Mohammad Farhad

General secretary of Communist Party of Bangladesh

Mohammad Farhad (5 July 1938 – 9 October 1987), popularly known as "Comrade Farhad", was a Bangladeshi guerrilla force commander during the Bangladesh independence war, President of Communist Party of Bangladesh and a member of Bangladesh Parliament.

Early life

Mohammad Farhad was an Urdu-speaking Bangladeshi born in Khetripara in the Dinajpur district in present Bangladesh to parents Ahmed Sadakatul Bari and Tayabunnesa. He matriculated from Dinajpur Jila School in 1953 and received his master's degree in political science from Dhaka University in 1961.

Politics

Comrade Farhad played a role at different times in Pakistan and Bangladesh, including the 1952 Bengali Language Movement, 1962 Education Movement, 1968–69 Pakistan Mass Upheaval, 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War and the post-1971 Democracy movement.

During the 1971 war, he helped lead the guerrilla forces jointly formed by the Communist Party, NAP and Chhatra Union. A ‘Special Guerilla Force’ under the direct command of CPB-NAP-BSU fought against the Pakistani army. Moni Singh, the ex-President of CPB, was elected a member of the Advisory Council of the Provisional Government of Bangladesh.

He was imprisoned during the Pakistan period, as well as during the Zia and Ershad period of Bangladesh politics. Mohammad Farhad was elected as a member of Bangladesh Parliament in 1986 from his home district Panchagarh, which he held until his death.

Death

On 8 October 1987, while on an official visit to Moscow, Soviet Union, as a delegate from Bangladesh Parliament, Mohammad Farhad died of a sudden heart attack at the age of 49. He left behind his wife and two children. The Moni Singh-Farhad Memorial Trust was established, twinning his name with that of Communist Party founding member Comrade Moni Singh, now serving as a center for intellectuals in Bangladesh.