Dhaka, March 6 -- A day before 7 March fifty-three years ago, as a student of Senior Cambridge in distant Quetta, Balochistan, where our family lived owing to my father's posting in the garrison town, I looked forward to listening to Bangabandhu's speech the next day. He was scheduled to speak at the Race Course in Dhaka and I expected to tune in to Dhaka Radio and hear him speak.

With the newspapers already speculating whether he would declare Bangladesh's independence on the day, I was in a state of feverish excitement. Besides, foreign radio channels such as the BBC and VOA all waited for a dramatic announcement by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in Dhaka. In Quetta, the Bengali families, rather few in number, looked forward to the Race Course ...