Shaheed Saber: An unfinished poem

"I am writing to you after a long time…I have not had any work since my exams finished. And, when there is no such thing to keep oneself busy, captive life becomes very painful. The election is approaching, but I am unlikely to get released in a few days."

This is how Language Movement veteran Shahidullah Saber narrated in a letter to his father from Rajshahi central jail on 20 November 1951. He languished in jail without a trial from 1950 to 1954 for his involvement in the Language Movement. 

On 18 December 1930, Abul Kalam Mohammad Shahidullah Saber was born to his parents – Salamat Ullah and Shafiqa Khatun – at Eidgaon union's Sikdarpara area in Cox's Bazar sub-district of the then Chittagong district. He became known as "Shaheed Saber" after being killed by Pakistani occupation forces in 1971. 

Saber's education started at Eidgaon Primary School. He had been talented since childhood. The language hero grew up at a time when the anti-British movement was at its peak. His father took Saver to his workplace in Calcutta, now known as Kolkata, the capital of India's West Bengal state, and admitted him to Calcutta Hare School. During his stay in Calcutta, the first article of Shaheed Saber was published in Daily Ittehad. After the Partition of 1947, he returned to Chittagong.

In 1949, after passing the matriculation examination from Chittagong Collegiate School, he enrolled into Chittagong College where he joined the Mukul Fauj movement. His writing skills and eloquence quickly made him popular in the progressive political arena. The then young poet Mahbubul Alam Chowdhury met Saber when he was a college student and they became close companions. While preparing to wage the Language Movement in Chittagong, Saber was attacked by the Muslim League actvists.

Recalling the incident, Mahbubul Alam Chowdhury, a Language Movement hero, wrote, "After declaring 11 March 1948 as 'Rashtrabhasha Dabi Dibosh' [state language demand day] we were campaigning for a public meeting to be held at Jameson Hall in Chittagong on this occasion. Shaheed Saber and I went on the campaign with a megaphone. In Nandankanon area, Muslim League msicreants attacked us. We saved ourselves by jumping into a pond."

In a short time, Saber emerged as one of the leaders in the Language Movement in Chittagong. His speeches, writings and fighting role came to the notice of the upper echelons of the government. At one point in 1950, Saber was imprisoned. Towards the end of 1950, Saber was shifted from Chittagong jail to Rajshahi central jail where the Muslim League government killed seven political prisoners on 24 April 1950.

During his jail days, he wrote "Shara Jagano Rajbondir Kahini" and "Arek Duniya" published in Kolkata's Natun Sahitya newspaper.

Saber passed the intermediate of arts in 1951 while he was in prison. The Pakistani junta government offered him a release from jail, subject to paying a bond. But he denied it. Saber was released from prison in 1954 after serving four years without a trial.

After passing an evening BA from Jagannath College in 1955, Saber taught for some time at West End High School in Dhaka. He later joined the Daily Sangbad as an assistant editor. He used to write editorials that attracted the attention of all quarters.

Saber used to stay in the Daily Sangbad's office. Journalist Saber was burnt to death when the Pakistani aggressors set fire to the Daily Sangbad office on 31 March 1971.

A TBS-Nagad initiative