Talukder, Kosiruddin
Talukder, Kosiruddin (1899-1971) physician, martyr intellectual. Kosiruddin Talukder was born on 17 July 1899 at village Mahishmunda in Dupchanchia thana of Bogra district. His father Naqibullah Talukder was a zamindar, and his mother was Firman Nessa. Kosiruddin had his early education at Sonamukhi High School. He passed Matriculation examination from Bogra Zila School, I.Sc from Scottish Church College, Kolkata and obtained MBBS degree from Calcutta Medical College in 1929. Kosiruddin Talukder started medical practice at Bogra town in 1930. He had his chamber attached to his own dispensary, The United Medical Store, at Thana Road. A dedicated physician with philanthropic bent of mind, Kosiruddin soon rose to be the most successful physician of the area and earned reputation as ‘Hamar Gariber Doctor’ (Physician of we the poor) for his free medical service to the poor people and donation of medicine free of cost. Himself an amateur singer, reciter and drama-actor Kosiruddin was attached to various cultural organisations, and patronized cultural activities in Bogra.
With the beginning of Non-Cooperation Movement in March 1971, Kosiruddin Talukder had vital role in organizing the movement in Bogra. He organized and led a procession of the physicians running through the town and presided over the assemblage at Satmatha (junction of seven roads) where he urged upon the people to prepare themselves for the War of Liberation. After the army crackdown on the night of 25 March and throughout the War of Liberation, Talukder devoted himself in the treatment of the wounded persons resisting the Pak army and the wounded freedom fighters. On 6 April, Kosiruddin Talukder along with his family secretly managed to leave Bogra for his village home at Mahishmunda.
The occupation army intensified their atrocities in Bogra town from 22 April. The residence of Kosiruddin Talukder, 'White House' at Badurtala and his dispensary at Thana Road were set on fire, plundered and ransacked by the Pak army and their collaborators. Between 3 and 10 May, Kosiruddin remained in hiding at village Ghoragari near Bogra town and engaged himself in the treatment of the wounded persons carried from town. He returned to the town with his wife on 21 May.
In the morning of 29 May, two army personnel came to his house. They asked him to attend the police station on some enquiry matters, and carried him. Since then Kosiruddin Talukder could not be traced. It is reported that he along with eleven others were killed at the killing spot near the army cantonment at Majhira, south of Bogra town. His dead body was recovered from the killing spot at Majhira.
The Postal Department of the Government of Bangladesh issued commemorative postal stamp in the name of Kosiruddin Talukder on the Martyred Intellectual Day on 14 December 1994 in recognition of his sacrifice for the cause of the nation. [Muazzam Hussain Khan]
