Battles of 1971

[Windjammer]

 

[eastwatch]

LETTERS OF 1971
A 3rd letter

This is the translation of a letter written by martyr freedom fighter Abdul Aziz to his wife Fajila.

16-4-71
Dear Fajila,

I just do not know how are you. I am still surviving, but I do not know how long. Fajila I cannot just forget the attack of 11 April by the Pakistan army. The sound of rifles, cannons, bombs and rockets and all those fires have been imprinted in my mind. 42 people were killed near the house of Sufia. Her father was also wounded, but is still alive.

All the bolongings of that house have been destroyed by fire. There was no plce to sleep in the house I was living. All the family members of Rahela, plus 15/16 of of her village, 4/5 from her neighbourhood and some others fled to our house. but, it was not safe. All of us then took shelters in the jungles. It was such a horrible situation.

There is no security left. They (Razakars and Pakistani army) are taking away not only chickens and ducks, but also young women. These half-dead women are then dumped at the roadside after a few days. It is happening every day. They are burning the houses and killing innocent people.

I do not know about the future. but, the Pakistanis will kill all the educated muslims and all the Hindus, this is what I believe. They are killing any student and any Hindu they can find.

I do not know about all of you and under what situation you are living in. What is lying ahead in the future, I do not know.


Aziz

P.S: This letter was shortened by me.

EW

 

[qsaark]

It would be nice if you could attach the image of the original letter so its (and other letters like this) authenticity could be established. Why the thread is moving from "bettles of 1971" to "letters of 1971"?

 

[eastwatch]

It would be nice if you could attach the image of the original letter so its (and other letters like this) authenticity could be established. Why the thread is moving from "bettles of 1971" to "letters of 1971"?

I have mentioned in my first post about this book titled, 'EKATTORE CHITHI.' You certainly know the meanings of both the words. Meaning is 'letters of seventy one.' So, I have titled it as "Letters of 1971."

These letters were written by the freedom fighters who had run away from their houses, from their parents and from their wives. They wrote letters to their family during the war Pakistan had imposed on us.

A group of people collected quite a number of these letters from the surviving family members and have printed in the form of this book. The copies of original handwritten letters have been copied and pasted alongside the typed letters. I do not have a computer scanner to post some of these pages.

All these are authentic. There could have been a few lakhs of similar letters. But, not all are surviving anymore and of what are surviving, not all can be collected.

Editing board of the book contains the name of the following persons. Presiding editor: Salahuddin Ahmed. Members: Amin Ahmed Chowdhury, Rashid haider, Ms. Selina Hossain and Nasir Uddin Yusuf.

By the way, please note that majority of freedom fighters were not that educated and were from villages. Only the educated ones could have written letters. All the letters contain how brutal Pakistan army was against their unarmed countrymen (?).

But, one thing I must tell to all the readers of this post and all the people of our neighbouring countries that because of Pakistani brutality we have become good fighters. We just do not care about the military strength of any of our neighbours, because we are spiritually strong to fight back any enemy. We are willing to die without giving a second thought to it.

 

[TopCat]

But, one thing I must tell to all the readers of this post and all the people of our neighbouring countries that because of Pakistani brutality we have become good fighters. We just do not care about the military strength of any of our neighbours, because we are spiritually strong to fight back any enemy. We are willing to die without giving a second thought to it.

YOu are right on money.
In every border tension with our neighbouring country you will see that the villagers on the other side of the border flee to safety. But in our side of the border people armed with primitive weapons starts patrolling with BDR. Nobody pays them to do that, they just do it out of patriotism.

 

[Skies]

We just do not care about the military strength of any of our neighbors, because we are spiritually strong to fight back any enemy. We are willing to die without giving a second thought to it.

Joke:
But Indian think they will blow us away in one week.

Do not reply pls.

 

[BanglaBhoot]

I suppose you are happy under indian hegemony. The majority of the insurgents were hindus disguised as mukti bhani according to your own sources. A lot of human rights violations were carried out by these so called 'mukti Bhani'. Bangladesh is no power at the moment but has a government which is compliant to Indian demands. The fact it is sinking into the bay of bengal and due its size it will not become a military or economic power anytime soon. I can see a future where it will eventually be absorbed into the Indian Union by hook or crook as RAW is working overtime on it.

Very few Bangladeshis are comfortable with Indian hegemony and what is happening in BD now is merely a replay of the pre-1975 situation with India trying to control all aspects of social and political life of the country. What some ignorant Bangladeshis do not realize is that India will not invade with its army but through media, business, intelligence, diplomatic and political contacts and when every institution of BD is compromised and the people confused will the Indian army come in.

 

[TopCat]

Mass graves of '71 left uncared for

The mass graves of Liberation War martyrs in different upazilas of the district have remained uncared for due to lack of proper initiatives to preserve them.

About 620 people including women and children were brutally killed near the Lalmonirhat Railway Station (now known as Railway Rickshaw Stand) in Lalmonirhat town.

After long 34 years of the country's independence an initiative was taken by the Zila Parishad in 2005 to build a monument in remembrance of the supreme sacrifice of the fallen heroes but it has never been implemented.

The places where mass graves were found are New Colony, Store Para, Stadium Para, Misson Para, Upyard Colony, Downyard Colony under Lalmonirhat municipality of Lalmonirhat sadar upazila, Swarnamoti Railway Bridge, Station Para under Aditmari upazila, Dalogram, Tusvandar, Votmari, Kakina under Kaliganj upazila, and Barokhata, Dawabari, Daliya under Hatibandha upazila in the district.

Freedom fighters of the district said a large number of people were detained and shot to death by the Pakistan occupation forces at Velabari village and Durgapur village under Aditmari upazila while the victims were trying to flee their motherland for fear of life.

Once Aditmari Upazila Parishad initiated to build monuments in those places in memory of the dead in the liberation war but the government has not so far come forward to implement the plan of the parishad.

Apart from people buried in the mass graves about 350 others, including women and children, were killed at a public execution at Barokhata village under Hatibandha upazila of the district in 1971 as they were heading for neighbouring country India to take shelter.

District Commander of Freedom Fighter Parishad in Lalmonirhat Yusuf Ali urged the government to take steps so that memories of the fallen heroes of the liberation war are not lost through neglect.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
So many mass graveyard within a small area shows the number of people could had been killed in the whole country. So many corpes just washed away by the river water.

 

[deckingraj]

Very few Bangladeshis are comfortable with Indian hegemony and what is happening in BD now is merely a replay of the pre-1975 situation with India trying to control all aspects of social and political life of the country. What some ignorant Bangladeshis do not realize is that India will not invade with its army but through media, business, intelligence, diplomatic and political contacts and when every institution of BD is compromised and the people confused will the Indian army come in.

When senior members post things like this one imagine Mods must be doing a great job to keep PDF live up to the expectations(though i must say being the "Happy Holidays" season they are letting people for a run)....Anyways Munshi Sir what made you think that IA will invade Bangladesh or has any quantum of intent to capture BD???

 

[gromell]

I suppose you are happy under indian hegemony. The majority of the insurgents were hindus disguised as mukti bhani according to your own sources. A lot of human rights violations were carried out by these so called 'mukti Bhani'. Bangladesh is no power at the moment but has a government which is compliant to Indian demands. The fact it is sinking into the bay of bengal and due its size it will not become a military or economic power anytime soon. I can see a future where it will eventually be absorbed into the Indian Union by hook or crook as RAW is working overtime on it.

no source says indians disguised themselves as mukti bahini. One can say anything he wants. it does not make his words a source to blindly rely upon. I personally met mukti bahini soldiers who were some of the best human being and the most pious of the muslims i have ever met in my life. you are so hell bent on proving your information propaganda, just for the sake of covering the shameful crimes your military committed during 1971. Attitude like yours defies Islamic etiquette.

 

[gromell]

If there was no Pakistan there would never have been a Bangladesh.

lol. arrogance was the first and biggest sin of the devil.

as if you created pakistan yourself. sometimes you guys can actually be funny. It was a Bengali politician who proposed the Lahore Resolution in 1940 that was the official proposal for Muslim countries in South Asia. The political party responsible for carving out a Muslim country out of India was Muslim League, founded by a Bengali in Dhaka. In that line of logic, one can say without the struggle of Bengali Muslims in Bangladesh, there would be no Pakistan for Pakistanis right now. But I guess no Bangladeshis says that kind of thing. Because we Muslims try not be arrogant for something Allah gave us as rahmat. All praises are for Allah. Sad to hear such ridiculous comment from people who belong to an Islamic republic. Pakistan was just a name. Bengalis did not fight against any name. It fought against the oppression of West Pakistani power mongers and racists munafiks. We realized it was impossible to live like real Muslims under the rule of Pakistan. Separation was inevitable. We just don't like hypocrisy in religion.

 

[gromell]

Very true all the basmati rice was used to be sent to East Pakistan whilst you sent Jute to west Pakistan. We used the Jute (made into sacks) to send you the rice to East Pakistan. Its seems you had bothe the front and the back of the Cow.

Basmati rice is not even eaten frequently by the Bengalis. We had 200 kinds of rice produced then and I think you are forgetting the position of Bangladesh as one of the 4 largest producers of rice in the whole world beside India, China and Indonesia. The basmati rice you sent was to feed the rich every Friday; and even then i doubt it could hardly feed 2% of the Bengali population, not because there were less than 2 % rich people in Bengal but your infertile barren lands could not produce enough of it. Poors in Bengal never received it. And the Jute we sent earned you guys 70% of the foreign currency. Think before you leap.

 

[eastwatch]

Basmati rice is not even eaten frequently by the Bengalis. We had 200 kinds of rice produced then and I think you are forgetting the position of Bangladesh as one of the 4 largest producers of rice in the whole world beside India, China and Indonesia.

The basmati rice you sent was to feed the rich every Friday; and even then i doubt it could hardly feed 2% of the Bengali population, not because there were less than 2 % rich people in Bengal but your barren lands could not produce enough of it. Poors in Bengal never received it. And the Jute we sent earned you guys 70% of the foreign currency. Think before you leap.

Yes, you are very correct about Basmati. Only rich people used it when preparing Polau and Biriyani. I think, Basmati is still imported for these people although we produce our own brands of better flavoured chawal for luxury foods. Normal people like me usually eat coarse rice, mota chawal, every day.

Sadiqams' comment must be a joke. How does he expect people to eat Basmati when they cannot even afford to buy mota chawal or Atta? In case of frequent shortage of rice, then east Pakistan used to import US low quality grains, that even their cows refused to eat. Now, however, BD is producing just enough food for its 150 million people.

 

[gromell]

Now, however, BD is producing just enough food for its 150 million people.

Alhamdulillah

 

[eastwatch]

LETTERS OF 1971
The 4th letter

This letter was written by martyr Abdullah Hill Baqui (Shaju), Bir Pratik.

April 4, 1971

Mother,

Baa'd salam to you and all others in the family, I must tell you that I cannot sit idle in the grave situation the country is going through. So, with other 20 young men from Dhaka, I am also leaving for the other side of Bengal. Mother, please do not cry for me. My effort is just the minimum that I can afford.

Mother, please pray to Allah for the country's independence. Do not worry about me, I will come back alive. I will come in seven days, it may also take a little longer. My place is under your feet. Please take care of yourself. Khuda Hafiz.

Baqui (Shaju)

P.S: Baqui died a heroic death in some encounter with the Pakistan army and was awarded a Bir Pratik Khetab posthumously. Detail of his bravery has not been included in this book.