Bir Sreshtho Munshi Abdur Rouf

Bir Sreshtho Munshi Abdur Rouf (1 May 1943 – 18 April 1971) is one of the valiant heroes in the history of Bangladesh. He is generally known as Shaheed (martyr) Lance Nayek (an official position of East Pakistan Rifles [EPR]) Munshi Abdur Rouf. He gave his life for independence during the liberation war of Bangladesh in 1971 . He saved nearly 150 soldiers of the Mukti Bahini before his death. He was really a great freedom fighter for Bangladesh.

He was awarded Bir Sreshtho, which is the highest recognition of bravery in Bangladesh.

Early life

Munshi Abdur Rouf was born on 1 May 1943 at Salamatpur village (renamed Rouf Nagar) under Boalmari thana (currently Madhukhali thana) in Faridpur District. His father Munshi Mehedi Hossain was an "Imam" at a local mosque and his mother was Mukidunnesa. He had two sisters, their names were Zahura and Hazera. Rouf was quite intelligent but not an attentive student in the school. He was an indomitable and dare devil boy. Rouf was a typical restless Bengali village boy. After his father's death in 1955, Rouf had to stop his education at the eighth grade. Rouf’s family faced lots of poverty after his father’s death. As a result his mother started stitching clothes and making some handicrafts to earn some money to bring up her beloved children. He joined the East Pakistan Rifles (EPR) on 8 May 1963. He had to increase his age three years to get the job. Rouf learnt from his comrades that he used to be a disciplined and serious type of soldier, who took responsibilities with utmost sincerity and dedication. After the preliminary training at the EPR camp at Chuadanga, Rouf went to West Pakistan (present Pakistan) to receive advanced training. After 6 months when he completed his advanced training, he was appointed to Comilla. On joining the EPR he had been regularly sending major portion of the salary to his mother for maintaining the family.

Battle of Rangamati – Mahalchari

After the night of 25 March in 1971, Munshi Abdur Rouf joined the EPR sector 8 with a group of soldiers. He was serving as a soldier in this company. East Bengal Regiment wanted to restrict the Pakistan Army from using the Rangamati-Mahalchari waterway. Thus, they camped at both of the Chingri Lakes at Burighat. Rouf was serving as a soldier in this company. 8th East Bengal Regiment constructed a camp at both sides on the Rangamati – Mahalchari waterway. These camps were established to monitor the Pakistani squads and to protect the waterway. EPR wanted to attack Pakistani squads after a few days.

But suddenly on 18 April 1971, Pakistani squads identified the defensive position of Mukti Bahini at Rangamati – Mahalchari waterway. They attacked with 7 speed boats and 2 launches at the defense position of Mukti Bahini. Their mission was to drive the Mukti Bahini away from the waterway of Rangamati and Mohalchari. Munshi Abdur Rouf's company also started returning fire. Pakistani forces managed to disorient Mukti Bahini by coming closer to them and firing heavily. In the meantime Pakistanis surrounded the freedom fighters and managed to isolate nearly 100 of them. Rouf realised the threat to the entire company. So, he crawled forward to his trench and continuously fired towards the enemies with his automatic machine gun. As a result, the Pakistanis dragged their launches back to a safer place and resumed firing from there. Then Pakistani squad brought massive mortar fire, which created panic and shock among the protective Mukti Bahini squads. Due to shock and fear, most of the team mates of Munshi Abdur Rouf jumped into the water. But only Bir Sreshtho Munshi Abdur Rouf stood audaciously with automatic machine gun to stop the enemy advance. Company Commander Captain Khalequzzaman could foresee that he would suffer heavy casualties if he did not withdraw at this stage. But the brave and courageous soldier Munshi Abdur Rouf told the company commander, “Sir, I will keep the enemy busy with covering fire, you should move behind with the company.” Then suddenly Bir Sreshtho Rouf's bunker was exposed to the enemy and a mortar directly hit Munshi Abdur Rouf. He breathed his last with holding his automatic machine gun. Munshi Abdur Rouf’s valiant effort helped his company to survive and saved nearly 150 soldiers of the Mukti Bahini on that day.

Grave of Shahid Lance Naik Munshi Abdur Rouf Bir Shreshtho at Burighat, Naniarchar, Rangamati

Legacy

After the independence of Bangladesh in recognition of his sacrifice in the War of Liberation he was honored with the highest state insignia of “Bir Sreshtho”. Bangladesh Rifles College was renamed Bir Shrestha Munshi Abdur Rouf Public College in Pilkhana in 2014. A monument for Rouf was built by Engineering Construction Battalion (ECB-16) at Shalbagan, midpoint of the Chittagong-Rangamati road, Sapchhari. A high school in Manikchari Muslim Para, Mahalchhari, Khagrachari has been named after him. A cricket stadium has been named is Sylhet after him. A college in Faridpur was named after him, which was nationalised by the Government.

Source:
1. Munshi Abdur Rouf From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
2. Bangladesh Continual: Bir Sreshtho Munshi Abdur Rouf (Battle of Rangamati - Mahalchari, Chittagong)

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