Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra

There is not a shadow of doubt that Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra will always be remembered by future generations for its glorious role in the annals of the freedom movement. No one can forget the words Purbo Digantey Surjya Uthechey, Rokto Lal Rokto Lal or Teerhara ey Dheuer Shagor Pari Diborey or for that matter Joi Bangla Banglar Joi ! How true were these words! Joi, the victory, that came on the morning of 16 December 1971. But throughout the nine months of the liberation war these songs not only inspired the freedom fighters, but also created awareness among the common people all over Bangladesh about the atrocities committed by the Pakistani military forces. Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra  Radio Broadcasting Centre established by the Bangladesh government in exile soon after the war of liberation . The Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra, in fact, evolved from the Kalurghat ( chittagong ) transmission centre from where the declaration of independence on behalf of Bango bondhu Shaikh Mujibor Rahman was made by ziaur rahman . The Kalurghat radio centre was abandoned when it was heavily shelled by the Pakistan Air Force on March 30. The centre, however, resumed its second phase of activities from 3 April 1971 at Bagafa (Tripura State) with a short wave transmitter. The centre was later shifted to Shalbagan and Bagafa-Belonia Forest Hills Road, Agartala. The key person in organising the centre in its early stage was Balal Muhammad, a scriptwriter and artiste of Radio Pakistan. Several other liberation activists who joined later included Abdullah-Al-Faruque, Abul Kashem Sandwip, Kazi Habibuddin Ahmed Moni, Aminur Rahman, Rashidul Hussain, A M Sharfuzzaman, Rezaul Karim Chowdhury, Syed Abdus Shaker, and Mustafa Monwar. The damaged transmitter that they brought with them from Kalurghat was made operative by engineer Syed Abdus Shaker. The daily programme in this phase consisted of a morning transmission between 8.30 and 9 and an afternoon session between 5 and 7. Two most popular programmes of Swadhin Bangla Betar were 'Charampatra' and ' Jallader Darbar' . Jallader Darbar written by Kalyan Mitra was a satiric serial exposing the inhuman and beastly nature of General Yahya Khan who was depicted in it as ' Kella Fateh Khan' . Raju Ahmed acted in the main role. Charampatra, a satirical composition, was planned by Abdul Mannan, a Member of National Assembly, and written in typical Dhaka dialect by M R Akhter Mukul, who himself used to read it out. The programme proved to be immensely popular. It evinced exceptional sense of humour and a nationalist spirit that helped keep the morale of the freedom fighters high. Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra was renamed Bangladesh Betar on 6 December 1971, when India gave formal recognition to independent Bangladesh and its provisional government. The Bangladesh government moved to Dhaka on 22 December 1971 and Bangladesh Betar started broadcasting in independent Bangladesh on the same day. [M Siddiqur Rahman]

Partition 1947

This partition 1947 created both a harvest of bitterness and the basis for further conflict. In 1970-71, Pakistan itself was further divided as East Pakistan became the new state of Bangladesh, a process attended by an enormous human tragedy of war and famine.