birth_date: 1926-02-16 00:00:00
avg_rating: 4.02
name: Shahidullah Kaiser
about: Shahidullah Kaiser (Bengali: শহীদুল্লাহ কায়সার) was born Abu Nayeem Mohammad Shahidullah. He is the brother of another famous Bengali author Zahir Raihan. Kaiser studied at Presidency College, Kolkata and obtained a Bachelors degree in economics with honours. Later, he enrolled in Masters of Arts at Calcutta University but did not finish getting the degree.Kaiser was active in politics and cultural movements from his student days. Following the formation of Pakistan in 1947, he became a member of the provincial Communist Party of East Pakistan. He started working as a journalist in 1949 with the Ittefaq in Dhaka. In 1952, he participated actively in the Language Movement. For his political role in the movement for protection of Bengali lang Shahidullah Kaiser (Bengali: শহীদুল্লাহ কায়সার) was born Abu Nayeem Mohammad Shahidullah. He is the brother of another famous Bengali author Zahir Raihan. Kaiser studied at Presidency College, Kolkata and obtained a Bachelors degree in economics with honours. Later, he enrolled in Masters of Arts at Calcutta University but did not finish getting the degree.Kaiser was active in politics and cultural movements from his student days. Following the formation of Pakistan in 1947, he became a member of the provincial Communist Party of East Pakistan. He started working as a journalist in 1949 with the Ittefaq in Dhaka. In 1952, he participated actively in the Language Movement. For his political role in the movement for protection of Bengali language, Kaiser was arrested on 3 June 1952. He was later jailed for three and a half years. Right after his release in 1955, he was again arrested and jailed on a political crackdown on activists. A few years later he was released. In 1958, Kaiser joined as an associate editor of the Daily Sangbad - a Bengali language daily - where he worked for the rest of his life. When the Military coup of 1958 put Ayub Khan in power, and martial law was proclaimed, Kaiser was arrested again on 14 October 1958 and remained in jail for four years till his release in September 1962.At the end the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971, the Pakistan Army and its local collaborators initiated a plan for killing the leading Bengali intellectuals. As a part of it, Kaiser was rounded up on 14 December 1971. He never returned, nor was his body found. It is assumed that he was executed along with other intellectuals. His brother Zahir Raihan also disappeared while searching for Kaiser. ...more
death_date: 1971-12-14 00:00:00