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{{short description|20th-century Bengali student activist}}
{{EngvarB|date=March 2022}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2021}}
{{Infobox person
|name = Amanullah Asaduzzaman
|image = Amanullah_Asaduzzaman.jpg
|native_name = আমানুল্লাহ মোহাম্মদ আসাদুজ্জামান
|native_name_lang = bn
|birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1942|06|10}}
|birth_place = [[Shibpur Upazila|Shibpur]], [[Narsingdi District]], [[Bengal Presidency]], [[British India]]
|death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1969|01|20|1942|06|10}}
|death_place = [[Dhaka]], [[East Pakistan]], Pakistan
|death_cause = [[Gunshot wound]]
|known_for = [[1969 uprising in East Pakistan|Democratic political movement of 1969]]
| awards= [[Independence Day Award]] (2018)
}}

'''Amanullah Mohammad Asaduzzaman''' (known as '''Asad'''; 10 June 1942 – 20 January 1969)<ref>{{cite news |title=Remembering a Martyr |url=http://www.thedailystar.net/print_post/remembering-a-martyr-10046 |newspaper=[[The Daily Star (Bangladesh)|The Daily Star]] |accessdate=4 February 2022}}</ref> was a [[Student activism|student activist]] whose death at the hands of police during a protest on 20 January 1969 "changed the nature of the student-mass movement and ... turned into a mass-upsurge against the Ayub regime and its repressive measures", according to ''[[Banglapedia]]''.<ref name=pedia>{{cite Banglapedia|article=Asad,_Shaheed}}</ref> ''[[The Daily Star (Bangladesh)|The Daily Star]]'' reports him as one of three [[martyr]]s of the [[1969 uprising in East Pakistan]] which "set the stage for the [[Bangladesh Liberation War|liberation war]]".<ref>{{cite news |title=Give martyrs of 1969 mass upsurge due recognition |url=https://www.thedailystar.net/news-detail-123265|newspaper=The Daily Star |date=24 January 2022}}</ref> He was awarded the [[Independence Day Award]] in 2018 posthumously by the [[Government of Bangladesh]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.thedailystar.net/country/government-finalised-the-names-16-personalities-nominated-independence-award-2018-1537525|title=16 personalities nominated for Independence Award-2018|date=20 February 2018|work=The Daily Star|access-date=20 February 2018|language=en}}</ref>

==Early life==
[[File:Amanullah_Asaduzzaman_2.jpg|Asad's photograph in his University of Dhaka identification card (1966)|thumb]]
Born in [[Shibpur Upazila|Shibpur]], Asad graduated from Shibpur High School in 1960 and subsequently studied at [[Jagannath University]] (then known as Jagannath College) and [[Murari Chand College]]. After passing the latter in 1963, he entered the [[University of Dhaka]], receiving bachelor's in 1966 and master's in 1967. In that year, he organised the [[Jatiya Krishak Samity|Krishak Samity]] in [[Shibpur Upazila|Shibpur]], [[Monohardi Upazila|Monohardi]], [[Raipura Upazila, Narsingdi|Raipura]] and [[Narsingdi District|Narsingdi]] areas at the direction of [[Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani]], President of [[National Awami Party]] and Krishak Samity.

After studying at City Law College in Dhaka, Asad sat in 1968 for a second M.A. exam in an effort to receive a better result.<ref name="BoiAsad">[http://shaheedasad.com/biography.html Biography of Shaeed Asad]{{Dead link|date=October 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> At the time of his death in 1969, he was in the final year of his M.A. at Dhaka University's Department of History.<ref name=pedia/> He was the president of the Dhaka Hall unit of [[East Pakistan]] Students Union and General Secretary of the Dhaka branch of what was at the time the [[East Pakistan]] Students Union (EPSU, Menon group).<ref>{{cite news |title=Promises to Keep |url=http://archive.thedailystar.net/magazine/2009/07/05/cover.htm |work=Star Weekend Magazine |publisher=The Daily Star |date=31 July 2022}}</ref>

In his political activities, Asad was interested in the educational rights of the poor and powerless. He founded a night school named Shibpur Naisha Biddalaya and collected funds for setting up a college (Shibpur College) for local people.<ref name=pedia/><ref name="BoiAsad"/>

==20 January 1969==

===Background===
The catalyst for the events leading to Asad's death include the [[Six point movement]] of [[Sheikh Mujibur Rahman]] and the [[Agartala Conspiracy Case]] at which Rahman and dozens of others were charged with [[sedition]] by the [[Government of Pakistan]]. Student groups were already experiencing considerable unrest when, in December 1968, [[Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani]] organised a march against the Governors House, in conjunction with several [[trade unions|labour associations]] arranged a Repression Resistance Day on 6 December 1968, and proclaimed a [[hartal]] against merchants.<ref name="banglapedia2">{{cite book |last1=Kamal |first1=Mesbah |last2=Kibria |first2=Arifatul |year=2012 |chapter=Mass Upsurge, 1969 |chapter-url=http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Mass_Upsurge,_1969 |editor1-last=Islam |editor1-first=Sirajul |editor1-link=Sirajul Islam |editor2-last=Jamal |editor2-first=Ahmed A. |title=Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh |edition=Second |publisher=[[Asiatic Society of Bangladesh]]}}</ref> On 4 January 1969, an 11-point programme—an expansion of Rahman's six-point movement—was publicised by a coalition of student group leaders, including the group for which Asad served as an officer. In a meeting at Dhaka University on 17 January 1969, student protestors decided to unite all campuses of East Pakistan on 20 January 1969, in strike.<ref name=pedia/> Governor [[Abdul Monem Khan|Monem Khan]] sought to prevent the action by imposing Section 144 on the students, under which no more than four persons were permitted to assemble.<ref name=pedia/>

===Procession and death===
[[File:Mass_uprising_1969_Daily_Azad.jpg|thumb|Asad's death reported in [[The Azad]] newspaper titled "Student shot dead by police" on 21 Jan 1969]]
At around noon on 20 January 1969, the students enacted their planned protest, with a procession in front of [[Dhaka Medical College Hospital]] heading towards Chan Khar Pool. Police charged near Chand Khan's bridge, but the protestors resisted. About an hour into the conflict, Asad and other student leaders tried to continue the procession. Asad was shot from very close range by a DSP of police named Bahauddin. Seriously injured, he was admitted to the hospital, where he was declared dead.<ref name=pedia/><ref name="newagebd">{{cite news|title=Shaheed Asad Day today |url=http://www.newagebd.com/2005/jan/20/front.html |newspaper=New Age|date=20 January 2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050226172308/http://www.newagebd.com/2005/jan/20/front.html |archive-date=26 February 2005 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Shaheed Asad Day observed |url=http://www.thedailystar.net/2006/01/21/d60121061374.htm |newspaper=The Daily Star |date=21 January 2022}}</ref><ref name="StarCampus">{{cite news |title=Sixty Three Years of Dhaka Medical College |url=http://archive.thedailystar.net/campus/2009/07/03/camspotlight.htm |work=Star Campus |publisher=The Daily Star |date=19 July 2022}}</ref>

==Aftermath==
Thousands of students and common people mourned Asad together in procession, carrying his blood-stained shirt to [[Shaheed Minar, Dhaka|Shaheed Minar]]. The Central Action Committee announced the 22, 23 and 24 January as a "mourning-period" for him, also striking on those days. On the final day, police once again opened fire. As a result, the administration of Field Marshal Ayub Khan was forced to terminate within two months from the day Asad died.<ref name=pedia/><ref name="StarCampus"/><ref name="holiday">{{cite news|title=Shaheed Asad's dreams remain unfulfilled |url=http://www.weeklyholiday.net/2010/220110/met.html |newspaper=[[Holiday (newspaper)|Holiday]] |date=22 January 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720024314/http://www.weeklyholiday.net/2010/220110/met.html |archive-date=20 July 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Personal life==
Asad had a sister, Anwara Ferdousi. His brothers were — HM Muniruzzaman, a history professor and FM Rashiduzzaman, a project engineer of Bangladesh's national parliament building.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2018-03-25|title=A forgotten martyr finally gets his due recognition|url=https://www.dhakatribune.com/feature/2018/03/25/forgotten-martyr-finally-gets-due-recognition|access-date=2021-03-14|website=Dhaka Tribune}}</ref>

==Legacy==
Poet [[Shamsur Rahman (poet)|Shamsur Rahman]] wrote a poem ''Asader Shirt'' (Asad's Shirt) in his fifth book ''Nij Basbhumay'' (In My Own Land] depicting Asad's blood-soaked shirt during his death.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Shamsur Rahman : Verses from the Heart|url=http://archive.thedailystar.net/magazine/2006/08/04/cover.htm|date=2006-08-04|access-date=2021-03-14|website=The Daily Star}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2009-12-18|title=Surrealism: From French to Bangla literature|url=https://www.thedailystar.net/news-detail-118252|access-date=2021-03-14|website=The Daily Star|language=en}}</ref>

In many places of the country, people replaced the nameplates of Ayub Khan with the name of Shaheed Asad. In time, Ayub Gate was renamed [[Asad Gate]], Ayub Avenue as Asad Avenue and Ayub Park as Asad Park.

Shaheed Asad Day is observed on 20 January each year in recognition of Asad's sacrifice, which led the nation towards mass upsurge and independence.<ref name="newagebd"/>

In 1970, on the first Asad Day, people constructed a monument, Unsatturer Gono-aubyuthaner Swarak O Aumor Asad, at the point in front of the central gate of Dhaka Medical College Hospital where Asad was shot dead. The local people of Shibpur and Dhanua established Shibpur Shaheed Asad College in 1970. In 1991, the inhabitants of Asad's own village Dhauna founded Shaheed Asad Collegiate Girls School and College.<ref name=pedia/>{{failed verification|date=January 2022}}<ref name="BoiAsad"/>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Asaduzzaman, Amanullah}}
[[Category:1942 births]]
[[Category:1969 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Narsingdi District]]
[[Category:Bengali activists]]
[[Category:Causes and prelude of the Bangladesh Liberation War]]
[[Category:Protest-related deaths]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Independence Day Award]]

Amanullah Asaduzzaman - Revision history

Bot at 11:15, 17 December 2022