Sofiur Rahman

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sofiur Rahman (or Safiur Rahman or Saifur Rahman) (Bengali: শফিউর রহমান) (January 24, 1918 – February 22, 1952) is considered in Bangladesh to be a martyr of the language movement which took place in the former East Pakistan. Sofiur Rahman was born in Konnagar, in Hoogli, West Bengal. His father was Moulovi Mahbubur Rahman. He took his I. Com from the Government Commercial College of Kolkata. After the partition of India he came to East Bengal with his wife Akila Begum and other members of the family, taking a job in the accounts section of the Dhaka High Court.

On February 22, 1952 while commuting to his job on his bicycle he entered Nawabpur Street, which was full of protesters against police shootings the previous day at a language movement rally. Rahman was struck in the back by a police bullet, and died after being taken to Dhaka Medical College. He was buried by the authorities in the middle of the night at the Azimpur Graveyard beside the grave of Abul Barkat, who had been shot by police the previous day.^[1]

In 2005 Rahman was awarded Ekushey Padak, one of the highest civilian awards in Bangladesh. In 2006 his wife Begum Akila Khatun and the families of other language movement martyrs were given pensions from the government of Bangladesh.