Londoni

Harvard University's master student

মুনীর চৌধুরী father Khan Bahadur Abdul Halim Chowdhury was a district magistrate. In 1941 Munier Chowdhury matriculated from Dhaka Collegiate School. After completing his ISc from Aligarh Muslim University, he enrolled at Dhaka University and completed Honours (1946) and MA (1947) in English. In 1954 he completed a second MA degree in Bangla and in 1958 obtained an MA in Linguistics from Harvard University. He married Lily Chowdhury in 1949.

Head of Dhaka University's Bangla department

From 1949-1950, he taught Bangla and English literature at Brojo Lal College in Doulat Pur, Khulna. Became a professor of English at Jagannath College in 1950. Lecturor of English at Dhaka University: English Dept(1950-1952, 1954-1955), Commerce Dept(1950-1951, part-time) and Bangla Dept(1955, part-time). He was lecturor of Bangla Dept. of Dhaka University from 1955-1962, Reader from 1962-1970, professor from 1970-1971. He was head of the Bangla Dept. from 1968-1969, and 1969-1971. He became the Dean of Arts Faculty in 1971.

He was associated with leftist politics and progressive cultural movements. In 1948 he attended the Communist Party Conference in Kolkata. Towards the end of the year he was elected Secretary of the Pragati Lekhak O Shilpi Sangha (Progressive Writers and Artists' Association).

Wrote drama from the jail

Munier Chowdhury actively participated in the Language Movement of 1952, and was imprisoned by the Pakistan government. He wrote his famous symbolic drama, Kabar (The Grave) during his imprisonment. He also fought against any type of cultural repression during the late 1950s and 1960s. In 1967, he protested against the Pakistan government's directive to ban Tagore songs on Radio and Television. In the late 1960s there was a movement in Pakistan to replace the Bengali language alphabet with the Arabic alphabet. As a linguist and writer, Munier Chowdhury protested this move to undermine the native language of East Pakistan. He actively participated in the non-cooperation movement during the early part of 1971 and renounced his award Sitara-e-Imtiaz (awarded by Pakistan Govt in 1966).

He addressed the Dhaka University teachers' meeting in 23^rd February 1952, protesting the killings and tortures of police in 21^st February and was arrested on the 26^th. He was in jail until June 1954 as a political prisoner. While in prison, he wrote his famous drama KOBOR(the Grave) in 17^th January, 1953. He was released in April 4, 1954 when Jukta Front came to power in East Bengal. He was arrested again in May 29 when the central government dismissed the provincial cabinet. He was released in October again. He is the inventor of Bangla typewriter keyboard, known as Munir Optima(1965). When, in 22^nd June, 1967, central radio and information minister, Khaja Shahab Uddin, banned Rabindra Sanghit(Sir Rabindranath's music) in a statement in the parliament, he protested. He opposed the initiative to reform the Bangla alphabet(1968).

Missing - dead body never found

Although he issued statement in support of undivided Pakistan during the Liberation War of 1971 to save his life, he did not survive. In December 14^th 1971, at the eve of victory, he was abducted by Al-Badar Bahini(Islamic fundamentalists of Jamat-e-islami and right-hands of Pakistni military), and lost since.

On 14 December 1971 Munier Chowdhury, along with a large number of Bengali intellectuals, educators, doctors and engineers, was kidnapped from their houses and later tortured and executed by the Pakistan Army and its Bengali collaborators (Jamaat activists, Al-Badr, Al-Shams), only 2 days before the end of the Bangladesh War. His body was never found.

Another son Asif Munier is a leading activist for human rights in the country and was a founder member of Projonmo Ekattor, a leading human rights group in Bangladesh, which initiated the building of the Rayer Bazar Smriti Shoudho (Rayer Bazar Memorial) in Dhaka. This memorial was built on the barren land on which the Pakistani army dumped the bodies of the intellectuals after murdering them. Projonmo Ekattor also campaigns for the trial of war criminals of 1971.

Munier Chowdhury's work include:

• Kabar (The grave), 1952 - a one act play about the Language Movement
• Raktakta Prantar (The bloody meadow), 1959 - play about the Third Battle of Panipat
• Mir-Manas, 1965 - literary critique of Mir Mosharraf Hossain's literature
• Munier Optima, 1965 - a Bangla keyboard layout design
• Dandakaranya, 1966
• Chithi (The letter), 1966
• Palashi Barrack O Anyanya, 1969
• Tulanamulak Samalochana (Comparative critique), 1969
• Bangla Gadyariti (Bengali literary style),1970

Videos of

Photos of Munier Chowdhury

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