ফাদার লুকাস মারান্ডি ॥॥ সাহায্য দরকার

সতর্কতা ॥ এখানে তথ্য দিলে আপনাদের কোনো লাভ হবে না। শুধু আমিই আর্থিকভাবে লাভবান হবো।

[i]ফাদার লুকাস মারান্ডি বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধের সময় পাকিস্তানি সেনাদের হাতে নিহত হয়েছিলেন। আমি তার একটা ছোটো জীবনী লিখবো।

ফাদার লুকাস মারান্ডি সম্পর্কে তথ্য প্রয়োজন। বিশেষ করে ভারতীয় কেউ যদি এই লেখাটা দেখে থাকেন, তাহলে তার কাছ থেকে লুকাসের শৈশব, পরিবার, সমাধি ইত্যাদি বিষয়ে তথ্য দরকার।

জীবনী লেখার কাজটা করতেছি টাকার বিনিময়ে। আপনাদের যে-কারো দেয়া তথ্যে আমার আর্থিক লাভ হবে! এই বিষয়টি মাথায় রেখেই তথ্য দেবেন! এই তথ্য সম্পূর্ণ স্বার্থপরের মতো নিজের লাভে ব্যবহার করবো![/i]

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আপাতত লুকাস সম্পর্কে নিজের কাছে এইটুকু তথ্য আছে-

Fr. Lucas Marandi:

The Good Shepherd does not run away

Birth : 4 August 1922, in Beneedwar

Ordination 1 December 1953, in Dinajpur

Death 21 April 1971, in Ruhea

The death of Fr. Lucas Marandi deserves special mention.

When the bloody crackdown by the Pakistan Army upon the whole population of former East Pakistan took place in 1971, Fr. Lucas was in charge of the parish of Ruhea for less than two years. He was not only a good pastor to the Christian community, his nationalist feelings were also boundless and he felt very strongly for his country.

The untold acts of merciless repression by the Pak Army provoked the flight to India of millions of people. News came to Fr. Lucas that elsewhere in the diocese four mission centers had been looted and abandoned. In the zone of Ruhea itself almost the entire minority group and many Moslems had taken shelter in India, from where appeals were coming to him to be quick and cross over. At last Fr. Lucas took a decision and after loading the mission bullock cart with the parish archives and his own belongings, moved westwards. The border, marked by the river Nagor, was six miles away. The priest reached the border on his motor cycle, and stood on the riverbank waiting for the cart. When it arrived, they crossed together, but after climbing on the Indian side, he turned to look in the direction of his mission. He stood there in silence and concentration for a long time. His companions understood the crisis that was storming inside his soul, and finally they called out: "Well, Father, let's go now!" At last Fr. Lucas turned and with a voice heavy with emotion said: "No, it has all been a mistake! Let's go back to Ruhea!" He did not wait for their reaction. He caught hold of his Vespa and quickly descended with it into the stream, climbed back onto the Pakistani side of the border, started his vehicle and roared away.

Back at the mission he passed three days in deepening loneliness, uncertainty and stark fear. Then suddenly a jeep, full of armed men, stopped in front of the mission house. Fr. Lucas came out to greet them and they accepted tea and biscuits from him. When at last they departed and went north, the poor man let out a sigh of relief. But after three hours they were back. Fr. Lucas came out again, but they pushed him inside the house and only the walls of his room could tell all they did to him for the next fifteen minutes. At last they rushed out, jumped onto the jeep and sped away. Fr. Lucas was found dying. He was utterly disfigured with countless bayonet wounds on his face.

The last handful of Catholics left in the vicinity of the mission gathered and decided to run away, carrying along their wounded priest to India, where treatment could be possible. The bullock cart was made ready and, with the dying priest lying on it, the sad group took the way westwards. But it was not out of sight when Fr. Lucas died.

The cart went on with his dead body which was buried in the graveyard of the Islampur mission in India, Meanwhile, out of nowhere a crowd of looters suddenly surfaced and started ransacking the mission which, in a few hours, was left like an empty shell.