August 15, 1975. A false dawn spread its pale light across the sky. At the residence of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, everybody was still in deep sleep. It was a bizarre moment for the country, medieval in its dark dimensions. Tanks rolled down Sher-e-Banglanagar and made their way towards Dhanmondi. In a matter of minutes, soldiers, led by a group of majors and colonels, were storming the historic house on Road 32. Bangabandhu desperately worked the telephones. General KM Shafiullah, the army chief of staff, asked him if he could move out of his home. That was an impossibility. All hell broke loose as bullets pinged and whizzed around. The Father of the Nation was assassinated along with his family on the land he had freed just four years back.

Photos: Anisur Rahman