Sheikh Abdul Mannan (died 1971) was a Bangladeshi journalist who died 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" in Bangladesh.

Early life

Mannan was born 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 West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

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 ...

in the 1920s. He moved with his family to

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 ...

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 ...

Career

At the beginning of his career, he worked in the Daily Azad and the Daily Sangbad. He was one of the first sports journalist writing in English in East Pakistan. He was in charge of the sports desk of ''

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 ...

'' for over a decade. He worked as the racing correspondent of the paper. The ''Pakistan Observer'' under his leadership took a position against the importation of football players from West Pakistan for the Dhaka Football league. Mannan dubbed one team in Dhaka League as the "Makrani Eleven" for having an entire lineup made up of West Pakistani players, after the region in West Pakistan where most of players were from. From 1963 to 1965 he served as the General Secretary of Mohamedan Sporting Club in Dhaka. He was a member of the East Pakistan Sports federation. He championed the cause of sportsmen in East Pakistan. In 1962 he was the founding General Secretary of East Pakistan Sports Press Association (today Bangladesh Sports Press Association).

Death and legacy

Mannan had kept contact with members of the

Mukti Bahini The Mukti Bahini, initially called the Mukti Fauj, also known as the Bangladesh Forces, was a big tent armed guerrilla resistance movement consisting of the Bangladeshi military personnel, paramilitary personnel and civilians during the Ba ...

and journalists who had moved to India during

in 1971. He was picked up from his flat in

Purana Paltan Paltan is a thana (precinct) of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. It is often said to be the center of Dhaka, dividing "Old Dhaka" and "New Dhaka". Paltan was made a thana in 2005 by then Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia. Paltan Thana was formed ...

by masked men and he has not been since then.

References

1971 deaths Bangladeshi journalists {{Bangladesh-bio-stub