Ghyasuddin Ahmed

Ghyasuddin Ahmed, also known by his daak naam Bacchu Da, was a Bengali educator.

Early life

Ahmed was born in Belabo, Narsinghdi sub-division, British India. There is ambiguity about his date of birth, but almost all sources agree that it was in 1933. His father was Abdul Gafur, a sub-deputy magistrate. His mother was Ratna Garbha Begum Shamsunnahar. He had two brothers and five sisters. His younger brother, Rashiduddin Ahmad, would become a neurosurgeon.
Ahmed passed matriculation by obtaining eighth place from St. Gregory High School, Dhaka, in 1950 and I.A. from Notre Dame College in 1952 by obtaining tenth place. He passed B.A. and M.A. in history from Dhaka University in 1957. In his university days, he was a chess champion and captain of the basketball team of S. M. Hall.

Career

Ahmed joined Jagannath College as a lecturer in the history department and later joined Dhaka University in 1958. He went to the United Kingdom with a Commonwealth Scholarship in 1964 and obtained an Honours degree in world history from the London School of Economics.

Role in Liberation War

Ahmed collected medicine and food and delivered those to posts, such as Sufia Kamal's house, which supplied freedom fighters for their training.

Death

Accused of helping in the Bangladesh Liberation War, he was taken to Dhaka Cantonment in 1971 for questioning. He was released after a few days. Then again on 14 December 1971, he was picked up from Mohsin Hall by the Pakistani paramilitary Al Badar forces. On 4 January 1972, his clothes and mutilated body were identified in the Mirpur area.
On 3 November 2013, Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin, a Muslim leader based in London, and Ashrafuz Zaman Khan, based in the US, were sentenced in absentia after the court found that they were involved in the abduction and murders of 18 people - nine Dhaka University teachers, including Ahmed; six journalists; and three physicians – in December 1971.