Суфия Камал: Жизнь и творчество бангладешской поэтессы и активистки

Bangladeshi poet and activist (1911–1999)

Begum Sufia Kamal (20 June 1911 – 20 November 1999) was a Bangladeshi poet, feminist leader, and political activist. She took part in the Bengali nationalist movement of the 1950s and civil society leader in independent Bangladesh. She led feminist activism and was a president of Bangladesh Mahila Parishad. She died in 1999 and was the first woman to be given a state funeral in Bangladesh.

Syeda Sufia Begum was born on 20 June 1911, in her maternal home Rahat Manzil in Shayestabad, located in the Backergunge District of Eastern Bengal and Assam. Her paternal family were the zamindars of Shilaur in Brahmanbaria, and they claimed descent from Ali, the fourth Caliph of Islam. Whilst she was seven months old, her father Syed Abdul Bari left his job as a lawyer and became a Sufi ascetic, never returning home. She was raised by her mother, Sabera Begum, the youngest daughter of Nawab Mir Muazzam Hussain, in Shayestabad.

Her education began at the local maktab, where she learnt Arabic. As she grew older, she switched to home education as per the cultural norms. Her mother, Sabera Begum, taught her how to read and write in Bengali. Through home education at the Shayestabad zamindar estates, she gained proficiency in Bengali, Arabic, and Hindustani. In 1918, she went to Kolkata with her mother where she came to meet with Begum Rokeya.

A short story Shainik Badhu which Sufia wrote was published in a local paper in 1923.

At the age of eleven years, Sufia was married to her maternal cousin Mir Syed Nehal Hossain, a law student and the son of Mir Syed Motahar Hussain of Shayestabad. Hossain died in 1932, leaving behind a daughter, Amena Quahhar. Seven years later, Sufia married Kamaluddin Ahmed and subsequently moved to Barisal town. Kamal later had two other daughters, Sultana Kamal and Saeeda Kamal, and three sons Shahed Kamal, Shoeb Kamal (who went missing in 1971) and Sajed Kamal.

In 1947, Kamal became the inaugural editor of the Begum weekly magazine specialized on women's issues which was published by Mohammad Nasiruddin. In October of that year after the partition of India she came to Dhaka. During a huge clash between Hindu and Muslim of that time Kamal worked for their friendship and joined in Peace Committee. In 1948, when Purbo Pakistan Mohila Committee formed, she became its chairman. When the news of the 'killings' of Kamal and Dr Nilima Ibrahim by Pak Army after the crackdown on 25 March 1971 was broadcast on Akashbani, a radio station of the Indian state West Bengal, it drew criticism internationally and countries across the world put diplomatic pressure on the then Pakistani military government for clarification. The Pakistani government was forced to broadcast an interview with the poet on radio only to prove that Sufia Kamal was still alive. Zillur Rahman, the then regional director of Radio East Pakistan, forwarded a paper to Kamal to sign with the statement "In 1971 no massacre took place in Bangladesh." When she refused, Rahman threatened, "If you don't give your signature then it might create a problem both for you and your son in law Abdul Quahhar Chowdhury." She told him that she didn't care for her life. She said, "I would rather die than put my signature on the false statement." From July 1971, she used to go to the hospital with food and medicine for the injured people of war. At that time there was an acute crisis of food and medicine in the hospital. She used to give food and medicine to certain rickshaw pullers at the Science Laboratory, Dhaka. They would take the food and medicine to the freedom fighters. She was able to establish closer contact with the freedom fighters such as Abul Barak Alvi, Shafi Imam Rumi, Masud Sadek Chullu and Jewel in August. As the Pakistani army kept their strong watch on her, she would try to help the freedom fighters in different ways ignoring the risks. Except Abul Barak Alvi, all others died in the hand of the Pakistani Army.

The National Public Library in Dhaka is named the Sufia Kamal National Public Library in her honour. On June 20, 2019, Google celebrated her 108th birthday with a Google Doodle.