Pakistan Army kidnapped intellectuals, blindfolded, tortured and killed them

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