A child was of just one and half years. But, a group of people started spying on this little child unbelievably. In the flourishing moment of Bangladesh, he came as a symbol of fortune. Alas! The conspiracy of the military junta made him a misfortunate star in history. His name is Sheikh Russel, son of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
When he was a 1.5-year-old kid, Bangabandhu spearheaded the Six-point movement. On May 8, 1966, the Pakistani government arrested Sheikh Mujib and, in 1969 he got released from prison over mass protests. Then he appeared as Bangabandhu, the undisputed leader of the nation.
Little child Sheikh Russel visited his imprisoned father regularly with his mother. The spies of the Military junta even interrogated this little kid. In this situation, Begum Fazilatunnesa Mujib defiantly said, “The father got spy at his 28, and the son got at his 1.5-year-old.”
In 1971, Sheikh Russel was only seven years old. His father Sheikh Mujib was imprisoned, his two brothers Jamal and Kamal were fighting in the war. He was with his mother Fazilatunnesa Mujib, and his two sisters Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana at the residence of Dhanmondi-18. At that time, Sheikh Hasina was pregnant amid the absence of her father and brothers where warplanes were parading across the sky of Bangladesh. The sportive child Russel started to be exhausted. Sometimes his eyes burst into tears but this little Russel tried not to let anyone know his heartache.
After independence, Bangabandhu took the charge of Bangladesh. For the first time, Sheikh Russel got the taste of freedom of life. He was admitted to University Laboratory School. He had a good bonding with his teachers to house-maids. As a son of the Father of Nation, he had no ego or impertinence.
Sheikh Russel is an elegy of immense lamentation. Bangabandhu wrote “The Prison's Dairy' about his imprisoned life. There he wrote about Sheikh Russel. On July 6, 1966, he wrote, “Children want to see where I live. I replied, grow up, be human, then you can see.”
But the little Russel did not get the chance to grow up. On August 15, 1975, he was killed with his parents and family at the residence of Dhanmondi-32 road. A child of 10 years old! What the wrong he did!
On October 18, 1964, he was born seeing an agitating land. He saw how the mass people heated up over the exploitation of the Pakistani government. He was growing up with a zeal for independence. Who has grown up hearing the awakening slogan of “Joy Bangla” the national flag was adorned on his hand. The agents of the Pakistani government ruthlessly killed this little child as revenge for the 1971 Liberation War.
On August 15, 1975, when the assassins bent the brutal massacre of world history, the little child Russel begged for his life. But they did not show any affection to this little kid. A soldier shot on him cold-bloodedly.
A flower started to spread fragrance before blossom and got premature dropout. Every lucid smile of children remains the smile of Sheikh Russel. When a child cries, it reminds the tears of Russel.
