Showcasing the patriotic, sacrificial story of Shaheed Brigadier General Jamil Uddin Ahmad, ‘Bir Uttam’, a special documentary film titled ‘Call of Duty Brigadier General Jamil’ was screened on Saturday at Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy (BSA) in the capital.

The documentary film, directed by Sentu Roy, demonstrated how the valiant soldier, the then-Director General of DGFI and former Military Secretary of the then-President of independent Bangladesh, the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, went on to embrace martyrdom on the horrific night of August 15, 1975, with a quest to save Bangabandhu and his family.

At the National Art Gallery auditorium full of enthusiastic audiences, the documentary screening was joined by Awami League lawmaker from the Gazipur-4 constituency and member of the AL praesidium Simeen Hussain Rimi as the chief guest.

She was also joined by eminent artist Afrozaa Jamil (Konka) and Karishma Jamil, daughters of Brigadier General Jamil Uddin Ahmad, among other esteemed guests, including author Nazneen Haque Mimi, the niece of Shaheed Sergeant Zohorul Haque who along with some other accused in the historic Agartala case, ultimately sacrificing his life in 1969.

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After the opening remarks, the one-hour documentary film was screened to the audience, narrating with a visual demonstration of that particular timeline when the nation lost its most iconic family along with the lone warrior, the valiant patriot and a lifelong companion of the Father of the Nation.

Brigadier General Jamil Uddin Ahmad was married to Anjuman Ara Jamil, who later became a Member of Parliament for Kushtia, Meherpur and Chuadanga. The couple had three daughters: Tehmina Enayet (Tonu), Afrozaa Jamil (Konka), and Sam Jamil (Shweta) and were expecting a fourth child (Karishma) in 1975 when Jamil sacrificed his life to save Bangabandhu and embraced martyrdom.

In the hour-long documentary film, they all reminisced about the beautiful memories of their father and also demonstrated how the family dealt with their tragic loss during that horrific period.

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“In the year 1966, our father Brigadier General Jamil Uddin Ahmad was in the ISI office at Minto Road in Dhaka where he was the Second-in-Command. During that time, Bangabandhu was convicted in the Agartala Conspiracy Case. To save the great leader from that case, our father burnt and buried all the files and evidence against Bangabandhu at Ramna Park. As a result, Bangabandhu could not be charged in that case. He was called and questioned by the ISI chief and was even scheduled to face a ‘Court Martial’, however, that did not happen but this is just one of the many examples of his intelligence and bravery,” Afrozaa Jamil reminisced in the documentary.

Jamil’s elder daughter Tehmina Enayet recalled the earlier days of Jamil’s excellence as an Army officer, stating, “During the 1971 Liberation War, we were confined as hostages in Pakistan with other Bengali military families. When the war was over and we were about to be repatriated, the Pakistan Army offered my father with higher rank and additional facilities as he was a senior officer of the Inter-service Intelligence, but he refused, saying, 'I want to go back to my country and serve'. Upon our arrival in Bangladesh, he was invited by Bangabandhu to join as the Military Secretary to the President in 1973.”

Sharing their fond memories, Sam Jamil stated - “I used to sneak in to Ganabhaban during the afternoon meetings of Bangabandhu. One day my father noticed and told my mother, and I told him that I would not repeat that if I could see Bangabandhu for once, to which he agreed. As promised he took me in front of the door of Bangabandhu’s office, however, Bangabandhu noticed me and talked to me, then called my father who after a while informed me that Bangabandhu permitted me to visit him every day.”

Reminiscing the last moments with their father, the daughters of Shaheed Colonel Jamil shared what exactly happened on the day of August 15, 1975. “In the dawn of that day, Bangabandhu called our father and informed him that he and his family members had been attacked. Our father responded quickly and rang senior officers, including Chief of Army Staff General Shafiullah, and told them to send in the troops. He also rang the Rakkhi Bahini, Presidential Guard Regiment (PGR) head towards Road 32 immediately.

Before he got into the car, our mother asked him one last time, "Do you really have to go?" he replied, "Are you crazy? Bangabandhu is in danger - how can I not go!" I served him a glass of cold water, he drank it with utmost pleasure and then told our mother - "Take good care of my daughters."

“I was 17 years old at that time,” Tehmina Enayet reminisced. "That day Sam (then 5 years old) was not in our house, she was in my aunt’s home. So we two sisters along with our mother bid the last goodbye to our father, and we looked to his jeep until it faded away in the darkness of the night. I never really imagined that it would be the last time I would see him - nor that I predicted he would die like what happened after that.”

“It’s very tough to express the numbness we were feeling at that time. Our parents did not know that we would be going to have another baby sister. So in his lifetime, my father only knew and adored his three daughters.”

The fourth daughter is Karishma Jamil, and reminiscing about her father she said in the documentary, “I see my sisters share their memories about our father, I see people reminisce about their fathers. I don’t have a single memory of my father, and that emptiness has been a consistent partner throughout my entire life.”

“The almighty sent him into this world to save Bangabandhu, something about which we are really proud,” the daughter reminisced on the documentary.