One Sohel Mazhar wrote a report in Bengali-language national daily newspaper of Bangladesh, “Dainik Janakantha” regarding persecution against Hindu people during the Bangladesh liberation war-1971. The report has been roughly translated in English for the Hindu Post readers.
during the Bangladesh liberation war-1971, one of the targets of Pakistani raider army was to indiscriminately torture against Hindu community. In general, the Pakistani ruling class disseminated that Bengali Muslims are not authentic Muslim at all. They are Hindu descent & converted from Hindu Dharma. Bengali culture is Hindu culture & Bengali Muslims are second class Muslim, Bharatiya agent. Mainly, the Hindu community is conspiring to dismantle Pakistan being influenced by the machination of Bharat.
Pakistani common people too believed the promulgation at one point. On the other hand, anti-independence groups in Bangladesh (East Pakistan before independence) took the dissemination as an opportunity. Manipulating the advantage, the group started plundering money, gold ornaments, land, homes, establishments & everything belong to Hindu people. They hijacked Hindu freedom fighters & collaborators even common Hindu citizens to rape, kill & evict from homes. Misdeeds often crossed all limits of cruelty & fiendishness. A word needs to be said, those who committed these heinous acts, most of them did so according to Pakistani ideological spirit.
Almost everywhere in Bangladesh there had been persecution against Hindu people. It is impossible to have a comprehensive discussion in a short scope. Here only a few incidents of Gaffargaon & Pagla areas of Mymensingh district are highlighted. Like other places across Bangladesh, Hindu community of Mymensingh had to endure mass persecution.
First incident of Hindu killing took place at Amlitola village in north Gaffargaon area. Razakar cohort (East Pakistani paramilitary force organised by General Tikka Khan in order to helping Pakistan army) & Pakistan army jointly burned 9 Hindu people to death including Nishi Dhar, Ranjan Dhar, Shishir Ranjan Dhar, Horibol Chandra Dey, Ratan Kumar Ray, Shantosh Deb & others.
They Killed Suresh Chandra Barman in Niguari village & forcefully converted Jogesh Chandra Barman & Pasresh Chandra Barman into Islam. One Hindu man Rabindra Charan of the village participated in liberation war, as a result Pakistan army killed his father Ram Charan, paternal Gopal Charan & 7 other family members. Rest were ousted from their land forever.
The freedom fighters had a base in Prasadpur village of Gaffargaon. During the month of Ramdan, this base fell in a surprise attack by the Pakistani forces and freedom fighters had to move to a safer place. On that day, Pakistani forces carried out massacres in the area and killed Hindu people named Ramni Chandra Saha, Hirendra Chandra Saha, Sujit Chandra Saha, Amor Chandra Pal, Lakshmi Babu, Montu Acharjee, Tunu Acharjee, Hemendra Chandra Acharjee, Ashra Majhi, Prova Saha & 2 other Muslim men.
Provisional Government of Bangladesh established following the proclamation of independence of East Pakistan as Bangladesh on 10 April 1971. Immediately after that some Hindu teachers & educated people of Variel village including Birendra Chandra Das, Pundit Rash Behari Mishra, Sailendra Nath Chakraborty discussed their roles in the liberation war & declared their allegiance to the Provisional Government of Bangladesh.
There was land dispute between Birendra Chandra Das and Muslim Abdul Majid Morol-Sunu Morol group, another Hindu Bhowmik family and Muslim Mir Abdus Satter group. As the Hindu families supported the liberation war, Majid Morol, Sunu Morol and Mir Abdus Sattar group conspired to evict the Hindu families from their lands and settlements on the pretext of the liberation war.
Birendra Chandra Das was Public Licence Authority (PLA) Officer, Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE). His brother Judhistir Chandra was a farmer. His 2 sons Narendra Narayan Chandra Das & Subodh Ranjan Das were upper division assistant of DAE. Razakar forces led by Mir Maharuddin’s son Razakar Abdul Karim attacked & looted the house of Birendra Chandra Das. The next morning Birendra Chandra Das sent all the family members including 2 sons Narayan Chandra Das, Subodh Ranjan Das, daughter Maya Rani Das to their relatives’ house. Only Birendra Chandra Das and his wife Renubala Das stayed in the house.
In the afternoon of the same day, the Pakistani forces, supported by the Razakar forces led by Abdul Karim, attacked the house of Birendra Chandra Das. then Birendra-Renubala couple and neighbor Ambikacharan Das were arrested from the house. They were taken to crematorium and hacked to death with bayonets.
On the same day, Pakistan Army arrested Chittaranjan Das, Pundit Rashbehari Mishra, Nagendra Chandra Chakraborty, Abu Das, Paramesh Bhowmik, Mantu Bhowmik, Budhu Bhowmik, Satyen Chandra Das, Birendra Chandra Bhowmik, Jyortimoy Bhowmik, Gyan Prasanna Chakladar and Bimal Chandra Das from the village. All were taken to the slaughterhouse at Gaffargaon launch terminal. One by one, everyone was shot in a line and thrown into the nearby Brahmaputra river. By a bit of luck and a bit of wit, Bimal Chandra Das jumped into the river pretending to be shot just before the gunshots.
As the night was dark, the matter escaped the eyes of the assassins. He went to a safe distance and floated out of the water. Meanwhile, the neighbor Shailendranath Chakraborty died of a heart attack after hearing the news of the attack and gunshots at Birendra Chandra Das’s house. He was a teacher of Gaffargaon Islamia High School and a respected person in the society. The family of the deceased alleged that Abdul Majid Morol and Sunu Moral were behind the attack. Bibhuti Chandra Das filed a case at Gaffargaon police station as the plaintiff in the case of assault, robbery and murder. After investigation, the police issued chargesheets twice. In the meantime, when Sheikh Mujibur Rahman announced general amnesty to anti-independence activists, plaintiff Bibhuti Chandra Das was disappointed and subsequently did not plead the case.
Two weeks later, with the help of the invading forces, the houses of all the Hindu families in Moktapara village near Gandagram were looted and set on fire. Sadly, even after the independence, a section of people still intimidated them. Due to the culture of impunity in 1971 and later, all the Hindu families of Moktapara village migrated to Bharat between 1972 and 1983 and the village became devoid of Hindus.
At the beginning of the Liberation War, in April, Chitta Debnath of Chakua village went to Dalu in Tura (West Garo Hills district) of Meghalaya (Bharat) to join the liberation force. There he received guerrilla training and returned to the country. He showed courage in the liberation war. While he was receiving guerrilla training at Dalu, his family including his father Jatindra Debnath and mother Tarubala Debnath, Nityaranjan Debnath, Gopal Chandra Debnath, Dukhu Debnath, Nishi Rani Debnath and Sachi Rani Debnath were brutally murdered by miscreants.
Among the two accused by freedom fighter Chittaranjan Debnath for the incident, one of them retired as the Headmaster of Mahima Prasad high school. Rest one went to the liberation war a few days after the incident. According to Chitta Debnath, greed for land and women were the main targets of the perpetrators.
