We had to cross the sea of blood on the way to independence. The Chararhat genocide was only a small part of the brutal atrocities committed by the Pakistani inhumans and their local comrades in 1971. The name of the country is Bangladesh, more than three million freedom-loving people have given their lives to achieve this country. Don’t forget, one shouldn’t forget.
On that day, Sunday, October 10, 1971, another massacre took place in besieged Bengal at the hands of Pakistani inhumans. What we call ‘Chararhat Genocide’.
The incident behind the massacre was so much that on Saturday, October 9, 1971, some Pakistani soldiers were ambushed by the freedom fighters while they were going to the camp in a bullock cart at Altadighi in Birampur upazila of Dinajpur. He was accompanied by two Razakars, who reported to the Birampur raiding camp. Upon receiving the news, a major (we did not know the name) of the local Pakistani camp commander besieged Chararhat (Pranakrunchpur) and Andolamgram (Saraipara) of Putimara Union that night. The next day, on the morning of October 10, he called the Bengali men and women to work and shot them dead indiscriminately. According to eyewitnesses, six people, including two women from Chararhat (Pranakrishnapur) village and 31 innocent villagers from Saraipara village in the adjoining movement were martyred that day. In Chararhat Pranakrunchpur, the men were slaughtered one by one on a seedbed at the eastern end of the village. In Andalgram, men were shot dead while going from house to house. Luckily 6 people from Chararhat village survived that day. Although they are alive, they are still suffering from gunshot wounds and the pain of losing relatives. One of them is Md. Mozammel Haque (69), an assistant teacher of Chararhat High School, son of martyr Mancher Ali. That day he lost his father and younger brother Maqbool Hossain. He was also shot. Mozammel Haque told us, ‘That day he went to the mosque to offer Fajr prayers in the morning. 10/12 people were praying in the mosque. After the prayers, many people, including Md. Mofiz Uddin, an elder of the village, informed that the Pakistani Major was calling everyone. The soil has to be cut to build a broken bridge. Hearing this, my chest trembled. But reassured by the elders, we all went to a field on the east side of the village. I went there and saw that almost all the men of the village had been gathered. The Pakistani army then fired indiscriminately. Mozammel Haque’s father and younger brother were martyred in the massacre. He also lost consciousness after being shot in the left leg and right hand. He survived because he was thought to be dead. At that time it was not possible to identify the bodies of all the martyrs. The bodies of 93 martyrs were identified. Of these, 61 were from Chararhat (Pranakrinchpur) village and 32 from Andolamgram (Saraipara). At that time more than one body was buried in one grave. A martyr memorial has been erected for the martyrs of the Chararhat genocide in 2011.
Translation Credit: Our heartiest gratitude goes to Sreemoyee Mazumder, for her wonderful and kind support.