G A Momin
Cinematographer: Naeem Mohaiemen
Duration: 00:05:59; Aspect Ratio: 1.364:1; Hue: 40.309; Saturation: 0.036; Lightness: 0.393; Volume: 0.221; Cuts per Minute: 0.834; Words per Minute: 64.858
Summary: G. A. Momin was an extensive session of interviews because he kept wanting to meet. At a certain point I wondered what familial proxy relationships were formed.
How G. A. Momin came to have a gun is something I often wondered. Technically, you needed a license. The argument the Pakistan army made was always about secret weapons caches. Momin seemed to be confirming it, or was he.
Twelve or twelve past ten.
when the first blank firing happened
Blank firing
I thought that was for scaring people off.
But actually I had with me one rifle and one shotgun.
And I asked my cousin who brought in another shotgun.
So we had two shotguns and rifle.
See that house over there (points out of frame)
My house was not here then.
There was a bungalow-pattern shed only.
That house...[cut]
Yahya Khan
Yahya Khan [didn't want] to hand-over power.
That tin shed above
that temporary construction in the fifties
walls below and the tin shed above.
The whole area was under work.
This plot is also ours, it belongs to my brother.
So what happened there is
7th March Speech of Sheikh Mujib
After 7th of March we were a bit worried
about what was going to happen.
On 25th March, at our place...we had sort of a club.
1971 Pakistani Army Crackdown
In the evening, my friends, some office colleagues and I used to play cards.
So as usual we were playing cards that day.
It was nine thirty O' clock at night.
In the meantime, one of my relatives and neighbor who was also a major leader in Awami League, Kalu Chowdhury.
Kalu Chowdhury
Awami League
We used to call him Kalumama, because he was a distant relation.
Bangabandhu
He was very close to Bangabandhu.
He was a leader and Awami League MP.
member of parliament
He said, "You guys are here playing cards?"
Don't you keep up with the news?
We said no. He said there would be an army crackdown tonight.
Army crackdown
So I finished my dinner.
I took off the sandals and wore Keds.
Took off lungi, and wore trousers.
Wore trousers, shirt, Keds and took the rifle with a pocket full of cartridges.
My cousin joined us.
This was my mother's place and that was my aunt's.
The sound made by the gun is a bit different.
There's a difference between the sound made by ordinary rifles and Type 56 rifles.
Type 56 rifles
We were used to it, I mean.
Anyway
Then for 15-20 minutes, there was complete silence.
A friend of ours telephoned us.
He called up from his house.
That terrace had a small room, one of my cousins used to stay there.
They had a telephone.
He asked what we were up to.
I said we are on the terrace with rifles.
He said, no no, this is all a rumor.
"Go back to bed."
I hung up the phone at around twelve past ten.
and suddenly the loud sound of firing reached us
from the direction of EPR,which is called BDR now.
East Pakistan Rifles
Bangladesh Rifles
I could make out that machine guns were being used.
Machine gun
I could make out the sound of shelling from field guns as well.
Field gun
BGB (BDR) Headquarters, Dhaka
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