Today is January 10. Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Homecoming Day. Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was incarcerated in Pakistan's jail during the entire liberation war. There his trial was completed and his death sentence was ordered. But repeatedly changing his decision, Bhutto was forced to back down at the last minute thinking of the citizens of West Pakistan trapped in the then East Pakistan. He returned to his country on 10th of January, the next month of victory, from Pakistan via London with a halt in Delhi. Some information is known from the books and direct words of the author who saw him throughout his detention, release from detention and his return from London to Bangladesh and subsequently wrote about him.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was arrested on March 25, 1971 by the government of Pakistan. The process of his return to the country started from 24 December 1971. On the morning of January 7, 1972, a plane took him from Pakistan to London. Bangabandhu arrived in London on January 8. After meeting with the British Prime Minister Edward Heath there, he left for the country the next day. This leader of Bengal finally reached the country on January 10, 1972 after stopping in India on his way back.
When he landed at Tejgaon Airport at 1:41 PM on January 10, he did not have much information about the 9-month struggle of the country and the people of the country. He reached Suhrawardy Udyan that day through a sea of ​​triumphant masses. But what happened to Bangabandhu in those 9 months. On January 16, 1972, Bangabandhu gave an interview to New York Times journalist Sidney Schanberg. There he presented the account of his imprisonment. Schanberg writes, quoting Bangabandhu, that the house number 32 in Dhanmondi was surrounded by Pakistani troops who fired incessantly. Later, a major of the Pakistan Army told Bangabandhu that he was being arrested. At Bangabandhu's request, he was allowed a few moments to say goodbye to his family members. He was kept for the first few days in the Jatiya Parishad building in Dhaka and in a dirty and dark room in one of the military cantonment schools.
A trial of leniency was conducted against him. The Pakistan military government launched a 'trial' against him with 12 charges. Six of the 12 charges were punishable by death and one of the charges was 'waging war against Pakistan'. Bangabandhu said in his interview that the trial ended on December 4, when the allied forces started the war in full swing. That is why no information could be confirmed about whether the verdict was implemented.
After December 15, Bangabandhu was shifted to an undisclosed location a few miles away by the Jail Superintendent for a few days. After staying there for 9 days, he was taken to Rawalpindi. Quoting Bangabandhu, Shaenberg said, Bhutto felt that if Mujib was killed, about one lakh Pakistani soldiers trapped in Bangladesh could be killed. In the last round of negotiations, Bhutto offered him to maintain some sort of relationship between the two provinces of Pakistan. More than a week after the victory, Bhutto claimed on that day that the two parts of Pakistan belonged to the same state in the eyes of the law. Bhutto met Bangabandhu for the third and last time on January 7. Unable to convince Bangabandhu, he agreed to send him to London. On January 8 at 7 a.m., the news broadcast on BBC's World Service said, “The leader of Bangladesh's freedom struggle, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, is coming to London by air. The plane will be landing at Heathrow Airport in London shortly.'
London-New Delhi-Dhaka
Bangabandhu was welcomed by British Foreign Office officials soon after landing in London. Bangabandhu still did not know what had happened in the country. Relatives have not yet been spoken to. At a crowded press conference around noon, he first expressed his feelings, 'For a moment I have not forgotten about Bangladesh.' On the morning of January 9, Indira Gandhi and Bangabandhu had a half-hour conversation over the telephone. Indira Gandhi congratulated Bangabandhu and requested him to stop at Delhi on his way to Dhaka. He left for Delhi after accepting Bangabandhu's invitation.
Indian diplomat Shashank Shekhar Banerjee accompanied Bangabandhu from London. Bangla Tribune spoke to him several times in the last few years. He gave details from memory. The first thing Sheikh Mujib said when he arrived at the airport in the plane carrying Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was, 'Banerji, you are here too!' After that, he told about various memories along the way. He said, he (Sheikh Mujib) was very excited then. He still does not know what terrible situation has become in the country. But in his eyes only the dream of a new country. He was worried about how his family was doing, how he would see his comrades-in-arms, but in the meantime he said, 'I want the members of the Indian allied forces to be brought back to India from Bangladesh within three months, not six months.'
President V in Delhi. V. Giri welcomed Bangabandhu. From there Bangabandhu returned to Dhaka on January 10 at 1:41 PM. Shashank said, the second wish he expressed was – 'Before landing, the Comet aircraft should circle around the airport for a while. The plane was rotated for 45 minutes, Bangabandhu met his eyes and saw independent Bangladesh for the first time.
