Sheikh Mani’s 78th birthday today

Today is the 78th birthday of Sheikh Fazlul Haque Mani, a Bangladeshi politician and founder of Jubo League.

He was the nephew of the founding father of Bangladesh Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and the founder of Mujib Bahini one of the major guerrilla forces of the Bangladesh Liberation War.

Mani, along with his wife Arzu Moni, was assassinated during the Assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in a military coup on August 15, 1975. He lived two kilometers away from Sheikh Mujib in Dhanmondi.

Mani was born on December 4, 1939 and later he served as general secretary of the then East Pakistan Chhatra League from 1960 to 1964.  His contribution to spearhead the historic student movement against autocratic ruler Ayub Khan’s military regime produced an immense effect.

He played a pivotal role during the six-point movement in 1966. He was a student leader and general secretary of Student League. In the first week of April 1971 he along with three other Awami League leaders escaped to Kolkata. The leaders were Tofael Ahmed, Abdur Razzak and Shirazul Alam Khan.

They organized the Mukti Bahini in India to liberate Bangladesh. Moni and P. N. Banerji then joint director of Research and Analysis Wing (east) set up the Mujib Bahini as a counterbalance to former East Pakistan army officers in the Mukti Bahini. Members of the Mujib Bahini would go on to form Jatiya Rakkhi Bahini.

He took part in the war of liberation in 1971 as the commander of Bangladesh Liberation Front. He initially supported the formation of a revolutionary council instead of an interim government which was against the wishes of Tajuddin Ahmed.

He eventually had to give up on that and the interim government was formed. He was considered part of the inner circle of President Sheikh Mujib and was seen loyal to him. This was the reason given for his assassination. Sheikh Moni was the author of several novels, one of which was later made into a film ‘Obanchita’.

Source: wikipedia