By Mizan Rahman/Dhaka
Sheikh Hasina and her younger sister Sheikh Rehana presented with book at the Prime Minister’s residence Ganobhaban in Dhaka
The unfinished autobiography of Bangladesh’s founding father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman has been released, a press statement issued by University Press Limited (UPL), the publisher, said.
UPL published the autobiography in its original Bangla version titled Asamapta Atmajiboni and in English translation titled The Unfinished Memoirs.
Receiving a copy from the publisher, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina expressed the hope that the book would help the new generation to know about the situation in Pakistan after the partition of the subcontinent and the birth of Bangladesh.
“We became very emotional and were gripped by pain when we handed over the notebook to Mohiuddin Ahmed, the owner of UPL,” the prime minister said in an emotion-choked voice.
Penguin Books, India, and Oxford University Press, Pakistan had also collaborated with UPL to publish the book simultaneously in India and Pakistan.
The Bangla edition of the book is available for 525 taka while the English edition at 1,200 taka. The deluxe editions are priced at 650 taka for Bangla and 1,500 taka for
English version.
Shamsuzzaman Khan and A N M Mahfuza Khatun Baby Maudud also did some editing to give the book a contemporary look while Prof Fakhrul Alam translated it into
English.
According to the UPL, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman narrated his imprisoned life during 1967 to 1969 in this invaluable document. The book also depicts vividly all other aspects of his life in and out of prison. He takes readers back to the beginning of his ancestry, birth and childhood, days in school and college, and social and political
involvements.
The book progresses to recount the historical events the great leader experienced standing at the forefront of famine, communal riots in Kolkata and Bihar, partition, politics of Kolkata-centric State Muslim Student League and Muslim League, post-partition politics in East Bengal till 1954, tyranny of the Muslim League regime at the state-level and the centre.
The book also portrays the Language Movement, founding of Chhatra League and Awami League, formation of Jukta Front and its new government after winning election, riot at the Adamjee Jute mills, discriminatory attitude of Pakistan central government and the Agartala conspiracy.
The Oxford University Press has also finalised an Urdu translation of The Unfinished Memoirs to be published
in July.
Born in Tungipara village of Gopalganj district in 1920, Sheikh Mujib became the Father of the Nation, who fought the war for independence against Pakistan in 1971.
After the independence, Mujib became the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, the new country. During the Liberation War, he had been kept in jail in the then West Pakistan. He was also president of the wartime government named after him, the Mujibnagar
Government.
On August 15 1975, some army personnel shot him dead, along with most of the members of his family. His daughters Hasina and Rehana survived as they were outside the country that day.