Bhuyan, Khwaja Nizamuddin

Bhuyan, Khwaja Nizamuddin (1949-1971) martyr in the War of Liberation. He was born on 19 February 1949 at village Malpara in Comilla district. His father Abdul Latif was a government official. Khwaja Nizamuddin passed SSC examination in 1964 from G. M Sen Institute in Chittagong and HSC in 1966 from Comilla Victoria College. He obtained BCom (Hons) in Management in 1969 and MCom in 1970 from Dhaka University. During the War of Liberation he had been a student of MBA class in night shift in Dhaka University. Simultaneously he had been working as Controller of Accounts in Hotel Intercontinental, now Hotel Sheraton.

Nizamuddin Bhuyan was closely associated with the students movement in the 1960s and actively participated in the six-points and eleven-points Movements. He was involved in literary and cultural activities in his student life. While a student in Dhaka University he floated an organisation named Kalchakra, and initiated the publication of a paper styled Kalchakra. He used to play guitar at leisure time.

Khwaja Nizamuddin joined the War of Liberation in April 1971. On completion of his military training at Indranagar in Agartala, he came back to Bangladesh and joined at the Sector No.4. As a captain of Gana-Bahini he was in charge of the Mastan Nagar Camp. He excelled himself in guerilla warfare and in direct encounter with the Pak army and their allies at Kanaighat, Mastan Nagar, Bharamaid, Naktipara and in Manipur region of Sylhet district. In a direct encounter with the Pak army for ten hours at Atgram Road in Kanaighat thana on 4 September 1971, Khwaja Nizamuddin embraced martyrdom. He was laid to rest at Mokimtila in Sylhet district.

In recognition of his heroic role in the War of Liberation, Khwaja Nizamuddin Bhuyan was honoured with the gallantry award of 'Bir Uttam' (posthumously) by the Government of Bangladesh. Khwaja Nizamuddin was known to the people of his locality as 'Captain Nizam'. The market on the Mokimtila Road is named after him as Nizam Nagar. Besides, the road running from Kandirpar to Police Line in Comilla is renamed as Shaheed Khwaja Nizamuddin Bir Uttam Sarak. [Abu Md. Delwar Hossain]