher that carried Zia's body. [9] The microphone used by M. A. Hannan and Zia to broadcast the Proclamation of Bangladeshi Independence at the Kalurghat Radio Center is preserved in this museum. [10]
On 11 February 2019, Awami League politician Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury expressed the desire to rename the museum to Liberation War Memorial Museum. He felt that the building is a witness to the torture of victims by the Pakistani army during the liberation war and that's why its name needs to be changed to show the people the real contribution of the building to history. Khandkar Mosharraf Hossain, a politician of Bangladesh Nationalist Party, opposed his proposal. [2] The next day, a group of members of Bangladesh Chhatra League and Jubo League erased Zia's name from the signboard of the museum and hung a picture of Mohibul there. They then organized a human chain in the museum area. [11]
On 6 September 2021, Murad Hasan, the then Information Minister, said that the museum would be moved from its current location and the building would be converted back into its former state and the microphone housed in the museum would be sent to Kalurghat radio centre building. [10] On 28 October of that year, AKM Mozammel Haque, the Liberation War Affairs Minister, said in a meeting that official documents related to the conversion of Chittagong Circuit House into Zia Memorial Museum could not be found. He also announced a plan to its removal from its current location and build a new bigger museum and also assured to discuss with the administration how to preserve the existing museum building. [8]
On 4 May 2022, Mohibul said in an event that although many efforts were made to change its name, the Ministry of Culture did not take initiative to change the name. He called upon the Swachhasebak League to conduct the mass signature process for the purpose of changing the name. [12] A week after this, the mass signature program was held. [6] Three days later, Chhatra League staged a human chain in Chittagong demanding the name of Zia Memorial Museum be changed to Freedom Fighters Museum. [13] On 22 June 2022, the leaders of the Chittagong metropolitan section of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party demanded that the museum be opened to all, which has been closed for several days so far. [7]
Ziaur RahmanBU HJ HOR was a Bangladeshi military officer, freedom fighter and politician who served as the sixth President of Bangladesh from 1977 until his assassination in 1981. One of the leading figures of country's Liberation War, he broadcast the Bangladeshi declaration of independence on 27 March 1971 from Chittagong. He was the founder of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). He previously served as the third chief of army staff from 1975 to 1978 with a minor break.
Shah Azizur Rahman was a Bangladeshi politician who served as the prime minister of Bangladesh. However, he was the subject of considerable controversy for his collaboration with the Pakistan Army against the struggle for the independence of Bangladesh.
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Lt. Col. Abu Taher BU was a Bangladeshi military officer and war hero. He first served in the Pakistan Army, and later defected to the Bangladesh Army during the Bangladesh Liberation War. He crossed into India around early August and reported to the Indian authorities. After a week screening at Dehradun, India, Taher reported to Kolkata, Bangladesh Provincial government at 8 Theatre Rd. He was ordered to report to Sector 11 of Mukti Bahini under command of Major Ziaur Rahman, he became the sector commander after him. He served in BDF from end of August to 2 November 1971. He was awarded the medal Bir Uttom for his gallantry in the liberation war. He was released from military service by Indian military medical board in Pune, India after his leg was amputated. After independence, he was inducted into the Bangladesh Army for administrative retirement with legacy rank of lieutenant colonel. After settling in with family, the government of Bangladesh appointed him with employment at Kumilla. Later Taher turned into a political activist and leader of the left-wing Jatiyo Samajtantrik Dal.
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The Bangladesh War of Independence started on 26 March 1971 and ended on 16 December 1971. Some of the major events of the war are listed in the timeline below.
Assassination of Ziaur Rahman refers to the killing of Ziaur Rahman, the sixth president of Bangladesh and was assassinated by a faction of officers of Bangladesh Army, on 30 May 1981, in the southeastern port city of Chittagong. Rahman went to Chittagong to arbitrate in a clash between the local leaders of his political party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). On the night of 30 May, a group of officers commandeered the Chittagong Circuit House, a government residence where Rahman was staying, shooting him and several others.
Muhammed Abul ManzurBU was a Bangladeshi military officer who commanded the Bangladesh Forces operations in Sector 8 during the Bangladesh Liberation War against Pakistan in 1971. He was allegedly involved in the assassination of the then-president of Bangladesh, Ziaur Rahman. The erstwhile chief of army staff and alleged mastermind of Rahman's assassination, Hussain Muhammad Ershad, had put a standing shoot-to-kill order on Manzur's life—he was killed shortly after being captured at the border. About a year later, Ershad initiated a bloodless coup d'état and took over the central government, holding power until 1990.
Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra was the radio broadcasting centre of Bengali nationalist forces during the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971. The station played an important role in the liberation struggle, broadcasting the Declaration of Independence and increasing the morale of Bangladeshis during the brutal genocide in 1971. During this time, radio was the only medium able to reach the far ends of Bangladesh. The station ran a liberation campaign throughout the liberation war.
The Proclamation of Bangladeshi Independence, refers to the declaration of independence of Bangladesh on 26 March 1971, at the onset of the Bangladesh Liberation War by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman; the following day Major Ziaur Rahman declared independence on behalf of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman from Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra radio station in Kalurghat, Chattogram. On 10 April, the Provisional Government of Bangladesh issued a proclamation on the basis of the previous declaration and established an interim constitution for the independence movement.
Bangladeshi nationalism is a conservative form of civic nationalism that promotes the territorial identity of Bangladeshis. It originated as an ideology that emerged during the late 1970s and popularized by former President Ziaur Rahman. The history of nationalism in the country dates back to the colonial era, when the region started witnessing anti-colonial movements against the British Empire. Soon, a sense of religious nationalism began to emerge that later revolutionised into an ethnonationalism that was the driving force behind the East Bengali liberation war in East Pakistan and the emergence of independent Bangladesh in 1971. However, authoritarian and dictatorial rule and alienation of ethnic minorities post-independence led later leaders to espouse a more democratic civic form of nationalism based on territorial attachment of the people. When army chief Ziaur Rahman came to power, he sought to invigorate state policy and began to promote Bangladeshi nationalism. Politically, Bangladeshi nationalism is mainly professed by the center-right and rightist political parties in Bangladesh, led by Bangladesh Nationalist Party.
The Mausoleum Complex of Ziaur Rahman is a significant architectural engineering monument located in Sher-e-Bangla Nagar of Dhaka city in Bangladesh. The monument hosts the grave of Ziaur Rahman, the 7th president of Bangladesh, who is famous for reading proclamation of Bangladeshi Independence through Kalurghat radio centre on 27 March 1971. He was a notable leader in South Asia of the 20th century. The monument was constructed by GBB Limited with consultation of Bashat Architects Engineers Ltd and executed under the Public works department and department of architecture.
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Mohsin Uddin Ahmed was a Brigadier General of the Bangladesh Army and recipient of Bir Bikrom, the third highest gallantry award of Bangladesh, for his actions during the Bangladesh Liberation War. He was the senior most official of Bangladesh Army executed for the assassination of Ziaur Rahman.
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Abu Yousuf Mohammad Mahfuzur Rahman, also known as A.Y.M. Mahfuzur Rahman, was a Bangladeshi army officer who served as a sub-sector commander during the Bangladesh Liberation War. In 1981, he was executed for his alleged involvement in the assassination of president Ziaur Rahman.
Jamil Haque was a Captain in the Bangladesh Army who was executed for his involvement in the assassination of president Ziaur Rahman.
Matiur Rahman, also known as Motiur Rahman, was a Lieutenant Colonel in the Bangladesh Army who was involved in the assassination of President Ziaur Rahman on 30 May 1981. He is believed to be the one to have shot and killed Ziaur Rahman. Matiur was subsequently killed in a shootout with troops loyal to the government on 1 June 1981.