Wednesday, 22 April 2009

Homage to William A S Ouderland (Bir Pratik) (1917-2001)

Dutch-Australian William A S Ouderland was honoured with the state insignia of 'Bir Pratik ', the fourth highest gallantry award by the government of Bangladesh for his very active participation in and heroic contribution, to the WAR OF LIBERATION in 1971. He is the only foreigner to receive this honorary award by the government of Bangladesh. An Australian national Ouderland was born at Amsterdam in Netherland on 6 December 1917. At the age of seventeen he took a job in the Bata Shoe Company as Shoe-shiner (1934). After two years he left the job and joined National Service and was a Sergeant in the Royal Signal Corps (1936). He left the service in 1940 and then participated in the Second World War (1939-1945) as a guerilla commando of the Dutch army.

Ouderland first came to Dhaka in late 1970 with an assignment as the Production Manager of Bata Shoe Company. Within a few months he was promoted to the post of Company Manager. With the beginning of the War of Liberation the company-manager Ouderland discovered in him the ex-soldier Ouderland facing a new war. At the initial stage he engaged himself in communicating secret intelligence on the plans and actions of the occupation army to the freedom fighters.
As a foreigner he had the access to Pak-army and thereby the opportunity to move in the army headquarters and often attend meetings of the army officers in the cantonment. He helped the freedom fighters in every possible way by supplying provisions and financial support. With his experience in the Second World War as a guerilla commando and himself being an active member of a guerilla branch of the freedom fighters of Sector 2, he imparted regular training to the freedom fighters in guerilla warfare at different secret camps in Tongi including the Bata Shoe Factory premises.
On 25 March 1971, rising political discontent and cultural nationalism in East Pakistan was met by brutal suppressive force from the ruling elite of the West Pakistan establishment in what came to be termed Operation Searchlight. He was moved by the killings of the Pakistan Army on 25 March and took photos which he sent to the international media. A war between the West Pakistan Army and guerrilla force, the Mukti Bahini, started immediately. Guerrilla operations, which slacked during the training phase, picked up after August. Economic and Military targets in Dhaka were attacked. Ouderland organized the guerrilla warfare in Dhaka. He built a friendly relationship with 22nd Baluch Regiment captain Sultan Newaz and penetrated into Dhaka cantonment. Subsequently he created close relation with Governor General Tikka Khan and Adviser Civil Affairs Major General Rao Forman Ali. He became a "Distinguished Friend" of A. A. K. Niazi at the headquarters of Eastern Command and managed a security pass to contact with them frequently. Besides Ouderland continued gathering information for the Mukti Bahini and sent it to Major ATM Haider of Sector-2 and Ziaur Rahman.
Inside his office of the Bata Company in Tongi, Ouderland organized and trained the guerrilla fighters of Mukti Bahini. He planned and directed a number of guerrilla operations in Dhaka and nearby areas. He provided the fighters with food and medicine and often gave them shelter. Simultaneously, he gave a tremendous service at the initial stage of the Liberation War by collecting photographs on the inhuman torture and genocide by the occupation army in East Pakistan, and sending them to the world news media thereby creating public opinion in favour of Liberation War. On this point he wrote, "I recollected and resumed in myself the experiences of my youth in Europe, and I felt that I should get the world informed of what was happening in Bangladesh".
William AS Ouderland continued his service in the Bata Shoe Company with his later elevated position as Managing Director till 1978 when he retired and returned back to Australia and settled there for the rest of his life. He died on 18 May 2001 in a hospital at Perth in West Australia leaving behind him his wife Maria and his only daughter. In his last days he was often found telling his wife and daughter, "Bangladesh mon amor (Bangladesh is our love). Maintain this flow of emotion for the generation to come". In 1998, he was invited by the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, to receive the award and certificate but was unable to attend due to illness.
Courtesy: en.wikipedia.org/banglapedia.net/

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