Minhajul Abedin: My father was taken away on April 4

I actually do not remember anything from that time. I was young, only 5 years old. For this, I don't remember much. My elder brother, Nobel, was 6 years old and my younger brother was one year old. My father was taken away on 4th April of 1971, I can't recall any of them. I can't remember. I have heard everything from my mother.
At that time father used to work at Habib Bank. He was the deputy controller. Side by side he was affiliated with Awami League. He was a treasurer. Akhteruzzaman Babu and father used to do politics together. At that time father was also the VP of Chittagong Govt. Commerce College. He used to do politics accordingly. He was the deputy controller at Habib Bank as well. He had studied Accounting from London.
Father was taken away on 4th April. Then my grandfather tried a lot searching for my father. He was wherever he was told to look for. But father was nowhere to be found. In fact, we did not even find his body. We tried a lot to find him out. But none of knew where was he taken to or what had happened to him.

We did not even find his body. We tried a lot to find him out. But none of knew where was he taken to or what had happened to him.

In my father's absence, we did not have to face any financial crisis. Because our grandfather was well established. Our family was well established. We turned over because of my grandfather. Or else it would have been very hard for our mother. 
My mother's sacrifice was huge. My mother became a widow when she was only 22 years old. It was a hard fight for my mother. Rearing up three children was a great struggle for her. She couldn't have done it without the support of the family.
We were a joint family. Uncle, cousins were there. We grew up together. The Abedin Colony at Love Lane, it was my grandfather's colony. There we used to stay with our aunt, uncles together. Other than this our maternal uncles were wealthy enough. Our maternal grandfather was also well established. So paternal grandfather and maternal grandfather, both families had supported us. For this everything was possible.

"It makes me proud of being the son of a martyred family."

I remember a lot of memories of Abedin Colony. But I don't remember anything from the war, as mentioned earlier. An incident from that time is only what happened with my father. Other than this we did not feel anything. But there can be nothing greater than losing one's father. That incident among all other incidents was the greatest to us. Which has shattered our family completely.
It also makes me proud of being the son of a martyred family. When both the brothers went on a tour in Pakistan, we were feeling very proud of ourselves. We felt like we could play against Pakistan with the flag of an independent country in hand. Two brothers wearing the Bangladeshi blazer were feeling much pride at that time. Both of us have come here to play as the players of our country, which was a big gain for us.
Everyone has honoured me as the son of a martyred family. Everyone has given us that respect. All the respect that we gained felt good. The sacrifice of our family behind gaining Bangladesh, makes us feel proud. I felt great that day when both the brothers got a chance in the national team together. 

Abedin brothers. Photo: Collected

For the first time in 1996, we were going to play one day, at that time I was missing my father a lot.
Both of us brothers thought about father a lot, we thought that father might have returned. We have spent a lot of years like this. We felt as if father miraculously returned. But we also knew that father would not come back. In the beginning, I really thought that father would come back. We used to feel like this till the '80s decade. But we had to give up hope eventually.  

(Transcribed by Shanto Mahmud)