Khondakar Abu Taleb (1921-1971) was a Bangladeshi journalist, who was killed by the

Pakistani Army The Pakistan Army (, ), commonly known as the Pak Army (), is the Land warfare, land service branch and the largest component of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The president of Pakistan is the Commander-in-chief, supreme commander of the army. The ...

in the

Bangladesh Liberation War The Bangladesh Liberation War (, ), also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence, was an War, armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Bengali nationalism, Bengali nationalist and self-determination movement in East Pakistan, which res ...

and is considered a "

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', 'witness' Word stem, stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external party. In ...

" in

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

Early life

Taleb was born on 23 March 1921 in Satani,

Satkhira Satkhira() is a city and district headquarter of Satkhira District in Khulna Division, southwestern Bangladesh. The city has a population of about 113,000, making it the 20th largest city in Bangladesh. Satkhira also has a large proportion of t ...

East Bengal East Bengal (; ''Purbô Bangla/Purbôbongo'') was the eastern province of the Dominion of Pakistan, which covered the territory of modern-day Bangladesh. It consisted of the eastern portion of the Bengal region, and existed from 1947 until 195 ...

British Raj The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule ...

. 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, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

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

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; , ), List of renamed places in Bangladesh, formerly known as Dacca, is the capital city, capital and list of cities and towns in Bangladesh, largest city of Bangladesh. It is one of the list of largest cities, largest and list o ...

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

Pakistan Observer ''Pakistan Observer'' is an English-language daily newspaper of Pakistan. It is published from six cities – Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, Quetta and Muzaffarabad. The newspaper was founded in 1988 by Zahid Malik. The newspaper wa ...

'', ''Sangbad'', ''

Daily Azad ''The Azad'' () was a Bengali-language daily newspaper published from 1936 to 1990s. ''The Azad'' became Dhaka's first daily newspaper. The newspaper while based in Dhaka played an important role during the Bengali Language Movement for its adv ...

'', ''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 ''The Daily Ittefaq'' (, Bangla pronunciation: ) is a Bengali-language daily newspaper. Founded in 1949 by Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani and Yar Mohammad Khan, it is the oldest and one of the most circulated newspapers in Bangladesh. The newspaper ...

''. 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 the eastern province of Pakistan between 1955 and 1971, restructured and renamed from the province of East Bengal and covering the territory of the modern country of Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India and Burma, wit ...

and

in 1971.

Death and legacy

Taleb was arrested on 29 March 1971 by members of

Pakistan Army The Pakistan Army (, ), commonly known as the Pak Army (), is the Land warfare, land service branch and the largest component of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The president of Pakistan is the Commander-in-chief, supreme commander of the army. The ...

with collaboration of the

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

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

Bangladesh Post Office The Bangladesh Post Office () also known by trade name Bangla Post is a Government of Bangladesh, government-operated agency responsible for providing postal services in Bangladesh. It is a subsidiary of the Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications ...

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

Abdul Quader Molla Abdul Quader Mollah (; 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 sentenced to death by the International Crimes Tribuna ...

, 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 Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...

, which culminated in the

2013 Shahbag protests The Shahbag protests, were widespread demonstrations held in Bangladesh in 2013. On 5 February 2013, protests ignited in Shahbagh, Bangladesh, fueled by the call for the execution of the convicted war criminal Abdul Quader Mollah. Previously sen ...

. 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 Surendranath Law College alumni 20th-century Bangladeshi journalists