A. N. M. Serajur Rahman (1934 – 1 June 2015) was a British journalist of Bengali Muslim descent and broadcaster. From 1960 to 1994, he worked for

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is a British Public broadcasting, public service broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC. It is the world's largest external broadcaster in terms of reception area, language selection and audience reach. It broadcas ...

, and was the deputy chief of

BBC Bangla BBC Bangla () is the Bengali language service of the BBC World Service, inaugurated in 1941 for Bengali audiences worldwide especially the ones in the Bengal region, which includes the sovereign state of Bangladesh and the Indian states of West ...

Service before retirement. He remains a contentious figure in journalism due to his disputed claim about the death toll in Bangladesh's 1971 Liberation War, asserting that the number was closer to 300,000 rather than the widely cited figure of 3 million.

Early life

Serajur Rahman was born in Chittagong division in the then Bengal Province of the

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

. His father, Mawlana Habibur Rahman, was a teacher and scholar at Alia Madrasa in

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

. He spent most of his early and formative years in Calcutta, matriculating with distinction in 1947 from Calcutta Mitra Institution School. He was actively involved in the Mukuler Mahfil Youth Organisation. He regularly published articles and short stories in the youth sections of the ''

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 ...

'', '' Daily Nabajug'' and ''Weekly Millat'' of Calcutta. He regularly participated in programs of

All India Radio All India Radio (AIR), also known as Akashvani (), is India's state-owned public broadcasting, public radio broadcaster. Founded in 1936, it operates under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (India), Ministry of Information and Broa ...

. Sometime after the

partition of India The partition of India in 1947 was the division of British India into two independent dominion states, the Dominion of India, Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan. The Union of India is today the Republic of India, and the Dominion of Paki ...

Serajur Rahman 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 ...

, and was admitted to

Dhaka College Dhaka College (), informally known as DC, is a public educational institution of Bangladesh located in Dhanmondi, Dhaka. It is one of the oldest educational institutions in the subcontinent. It offers Honours degree, honours and Master's degree ...

. He was actively involved in the

Bengali Language Movement The Bengali language movement was a political movement in East Bengal (modern-day Bangladesh) in 1952, advocating the recognition of the Bengali language as a co-lingua franca of the then-Dominion of Pakistan to allow its use in government ...

. He was elected by his college to liaise with the

University of Dhaka The University of Dhaka (), also known as Dhaka University (DU), is a public university, public research university located in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Established in 1921, it is the oldest active university in the country. The University of Dhaka w ...

Students' Action Committee.

Career

Serajur Rahman continued his formal career in journalism. He served in the news departments of the ''Biweekly Pakistan'', ''Daily Zindegi'', ''Daily Insaf'' and ''The Daily Millat''. In January 1953, he was appointed editor of the British Information Service in Dhaka. Under his leadership the press section expanded to include 12 journalists. Serajur Rahman during this time also edited a daily bi-lingual news bulletin, the fortnightly ''British Darpan'' and the magazine ''Ajker Commonwealth''. From 1954 to 1959, he was also a part-time lead writer in ''

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 newspape ...

''. In January 1960, Serajur Rahman joined the then East Pakistan section of the

. He helped to co-ordinate 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 ...

's international publicity. In February 1994, he retired as the Deputy Head of the Bengali Section of the BBC World Service. After his retirement, he wrote columns in different newspapers in Bangladesh.

Awards and recognition

In 2002, Serajur Rahman was awarded the

Ekushey Padak Ekushey Padak () is the second highest civilian award in Bangladesh, introduced in memory of martyrs of the Bengali language movement of 1952. The award is given to recognize contributions in a number of fields, including culture, education, and e ...

during the second term of the then prime minister

Begum Khaleda Zia Begum Khaleda Zia (born August–September 1945) is a Bangladeshi politician who served as the prime minister of Bangladesh from 1991 to 1996 and again from 2001 to 2006. She was the first female prime minister of Bangladesh and the second fema ...

. In 2004, he was one of 15 people whom Bangladesh high commission in UK honoured for their significant role there during the Bangladesh Liberation War.

Personal life and death

Serajur Rahman was married to Sophia Rahman. He had one daughter and son, Susan Rahman and Shapan Rahman, who both died before him. On 1 June, Serajur Rahman died at around 11 am in

Royal Free Hospital The Royal Free Hospital (also known as the Royal Free) is a major teaching hospital in the Hampstead area of the London Borough of Camden. The hospital is part of the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, which also runs services at Barnet Ho ...

in London. He was suffering from some critical medical condition and illness for two months, including lung disease and other complications.

References

External links

* * Serajur Rahman
Mujib's confusion on Bangladeshi deaths
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...