Begum, Mamtaz
Begum, Mamtaz (1946-2020) Teacher, women’s leader, Awami League MNA in 1970, Freedom Fighter and social worker. Mamtaz Begum was born on 13 April 1946 at Shimrail village of upa-zila Kashba under Brahmanbaria sub-division in greater Comilla district. Her parents’ names were Abdul Ghani Bhuiyen and Jahanara Begum. She was the only daughter of them. She had two brothers. Her father Ghani Miah was involved in Awami League, too.
After studying for some classes in local Kasba High School and Comilla Government Faizunnesa Girls School, Mamtaz Begum was admitted in to Kamrunessa Government Girls School in to Dhaka from where she passed her Matriculation in 1961. Then she was admitted in Government Eden Mahila College but could not appear at Intermediate examination when it was due because of her involvement in active politics. She passed Intermediate in 1965 and B.A. in 1967 from Comilla Mahila College. She obtained her M.A. degree in Philosophy from Dhaka University in 1969. In 1970, she joined the then Quaid-e-Azam College (present Government Suhrawardy College) as a Lecturer. In 1978, she earned LL.B degree. She went into retirement in 2004 from Dhaka Teachers’ Training College as Vice-Principal.
Born into a political family, Mamtaz Begum had a colorful political life. Indeed she got herself involved in politics as a full timer during her college life. She was an activist of Student League, coming very close to a prominent youth leader and, later, one of the organizers of Bangladesh war of liberation, Sheikh Fazlul Huq Moni. While she was student of Eden College, Mamtaz Begum played a very active role against the 1962 Sharif and 1964 Hamudur Rahman Education Commissions Reports. During 1965-66, she was elected as Vice-President (VP) of the Student Union of Comilla Mahila College. No sooner had Bangabandhu declared his historic six-point programme in the 1960s as Charter of national emancipation of the Bengalis than she put herself on to the movement in support of it. Mamtaz Begum was the founder President of the Ruqayyah Hall unit Chhatra League of Dhaka University in 1967. During 1968-69, she was elected a member of the East Pakistan Chhatra League. She played an active role in the 1969 anti-Ayub mass upheaval launched on the basis of Six-point eleven points programmes. She was elected a Member of the Pakistan National Assembly in the 1970 elections from women reserved quota (7 seats) as Awami League nominee. In the aftermath of the elections, General Yahya’s military junta engaged themselves in a palace conspiracy to thwart the election results by not transferring power to the majority party leader, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Bangabandhu reacted by calling his people to go on an indefinite non-cooperation movement. Further he made a historic Address at Dhaka Race Course maidan (ground) on 7th of March 1971 before a sea of crowd in which he urged upon all Bengalis to prepare themselves for an impending armed struggle against the Pakistani junta turning their houses into fortresses and fight with whatever they had possessed. At such a clarion call of Bangabandhu, Mamtaz Begum started organizing females for training. She herself took part in such a training programme arranged at the Maricha House in Indira road. Following indiscriminate killings of Bengalis by the Pakistani army in the name of operation searchlight from the mid-night of 25 March 1971 and then the formal declaration of independence by Bangabandhu in the early hours of 26 march before his arrest by the Pakistani commandos, spontaneous resistances of the Bengalis occurred all over the country. Mamtaz Begum first engaged herself in building up anti-junta resistances in the Comilla area. Afterwards she went to Agartala in the Tripura state of India via Kasba border. There she carried out manifold activities among the Bengali refugees and Freedom Fighters. At one stage, she went to Calcutta. She was present in person at the place where the elected representatives of Awami League assembled to form the first government of independent Bangladesh on 10 April 1971. Preceding that historic event, the elected representatives of Awami League formed a Constituent Assembly themselves. Mamataz Begum was directly associated with the training of female Freedom Fighters at the Gobra Camp in Calcutta held under the leadership of Begum Sajeda Chowdhury. Besides this, she discharged various services to Bengali refugees in different camps. She also acted as motivator igniting the youths to take part in the War of liberation. She played a significant role as a member of the eastern zone of Bangladesh Liberation Force (BLF), popularly known as ‘Mujib Bahini’, under the command of Sheikh Fazlul Huq Moni.
After liberation, Mamtaz Begum engaged herself in the tasks of reconstruction and rehabilitation as initiated by Bangabandhu. Particular mention may be made of her contributions towards the rehabilitation of the women tortured and beastly violated by the Pakistani army during 1971. She was one of the members of the Women Rehabilitation Board constituted with Justice K.M. Sobhan as its head. For quite a long time, she served the Bangladesh Mahila Samity as Vice-President and as Chairman of its Legal Aid Committee. In 1973, she was elected a Member of Parliament on Awami League ticket from women reserved seats. In 1974, Mamtaz Begum was elected General Secretary of Bangladesh Mahila Awami League. She played a pioneering role in the formation of Women Freedom Fighters Association. She rendered invaluable services to the Jatiya Mahila Sangstha [National Association of Women] as its Chairperson from 2009 till her death.
Mamtaz Begum had some publications including books and edited works to her credit. She received several awards in recognition of her contributions to Bangladesh War of Liberation. She was the recipient of ‘Ruqayyah Padak 2014’.
She was married to a noted Freedom Fighter, Commander of Mujib Bahini of greater Comilla region, Advocate Syed Rezaur Rahman. On 12 May 2020, Mamtaz Begum passed away. She left behind her husband, two sons and one daughter. [Harun-or-Rashid]
Source Professor Mamtaz Begum and Mofida Begum, Swadhinata Juddyay Banglar Nari (in Bengali) [Bengali Women in the War of Liberation], (Hakkani Publishers 2018).
