Tag: 50th Anniversary of the 1971

It was the morning of November 25, 1971 and soothing rays of the solar fell on two villages. A gentle breeze wafted throughout. Suddenly, the calm was shattered and folks began working helter-skelter.

The Pakistan Army appeared from nowhere and their males barged into each family. They fired indiscriminately on the villagers, largely males. The orgy of violence in Ghatarchar and Bhawal continued for hours and left a whole bunch lifeless.

The mass killings began early within the morning in Ghatarchar. When the information reached the close by Bhawal village, individuals scurried for canopy. There was panic all over the place.

Only a number of Bhawal dwellers have been deceived by Razakars (native collaborators of the Pakistan Army) into believing that they’d nothing to fret about and will keep within the village.
Most villagers left their houses, nonetheless, many stayed again because of the assurance given by the Razakars. Just after they’d returned to their dwellings, the military males swooped down on the gullible villagers, and rained them with bullets.

Fifty one years after the bloodbath, Amar Chaan can’t maintain again his tears as he recounts the horrific morning when seven of his members of the family have been gunned down by the occupation military.
“Around 8 or 8.30 in the morning, we saw a handful of masked military men and some others (collaborators), coming through the road. We started running along the canal to save our lives. On the way, we noticed that the army had surrounded the adjacent areas of our school. The Razakars turned us back, saying they would do no harm to us. But, they started firing the moment we had come back to our houses. I picked up my elder son and ran with him along the canal while my wife fled with our younger son to the north. Having sustained bullet injuries, my father, sister, her husband, younger brother, nephew, and niece couldn’t escape.”

According to native freedom fighters, witnesses of the genocide and family of martyrs, native villagers had a fierce dispute with Faiz Hossain, the native Razakar commander, over the occupation of Ghatarchar playground throughout the Liberation War.
Razakar Faiz Hussain threatened that he would settle rating with the villagers as he couldn’t occupy the sector even with pretend paperwork. He then despatched a 7-point discover to Dhaka Cantonment informing it in regards to the presence of quite a few freedom fighters in Ghatarchar village. At the start of the Liberation War, Ghatarchar resident and East Pakistan Rifles (EPR) member Golam Mostafa, Rahman Matbar and several other villagers joined the conflict.

In the final week of November, Rahman Matabar got here dwelling and known as the native youths to affix the Liberation War. He held a gathering with the native youth on the evening of November 24 close to the native Tanpara Mosque to enlist these taking part as freedom fighters and to determine on some essential points. Several younger individuals instantly signed as much as be part of the conflict.
After studying in regards to the assembly of the liberty fighters from dependable sources, Faiz Hossain, Razakar Moktar Mia and Razakar Zainal Doctor of Looter Char (native village), secretly knowledgeable the Pakistani Army in regards to the presence of the liberty fighters.

On November 25, at 1.30 am, round 150 Pakistani troops entered Washpur Ghat by way of the Buriganga river in a number of gunboats. Then they walked alongside the western facet of the river and arrived on the fringe of Ghatarchar. After that, with the assistance of Razakar commander Faiz Hossain and Razakar Moktar Mia carrying a burqa, the invading troops surrounded all the Ghatarchar village within the evening.

Around 6.30 a.m., Pakistani troopers with the assistance of Razakar Commander Faiz Hussain entered homes and opened fireplace focusing on the male members. At that point, the boys in several homes began working for canopy. But as the entire village was surrounded earlier, Ghatarchar villagers have been ambushed.

Pakistani troopers dragged the boys from the homes of Ghatarchar, together with these in Tan Para, Paschim Para, Purba Para and Bhawal Khan home, and introduced them out and made them stand in Khalpar (Bank of Canal) and Ghatarchar subject and carried out huge bloodbath. Around 57 villagers have been martyred immediately.

Shamser Ali, a narrative teller, misplaced his two brothers Araj Ali and Darbesh Ali within the Ghatarchar bloodbath, however fortunately he survived.

He mentioned, “Pakistan Army entered our house around 8 am. We were staying at home. They dragged my elder brother out of the house and beat him in front of the gate. My other brother was dragged to the field, made to stand in a line and was shot dead. When my elder brother was killed, I ran to save my life and hid in the forest near the house. I survived because they couldn’t see me.”

Shamser Ali added, “We buried 34 people together in one mass grave in Ghatarchar. There were only bodies and bodies around.”

The Ghatarchar bloodbath ended at 8 am. Then, round 8.30 am, the Pakistani invasion forces with the assistance of Razakars arrived on foot within the Bhawal village street subsequent to Ghatarchar.
First, a big contingent of Pakistani troops entered by way of Bhawal School and surrounded the northern and western sides of the village. Then the remainder of the invading military entered the village from the south facet. Seeing the Pakistani troopers, the villagers began working for his or her lives. The Razakars assured the villagers that they gained’t be harmed and requested them to remain at dwelling.

Most of the villagers fled, however the remaining believed the Razakars and went again dwelling. As quickly because the villagers reached to their houses, the invading troops began firing. Around 29 villagers have been brutally killed.

Omar Chan misplaced seven members of his household in Bhawal bloodbath. Fortunately, he survived that day, however even at this time, the brutality of the invaders and Razakars makes him shudder.

Omar Chan’s father, elder sister, elder sister’s husband, youthful brother, two nephews and one niece have been martyred in Bhawal village bloodbath. His sister Bishka Rani was shot seven occasions however she survived.

Bharti Rani, a resident of Bora Bhawal Rishipara, misplaced her husband Ramcharan and cousin Yudhu Das within the bloodbath.

She mentioned, “We were all running away after seeing the military in the morning. Then everyone gathered in the canal. The shooting started. My husband sustained two bullet wounds in both his legs. He pretended to be dead so that the military or Razakars would not suspect that he was alive. Some of us managed to escape. When the military left, the family informed that your husband and your cousin had been killed.”

The Pakistani invading forces and their collaborators didn’t cease after massacring individuals in Ghatarchar and Bhawal. With the assistance of the Razakars, they then set fireplace to the close by villages — Kathaltali and Guita — and burnt down a lot of the homes.

Credits

Reporter: Sahidul Hasan Khokon

Edited by: Tirtho Banerjee

Photo Research: Raman Pruthi

Interactive Producer: Raka Mukherjee

Interactive Developer: Vishal Rathour

Cover illustration: Vani Gupta

The 1971 Liberation War of Bangladesh was raging and curfew was imposed by the Pakistan Army throughout Dhaka. Once the curfew was relaxed for some hours, Dr Alim Chowdhury would depart his household – his spouse and two daughters, Neepa (5) and Nuzhat (3) — at residence in Paltan space and perform ‘humanitarian’ work risking his life.

Dr Chowdhury, a visionary and ophthalmologist, used to gather medicines from varied pharmacies and drug corporations. He then hid the medicines within the bonnet of his automotive and delivered them on the secret base of the liberty fighters. He visited the key hospital, which was there to deal with the wounded freedom fighters. Dr Chowdhury would give therapy to the injured. Many freedom fighters recovered and returned to the “battlefield”.

Nuzhat Chowdhury Shampa’s eyes overflow with love for her father as she speaks about him. She can’t recollect a lot of the time she spent with him. When her father was martyred, she was solely three. She says, “Pakistanis’ friends — Razakars, Albadars, some of the Alshams forces — took my father from our house in Paltan on December 15 around 4.30pm in front of our eyes. Three days later, on December 18, our family members found the mutilated body of my father and some others in the slaughterhouse of Rayer Bazar. My father’s chest was found pierced with many bullets. There were marks of torture all over his body; deep bayonet wounds on the left side of forehead and abdomen. My father’s eyes were gouged out by the beasts. The main executioner was Ashrafuzzaman Khan. My father’s only fault was offering treatment to the freedom fighters.”

As the warfare was at its fag finish, Pakistan’s invading forces systematically began killing famous Bengali personalities. Many had been kidnapped from their houses; whereas some had been brutally murdered proper in entrance of their household. The record of the martyrs is infinite. There had been 991 academicians, 13 journalists, 49 medical doctors, 42 attorneys and artists and 16 engineers amongst them. In all, 1, 111 such folks had been murdered.

A contemporary curfew was clamped in Dhaka from December 4, 1971. On December 10, plan to bloodbath intellectuals and key personalities started. The nefarious plan was executed on December 14. Prominent folks had been picked by the Pakistan Army and their henchmen. About 200 intellectuals had been kidnapped from their houses that day. They had been blindfolded and brought to torture centres situated in Mirpur, Mohammadpur, Nakhalpara, Rajar Bagh and lots of different locations. After being tortured, they had been brutally killed in Rayer Bazar and Mirpur slaughterhouses. Even after the give up and official finish of the warfare, there have been allegations of firing by the Pakistani Army and its allies. In one such incident, famend film-maker Zahir Raihan misplaced his life on January 30, 1972.

The most heinous crimes had been dedicated by the Pakistani occupation forces and their native allies Al Shams, Al Badar and Razakars. These had been deliberate, calculated and cold-blooded killings geared toward breaking the spine of a nation struggling to liberate itself from the clutches of Pakistani troops. The perpetrators focused the very best Bengali minds and expertise, together with literary giants, philosophers, scientists, painters, lecturers, researchers, journalists, attorneys, medical doctors, engineers, architects, sculptors, authorities and personal workers, politicians, philanthropists, tradition lovers, artists related to movie, drama and music, who had been contributing considerably to the event of Bangladesh. After killing them, their our bodies had been dumped within the swamps of Rayer Bazar and Mirpur. Later, mutilated our bodies of the martyrs had been recovered from these swamps.

Similar atrocities had been dedicated somewhere else exterior Dhaka. All these martyrs represented the primary driving pressure of the nation and acted as a beacon for the exploited folks. They had been ardent patriots who believed that sooner or later the nation would turn into impartial.

Major General Rao Farman Ali was the primary planner of those killings, who acted on the orders of the Pakistan Army. And the notorious Al Badr Army, initially shaped by Jamaat-e-Islami, helped put together the hit record and the execution of the murders. The essential perpetrators had been Chowdhury Moinuddin (Operation In-Charge) and Ashrafuzzaman Khan (Chief Executioner) of Badar Army. After December 16, 1971, a private diary of Ashrafuzzaman Khan was recovered from his home in Nakhalpara residence, two pages of which had names of about 20 intellectuals and their residential handle.

According to the testimony given by his automotive driver Mofizuddin, the charred our bodies of a number of intellectuals, whom he shot along with his personal arms, had been present in swamps of Rayer Bazar and Sialbari slaughterhouses in Mirpur. Chowdhury Moinuddin was a member of the central committee of Jamaat-e-Islami in 1971. He used to convey the names and addresses of the intellectuals to General Rao Farman Ali and Brigadier Bashir Ahmed from the ‘Daily Observer’ constructing. Besides, there have been ABM Khalek Majumdar (killer of Shahidullah Qaiser), Maulana Abdul Mannan (killer of Dr Alim Chowdhury), Abdul Quader Molla (killer of poet Mehrunnesa) and others. The essential killers in Chittagong had been Fazlul Quader Chowdhury and his two sons Salauddin Quader Chowdhury and Gias Quader Chowdhury.

Renowned author and researcher Mohiuddin Ahmed says it’s not certain how they deliberate it. However, from the evening of March 25 to December 14, 1971, intellectuals, together with lecturers, journalists and artists, had been killed in cities and villages throughout the nation. But the unhappy reality is that it has not been delved into correctly and there are numerous unanswered questions. Historian Muntasir Mamun stated that the killing of intellectuals began earlier than Jamaat-e-Islami’s pupil union was utterly remodeled into Al-Badar. However, after the formation of Al-Badar Army, the accountability of killing intellectuals was particularly given to them. Al-Badar pressure (Bahini) picked many from their houses and killed them in micro housing in Dhaka.

Historians say the names of many useless and lacking intellectuals had been written in Rao Farman Ali’s diary, which was discovered within the then Governor’s House (now Banga Bhaban) in Dhaka. Mamun and Mohiuddin Ahmed collectively visited Pakistan and interviewed Rao Farman Ali in 1989. It is printed within the e book titled ‘Sey Sab Pakistani’.

Mamun says that Rao Farman Ali was concerned within the homicide of intellectuals instantly or not directly, which was subsequently proved in some paperwork. However, the complete army junta was concerned. Mamun additionally believes that the then army commander of East Pakistan, Lieutenant General Amir Abdullah Khan Niazi, additionally had the blueprint.

He says that Niazi had instructed to not place any Bengali official in any submit. All the highest officers of the Pakistani Army had been concerned within the planning of killing of intellectuals.

The famous intellectuals killed embrace Prof Munir Chowdhury, Dr Alim Chowdhury, Professor Muniruzzaman, Dr Fazle Rabbi, Siraj Uddin Hossain, Shahidullah Kaiser, Prof GC Dev, Jyotirmoy Guha Thakurta, Prof Santosh Bhattacharya, Mofazzal Haider Chowdhury, Prof Ghiyas Uddin, Prof Anwar Pasha, Prof Rashidul Hasan, Dr Abul Khair, Dr Murtaza, journalist Khandaker Abu Taher, Nizamuddin Ahmed, SA Mannan (Ladu Bhai), ANM Ghulam Mostafa, Syed Nazmul Haque, Selina Parveen.

Credits

Reporter: Sahidul Hasan Khokon

Edited by: Tirtho Banerjee

Interactive Producer: Raka Mukherjee

Interactive Developer: Vishal Rathour

Cover illustration: Vani Gupta

Photos: Sahidul Hasan Khokon,India Today Archives

Armed with refined weapons, they went on a rampage within the village and gunned down whoever got here their method. They checked each Hindu home, separated women and men and dragged out some males carrying sarees. The males had been lined up in entrance of a temple as screams lease the air. Shots had been fired. And then, there was full hush.

It was a Friday when on May 21, 1971, Rajjab Ali Fakir’s Razakar Bahini, allies of Pakistan Army, of Bagerhat, carried out a brutal bloodbath of over 600 individuals, principally Hindus, in Dakra village of Perikhali Union of Rampal Upazila.

Kalibari of Dakra village was then a spiritual assembly place of the Hindus in that area. Badal Chandra Chakraborty was the chief pujari of the Kalibari. As a saint and spiritual guru, he was extremely revered and everybody addressed him as Guru Noakarta.

After May 11, 1971, individuals of the Hindu group began leaving the encompassing villages, however some devotees of Noakarta determined that on May 22, they might be part of their Guru and depart for India by boat by the Sundarbans.

As mentioned, a couple of days earlier than the bloodbath, quite a few Hindu households from neighbouring villages got here and settled in a whole lot of boats on the banks of Mangla River, Madartala River and Kumarkhali Canal round Kalibari.

Sayera, Khanpur, Banshbaria of Bagerhat Sadar Upazila; Morelganj upazila’s Aecharani, Rampal upazila’s Betkata, Bhojpatia and Mahishghata villages had a sizeable variety of individuals within the group. After spending the entire day within the village, they used to sleep within the boat that was stationed on the river financial institution at night time. Thus, by May 21, Dakra had grow to be like a big refugee camp. Those visiting the place exceeded 2,000.

All the individuals, who united underneath the management of Iman Ali Sheikh, Jonab Ali Sheikh Delwar Hussain and others, assured the Hindu group that they may keep secure there. They additionally received assurance on this regard from Afsar Uddin, a member of the Peace Committee of Banshtali village situated on the opposite aspect of Mongla River.

But the truth that the individuals of the Hindu group had been dwelling collectively on the similar place was an enormous catch for the perpetrators. Besides, the political opposition events began fascinated with retaliation for the Seventies elections. They despatched the information to Rajjab Ali, the Razakar commander of Bagerhat. An eyewitness noticed a medical faculty pupil, Liaqat Ali Ghaznavi from Dakra village, on a ship to Bagerhat with a letter written to Rajjab Ali the day earlier than the bloodbath.

On May 21, Rajjab Ali, together with his forces, arrived in Dakra in two giant boats. Each boat had 15-20 armed Razakars. The first boat went south-west of Kaliganj Bazar on the north financial institution of Mongla River and arrived at Duckra Bazar. The second boat crossed the Mongla River and took place on the base of the Kumarkhali canal. The boats first moored on the banks of the rivers and canals had been searched. Then, the Razakars of the primary boat barged into Dakra village from the west and the Razakars of the second boat entered the village from the east.

Dakra village was bursting with refugees who wished to go to India. The Razakars began firing at whoever they present in entrance of them. As quickly as gunshots had been heard, the general public got here to Guru Noakarta. Finally, the Razakars got here from either side and halted at Kalibari. Men and ladies are separated. Just a few Razakars checked each Hindu home to see if there have been extra males and located a couple of of them carrying sarees. Like sacrificial animals, they had been dragged out. After lining up all the boys in entrance yard of the temple, pictures had been fired. Hundreds of individuals had been gunned down inside seconds.

After this, the previous Akiz Uddin, alongside together with his shut affiliate Majid Kassai, stored turning over the our bodies, and slaughtered them in the event that they discovered somebody injured and nonetheless alive. The attackers then set Hindu homes on hearth. Some younger girls had been picked up in Rajjab Ali’s boat.

Although no girls had been killed in Kalibari, they shot and killed a number of girls close to the boat and on the street. An eyewitness stated, “After Razakar’s forces left, he saw the body of a woman along with many others on the wayside. A baby was trying to feed from her dead mother’s breast. Blood was splattered everywhere.”

Dayanand Mandal Dutta of Dakra village hid in his home as quickly as he heard the gunshots. Suddenly, a bullet hit him within the thigh and he was badly injured. He spent 6-7 days in the home of Iman Ali Sheikh and was handled by Abdul Mannan of Bhojpatia village.

After the bloodbath, those that had been alive within the Dakra village took shelter within the neighbouring Muslim quarters and a few left for India and not using a second’s delay.

Sheikh Nazrul Islam, the then chairman of Perikhali Union, claimed that no less than 646 individuals had been killed that day. The subsequent day, underneath the initiative of Dr Delwar Hossain, some younger individuals organized to bury the our bodies of the victims in Kalibari sq..

The youths buried about 200 our bodies within the sink gap and plenty of had been cremated. Besides, many our bodies received washed away in Mangla River, Madartali River and Kumarkhali canal.

The Bhadhyabhoomi space, together with the Noakartar temple, was submerged by the river a number of years in the past.

Gilatala college instructor Paritosh Kumar Banerjee, who witnessed the incident, believed that the toll was between 600 and 700. On the bloodbath day, he and his household had been crowding a ship on the banks of Madartali River close to Dakra Bazar, when Rajjab Ali’s forces landed there. He one way or the other escaped and took refuge in the home of a Muslim youth, who was referred to as a dacoit within the close by village of Gadhaghata.

About the subsequent day’s occasions, Banerjee wrote: “Early subsequent morning, I went to the village of Dakra, desirous to see the our bodies of my pricey ones. Gunmen didn’t permit us to enter the village. Threatened to kill me. I went again to a Hindu village two miles from Dakra. The village was empty. No one however two previous males had been there. I stayed on the home of a former Muslim pupil (who individuals thought was a dacoit). I heard from the ladies, who got here out of the Dakra, that the women weren’t killed. Males above the age of 12-13 had been the targets of the killers.

The pupil risked his life and introduced the ladies and kids members of a number of households who had been hiding in Dakra. No surprise, there have been no tears of their eyes. No one cried once they noticed me. Instead, there was seething anger. I realised that the horror had numbed their emotions. They have soul however no thoughts, they’ve nerves however no emotions.”

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Reporter: Sahidul Hasan Khokon

Edited by: Darpan Singh

Interactive Producer: Raka Mukherjee

Interactive Developer: Vishal Rathour

‘When I keep in mind the bloodbath, I nonetheless shudder with worry. It was like a procession of corpses that day. Bodies throughout, our bodies on prime of our bodies, our bodies mendacity within the canal for 2-3 days. Those who had been nonetheless within the backyard had been caught and killed.’

This is how eyewitness Bhanu Hazra described the scene that unfolded after the bloodbath by Pakistani forces within the rented tea backyard of Srimangal Upazila of Moulvibazar on May 1, 1971.

Bhanu Hazra stated he was about 20 years previous throughout the 1971 Bangladesh liberation struggle.

His father, Mongu Hazra, was martyred by Pakistani forces simply 2-3 days earlier than the Bharaura bloodbath. Mongu Hazra guided the Indian Army personnel to Sherpur in Moulvibazar.

There, Mongu Hazra was martyred by Pakistani troopers throughout the firing from either side. He was buried subsequent to the home that day.

Bhanu additionally stated, ‘We had been listening to gunshots from the backyard. Only 7-8 individuals might survive. Hearing the gunshots, everybody left the backyard. It occurred round 10-11 am.’

After the Pakistani troops left, Bhanu Hazra went to the scene and noticed a pile of our bodies within the canal. On that day, the soil of the Shakhamura chara (canal) adjoining to the department of the tea backyard bought purple with the blood of 47 tea employees.

According to some, this quantity is 53. Bhanu Hazra then moved to India along with her mom and brothers. During the liberation struggle there, mom Sanchari Hazra and brother Mana Hazra had been martyred by the cannon fireplace of Pakistani forces in Kamalpur.

Another witness, son-in-law Lalchan Hazra (75), sister of the injured Kedarlal Hazra of the south line of the tea backyard, stated, ‘I used to be within the backyard that day. I used to be taking a look at them (Pakistani troops). Fire was erupting on the far labour line. Meanwhile, I noticed two individuals firing. I noticed Kalachan, Nakla Hazra and three individuals firing close to the river. I hid underneath a banyan tree in Charabari and watched them. I noticed individuals gathering.’

He additionally stated, ‘After that, I heard the sound of the firing. Many of my kinfolk died that day. I left the backyard after this incident.’

Seven individuals, together with Ramesh Hazra, Golapchan Hazra, Karma Hazra, Depua Hazra, and Kedarlal Hazra, survived the heap of useless our bodies that day. Some of them had been shot, some weren’t. He fell on the bottom earlier than the shot. But none of them is alive at present.

A blue monument stands on the aspect of the Srimangal-Bharaura highway in ‘Bhadhya Bhoomi’ of Bharaura tea backyard. It is surrounded by partitions about 3 ft excessive. But there isn’t any instant sense that it’s a slaughterhouse.

Painting and cleansing work might be seen there. Kalighat union chairman Pranesh Goala is supervising the spot.

UP Chairman Pranesh Goala stated, ‘In 1996, the development of the pillar began on the initiative of Kalighat Union Parishad. Every 12 months I paint and clear by myself duty.’

Quoting the liberty fighters, he stated, ‘From April 30, 1971, the Pakistani invading forces carried out massacres in Srimangal till December 5. Many women and men, together with freedom fighters, had been killed by them.

He stated that after Bangabandhu’s historic speech on March 7, 1971, the non-cooperation motion intensified in Srimangal. There was a stalemate in Srimangal’s tea trade, together with workplaces and courts.

Pakistani forces shot and killed 47 tea employees in a slaughterhouse within the Bharaura tea backyard space.

The memorial of the martyred freedom fighters on the school highway of Bharaura Tea backyard is standing proudly, bearing its testimony even at present.

Credits

Reporter: Sahidul Hasan Khokon

Edited by: Tirtho Banerjee

Interactive Producer: Raka Mukherjee

Interactive Developer: Vishal Rathour

Cover Illustration: Vani Gupta

Sometime in the summertime of 1991, a person stumbled upon decades-old bones and skulls close to an deserted effectively of a pump home at Mirpur Jalladkhana (butchers’ den) in Dhaka, which prompted Liberation War Museum and Bangladesh Armed Forces to hold out digging on the spot. What they unearthed despatched shivers down the backbone of all.

As many as 70 skeletons and over 5,000 bones had been found which delivered to the floor one of the vital brutal massacres of Bengalis by the Pakistan Army and Biharis (pro-Pakistani Muslims) in 1971.

The perpetrators gunned down 1000’s, decapitated them and dumped their our bodies in a effectively close to a pump home, which has remained abandoned over time. However, the ravages of time haven’t been in a position to obliterate the indicators of torture that live on on the place.
The bones and skeletons discovered strewn over the place unfold a genocide the Pakistan Army carried out in the course of the 9 months of the Liberation War of Bangladesh in 1971.

During the battle of Independence, the Muslim Biharis (who got here to Bangladesh from Bihar after 1947) inhabited areas of Mirpur and turned them into slaughterhouses. Bangladesh turned impartial in 1971 however Mirpur continued to be underneath siege. It was solely on January 31, 1972, that it was liberated.

Bengalis had been brutally tortured for about one-and-a-half months. The Pakistani forces and their native allies, with the assistance of non-Bengali Biharis, Razakars, Albadars and Alshams, killed many Bengalis and left their our bodies in septic tanks and wells. Many of them had been beheaded in entrance of the effectively of the pump home in Mirpur and their our bodies thrown right into a water-filled pit close by.

Originally, there have been two wells inside and out of doors the pump home. One was very deep and the opposite comparatively much less. Bengalis had been decapitated close to the second effectively and their heads and our bodies thrown into the deep effectively. It is believed that the well-known filmmaker, Zaheer Raihan, was additionally killed right here and his physique dumped within the effectively.

The Liberation War Museum constructed a memorial on the place and left the pump home because it had been. The names of all of the 400 spots of mass killings are inscribed on the marble rails right here. It reminds us of the Pakistan Army’s nefarious designs to exterminate Bengalis and Hindus from this soil. The Pakistan occupation military tried each approach to quell the courageous resistance put up by the folks of Bangladesh in opposition to discrimination, injustice, and murders. And their braveness triumphed in the long run.

At the doorway of the location, there’s a bell named the ‘sentiment bell’, which guests ring to pay tribute to the martyrs. Another mass killing website was noticed in 1974 at Savar, the place two vehicles loaded with skeletons had been discovered. It was a stark reminder of one of the vital brutal chapters of historical past.

Bangladesh emerged on the world map as an impartial nation on December 16, 1971, via an armed wrestle in opposition to the Pakistani Army who tried to annihilate the nation via diabolic genocide. The father of the nation, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (Bangabandhu), promptly initiated the trial of those who had dedicated crimes in opposition to humanity in the course of the Liberation War. However, his assassination in 1975 turned the tide as pro-Pakistani army dictators gave the battle criminals a clear chit and allow them to go scot-free.

The Awami League got here to energy in 2008 with an electoral pledge to strive battle criminals. A infamous Islamist chief, Quader Mollah, a prime man of the terrorist organisation Jamaat-e-Islami, was awarded dying sentence by the International Crimes Tribunal for butchering harmless folks at Mirpur. Mollah, who slit the throats of a pregnant girl, two minor ladies in addition to numerous others, got here to be often known as ‘Mirpurer Kashai’ (The Butcher of Mirpur).

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Reporter: Sahidul Hasan Khokon

Edited by: Tirtho Banerjee

Interactive Producer: Raka Mukherjee

Interactive Developer: Vishal Rathour

Cover Illustration: Vani Gupta

They introduced them to the varsity floor, lined them up, tied their arms and began raining bullets on them indiscriminately. They did not cease at that. The barbarians poured kerosene on the dying males and set them on hearth. If anybody moved even barely, they shot him once more and stabbed him with the bayonet.

It was May 26, 1971 when the Pakistan Army gunned down as many as 94 Hindus at Burunga High School within the nondescript and quiet Burunga village in Burunga Union of Balaganj upazilla of Sylhet district in Bangladesh.

It all began when fears turned pronounced that Pakistani forces may goal the place any time, triggering panic all throughout the village. This was within the third week of May 1971, as Bangladesh’s battle of Independence was raging.

Terrified Burunga villagers met Burunga Union Chairman Injad Ali. On May 25 afternoon, Injad Ali and Cheif of the Union Peace Committee Soyef Uddin Master made an announcement in Burunga and close by villages {that a} Peace Committee can be shaped in Burunga High School the following day (May 26). They stated Peace Committee id playing cards can be distributed to the villagers.

Everyone was given the reassurance that the Pakistani forces wouldn’t harass or torture those that have the id card of the Peace Committee and the villagers would have the ability to transfer freely. Believing the assurances of Razakar and members of the Peace Committee, the villagers — each Hindus and Muslims — attended the committee assembly at Burunga High School on May 26 morning.

More than 1,000 individuals gathered on the college round 8 am. The Peace Committee began making an inventory of the villagers. Around 9 am, a big group of Pakistani forces arrived on the college floor, accompanied by Abdul Ahad Chowdhury, the commander of Razakar of Karansi village, and Abdul Khalek, a village physician. The Pakistan Armymen took the checklist from the members of the native Peace Committee. A gaggle of Pakistani forces checked each home within the village and compelled the remaining males, who didn’t come to the Peace Committee assembly, to return to the bottom in entrance of the varsity.

It was 9am. Thousands of individuals have been current on the college, with concern nonetheless writ on their faces. In the meantime, the native Razakars, Pakistan Army and members of the Peace Committee separated the Hindus and Muslims by checking the checklist.

Hindus have been taken to the workplace room of the varsity, whereas Muslims to a classroom. Both the Hindu and Muslim teams have been taught the Kalima and requested to sing Pakistan’s nationwide anthem. Around 9.30am, an invading military, with Abdul Ahad Chowdhury, ordered everybody to deposit all the cash that they had in addition to gold jewelry. After extorting cash and gold from everybody, a lot of the Muslims have been launched.

The Pakistan armymen requested 10-12 of the Muslims to convey nylon rope from the native market. After they introduced the ropes, the Hindus have been requested to knot them collectively tightly. Some Hindus within the room began screaming.

Pritiranjan Chowdhury, a trainer of the varsity, who survived the bloodbath, stated, “Even though I was supposed to go to the school around 8 am on May 26, I got a little late. When I reached there, I saw all the Hindus were locked in an office room. Seeing me, they caught me and took me to the office room. A window in the room was a little broken. I thought that if I had to survive, I would have to escape from the clutches of these men. So, I somehow opened the window and jumped out of it. Ranu Malakar and some others also managed to escape after me.”

Those who couldn’t have been lined up within the college floor after their arms have been tied by the invading troopers. Then they began firing.

Shri Nivas Chakraborty, one other survivor who was shot twice within the Burunga bloodbath, stated, “Machinegun bullets were fired at the helpless people with their hands tied at the back. There was blood everywhere. But it did not end there. To ensure everyone was dead, they set them on fire. As soon as a gunshot hit my left hand, I feigned that I was dead and lay still on the ground.”

“When the armymen left after the firing, some wounded males stood up. Seeing this, the Pakistani forces got here again and began firing once more. I acquired shot within the again as properly. Luckily, the bullet grazed my pores and skin. I survived. After a while, I heard the voices of native individuals. Some of them got here operating. At that point, I seen that among the wounded have been crying for water. Seeing water in a bucket within the college yard, my aged father Nikunj Bihari Chakraborty, who was himself injured, and some others mustered braveness and helped the wounded drink water. I misplaced my father and brother Nittaranjan Chakraborty within the bloodbath,” he added.

After unleashing violence, the Pakistani forces and the Razakars requested Sylhet courtroom lawyer Ram Ranjan Bhattacharya to go away. As quickly because the sick Ram Ranjan stood up from his chair, the marauders shot him lifeless. Later, the Razakars, led by Ahad Chowdhury and village physician Abdul Khalek, ransacked and looted all the village, whereas setting hearth to all the homes there…

Credits

Reporter: Sahidul Hasan Khokon

Edited by: Tirtho Banerjee

Interactive Producer: Raka Mukherjee

Interactive Developer: Vishal Rathour

Photo Researcher: Raman Pruthi

Cover Illustration: Vani Gupta

It was 4 PM and the solar was nonetheless beating down as Ershad Ali frantically looked for his father Chikon Ali among the many tons of of our bodies piled up in Patkhola water physique close to the present-day Chuknagar College. Suddenly, his eyes fell on a small baby — a woman — attempting to feed from her useless mom’s breasts, who lay there lifeless after the firing. The baby’s garments have been soaked in blood.

Ershad Ali took up the lady in his arms and introduced her dwelling. He named her ‘Sundari’ as he had seen vermilion on her mom’s hair parting and likewise shaankha (white bangle comprised of conch shell) on her fingers. An area Hindu household raised her.

Another survivor of the capturing, Surendranath Bairagi, noticed individuals getting ready their meals. All of a sudden, sound of gunshots rang by the small city. People ran helter-skelter like a confused flock, scurrying for canopy. Bairagi scampered in the direction of the river, the place many our bodies lay scattered. When he emerged secure after the capturing, Bairagi discovered all his brothers useless.
In only a few hours on May 20, 1971, round 10,000 refugees desperately attempting to cross over to India have been mowed down by Pakistan Army’s cruel automated firing at Bangladesh’s Chuknagar in Khulna bordering West Bengal.

Pakistan’s genocidal marketing campaign throughout Bangladesh’s Liberation War has few parallels in post-colonial historical past.

Since the outset of the genocide concentrating on Bengalis — Hindus and freedom-loving Muslims alike — the Pakistan Army resorted to mass bloodbath to create a reign of terror that will scare Bengalis to submission. The Chuknagar bloodbath was one of many many such incidents of mass killing as a part of General Tikka Khan’s ‘Operation Searchlight’.

On March 25, 1971, hundreds of panic-stricken Bengalis rushed in the direction of the Indian border by way of Khulna from locations like Barisal, Bagerhat, and Faridpur. After a tediously lengthy journey, worsened by starvation and worry, they converged on Chuknagar and adjoining areas by crossing the Bhadra River to take respite for just a few days.

Ghulam Hossain, then chairman of Atlia Union, reported this sudden inflow to a Pakistani army platoon in Satkhira.

Troops rushed to Chuknagar at frenzied pace, divided into three items. One headed for Malopara-Raipara, the second for the Chuknagar bazaar, and one other for the Bhadra river financial institution.
What adopted was essentially the most largest and brutal pogrom. The indiscriminate firing from three sides caught the hordes of refugees unawares and defenceless. Men, girls and kids have been gunned down and their efforts to cover in boats, behind timber or within the fields went in useless.

From the marshy areas in Chuknagar to temples, playgrounds, college premises and rivers, lifeless our bodies lay strewn in all places. Bhadra River turned crimson with the blood of hundreds.

‘I WANT TO KNOW MY IDENTITY’

After a neighborhood Hindu household took over her duty, Sundari grew up in a liberated Bangladesh. In 1984, she received married to Batul Sarkar of the identical space. She misplaced her husband in 1990 and now stays along with her sons.

Sundari lives in a tin-shed home, which was allotted to her below a authorities housing mission, on the banks of Kanthaltala River in Dumuria upazila. She can also be working as an workplace assistant at Dumuria Upazila Shilpakala Academy.

Sundari mentioned that earlier than this, she had obtained 11 satak (round 4,500 sq. toes) khas land (authorities land). But as there was a water physique, she couldn’t fill it with soil as a consequence of monetary constraints.

She mentioned, “Every May 20, I am going to Chuknagar slaughterhouse in whose neighborhood there’s a memorial that was constructed by the federal government to pay homage to those that died within the firing. It’s a tomb (like many others) that retains reminding Bengalis the excessive price they paid for freedom.”

Sundari added, “While visiting the slaughterhouse, I’m at all times overwhelmed with feelings. I wish to know my identification; I wish to know the names of my mother and father.”

One of the witnesses of the bloodbath, Fazlur Rahman Morol, the caretaker of the Chuknagar slaughterhouse, mentioned, “After the bloodbath, many our bodies floated on the river. That’s why it was not attainable to establish the precise variety of martyrs.” Especially, the identities of relations of those that got here from Barisal, Faridpur, Bagerhat Sadar, Rampal of Bagerhat, Morelganj, Kachua, Sharankhola areas could not be established.

ABM Shafiqul Islam, president of Chuknagar Genocide 1971 Memory Preservation Council, mentioned that on that day, the bloodbath happened in an space unfold over 4 miles of Chuknagar.

“After the massacre, the local people immersed some bodies in the Gangrail and Bhadra rivers. They did not consume fish from those water bodies for two months. Some bodies were buried in the ground to avoid stench. Human bones were found during the establishment of Chuknagar College,” Islam revealed.

Sheikh Baharul Alam, a member of the trustee board of Khulna’s ‘Liberation War Archive Museum’, identified that the Razakar Army was shaped below the management of Jamaat’s AKM Yusuf on this area 15 days earlier than the start of the battle. And this allied drive of Pakistan Army assaulted round 10,000 locals.

Baharul mentioned, “In the most brutal massacre of 1971 in Chuknagar, the exact number of martyrs is still unknown, but 10,000 to 12,000 innocent, unarmed Bengalis were killed.”

Local journalists revealed that in recorded human historical past, there is not any different incident the place such a lot of individuals have been killed in such a short while because the one in Chuknagar in May 1971

Shahriar Kabir, an eminent genocide researcher, underlined that in 51 years since Bangladesh’s Independence, round 3,500 mass graves have been recognized.

“Such a huge number of graves clearly speak of human casualties at the hands of Pakistan Army. Serious effort from all quarters is required to conduct further investigation in search of such unidentified graves,” mentioned Professor Mamun, who can also be a instructor at Dhaka University.

During successive regimes led by Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and their iron brother Jamaat-e-Islami, a celebration of battle criminals, efforts to uphold liberation battle values have been thwarted and battle criminals glorified.

Since the assassination of nation’s founding father, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the nation has been dominated for 30 years below army dictators and BNP-Jamaat alliance. In all these years, efforts had been made to erase testaments to the world’s worst genocide marketing campaign.

On the night time of July 25, 1971, Pakistan Army unleashed an orgy of violence on Sohagpur – a village in Bangladesh’s Sherpur – and killed its peace.

They massacred 164 males and raped 57 girls – with assistance from native collaborators -as a part of their struggle technique to exterminate the Bengalis.

Today, over 50 girls in Sohagpur village survive as a dwelling testimony to probably the most calculated and cruelest genocide set in movement by the occupation military of Pakistan.

For the final 51 years, the village has existed as a ‘Bidhoba Polli’ (village of widows) because the husbands of the ladies staying there have been gunned down by the Pakistan army personnel, who had been ordered by their commanders to wipe out the Bengali race.

Life was rolling by peacefully in Sohagpur till the Pakistan Army carried out their savagery – raining down bombs and bullets on the villagers on that fateful night time.

They not simply murdered 164 males, but additionally raped girls, whose screams of assist had been muted by brutal pressure.

The widows went on to endure the trauma with horror tales sealed of their hearts which had been lastly unlocked in 2014 when the International Crimes Tribunal awarded demise sentence to one of many perpetrators of the crimes in opposition to them. The ruling Awami League (AL) arrange the tribunal as a part of their electoral pledge to attempt struggle criminals.

One of the ladies, who wished to not be named, shared a horrific account earlier than the court docket about how her husband was brutally murdered and he or she ruthlessly violated.

Jalal, an eyewitness, additionally narrated how he fled for his life. When he returned residence after the violence, he noticed the lifeless our bodies of 11 individuals, together with his father, mendacity there. Breaking down whereas recounting the incident, he demanded capital punishment for the killers of his father and family.

A plaque of 69 “martyrs” stands beside the mass graveyard as a surprising reminder to the largest post-Holocaust genocide of the world perpetrated by the Pakistan Army in Bangladesh.

The Pakistan Army was assisted by native collaborators in committing the crime. And considered one of them was Kamaruzzaman, a pacesetter of the controversial Islamist Party Jamaat, and his cohorts. Despite their unholy nexus with the attackers, they loved impunity for round 4 a long time after the nation grew to become impartial.

And the explanation behind impunity loved by such struggle criminals unfolds one other story of betrayal.

Within 4 years into the nation’s independence, the architect of Independence, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, together with 19 of his relations, was assassinated on August 15, 1975, on account of a bigger worldwide conspiracy — a satan’s plot to avenge the defeat of 1975.

Afterwards, all subsequent governments took a stance to reverse the course of nation’s blood-soaked liberation struggle values.

Gen Ziaur Rahman, the nation’s first army dictator, got here up with wide-ranging efforts to assist these struggle criminals wield their grip on the nation’s political panorama.

Even below his watch, secularism, a key pillar behind nation’s battle for Independence, had been placed on a again burner, which, maybe, was the largest increase for tons of of struggle criminals like Kamaruzzaman. And the formation of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) was a serious transfer by the General to solidify his maintain on energy.

Under Zia, Pakistan gave the impression to be happier and stepped up its marketing campaign to justify their struggle crimes by way of a pleasant regime in Dhaka, says famous researched Ajoy Das Gupta.

The nation’s second army dictator, General HM Ershad, who succeeded Zia, was additionally no exception. Rather, he oversaw set up of Islam because the state faith, a giant milestone for the Jamaat-e-Islami.

Later, as Gen Zia’s widow took over reins with BNP’s return to energy, the bonhomie with Jamaat gained an unprecedented impetus.

Building on the legacy of her late husband, Begum Zia and her son Tarique Rahman, who’s main a fugitive life within the UK now, additional emboldened Jamaat within the nation. During the second regime led by Begum Zia and Rahman, Kamaruzzaman’s celebration colleagues had been made ministers additionally.

The celebration of struggle criminals – Jamaat — even shaped the federal government as an ally of BNP. However, the return of AL chief Sheikh Hasina to energy in 2009 modified the course for good.

Buoyed by an amazing public mandate, her authorities lastly oversaw formation of struggle crimes tribunal, a respite for struggle sufferer households. The International Crimes Tribunal was aimed to deliver to e book those who had dedicated crimes in opposition to humanity in 1971.

Nijhu Kumar Agarwal stands just like the final of the Mohicans to inform the tales of his folks to mankind.

Fifty years again, he together with the women and men of this group have been deceived by the Pakistan Army into believing that they might be despatched again to their motherland India by a prepare and spared a genocide unleashed on Bengalis.

The group of Marwari folks with some Bengalis, numbered round 450, caught a glimmer of hope pondering that their ordeal beneath the federal government of Pakistan on their jap wing (then East Pakistan and now Bangladesh) was coming to an finish.

As introduced on loudspeakers that they needed to board the final prepare again dwelling to India, they acquired on it previous midnight from Saidpur in Nilphamari, the place that they had settled for enterprise through the years.

The prepare, believed to be heading for Jalpaiguri in West Bengal by the Chilahati border, rolled on slowly and got here to a halt close to railway culvert No. 338 within the Golahat space, solely two kilometers away from the place that they had began. All the compartments have been shut from the skin. Peeping by a gap, they might see Muslim Biharis, geared up with weapons, and Pakistan armymen, who would quickly butcher them to dying.

All hell broke unfastened as girls, who had been put in a separate compartment, have been whisked outdoors the prepare and swooped on by the captors like a pack of wolves. The apprehension ran so deep by each cell of the victims’ family that none might utter a single phrase.

Men, who pleaded to be shot as an alternative of being hacked, have been stabbed indiscriminately. Their request was reciprocated with hostile phrases from the occupation military that Pakistan’s bullets weren’t so low-cost to be wasted on them.

The evening turned darker and the 2 sides of the railway became a mass grave. Only round eight to 10 boys managed to expire of hell with the darkness conspiring of their favour to dodge the bullets.

Today, Nijhu Kumar Agarwal, one of many survivors of his group, stands like a mountain of despair, pointing to the spot the place his folks witnessed the Doomsday.

Before that evening of June 6 in 1971, the Marwari group was gripped by horror as over 100 males amongst them had been picked up by the Pakistan Army to assemble an airport. They have been whipped like middle-age barbarians to toil day in and time out.

The genocide, orchestrated and masterminded by Pakistan, started on the evening of March 25, 1971. The horror intensified additional and the deception methodology, employed by the Pakistan Army to kill them, labored as deliberate.

This incident is among the numerous ones the place the racial hatred in opposition to Hindus and Bengalis, killing three million folks and violating 200,000 to 300,000 girls, culminated in probably the most diabolic ethnic cleaning because the days of the Holocaust.

The Pakistan Army, nonetheless, continues to be in a state of denial, rejecting all of the claims in regards to the genocide, now recognised by the US Lemkin Institute. The outgoing Pakistan Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa even had the audacity to say that it was a political failure that seceded Bangladesh from Pakistan and never a army failure. But, the tearful eyes of the survivors communicate volumes in regards to the pogrom, with muted sighs.