A forgotten massacre of 1971

Today is April 23. On this day in 1971, the Pakistani occupation army aided by their local collaborators Rajakars went into an orgy of massacre and pillage at Chowdhurybari in Dupchanchia thana (now upazila) headquarter area, 20 kilometres from Bogra town.

Jogendranath Chowdhury (popularly known as Khitish Chowdhury), Manmath Kundu, Kalachand Kundu, Santosh Kundu, Durga Kundu, Kanailal Poddar, Brajomahan Saha and several unnamed people lost their lives during the carnage.

READ more: The girl who lies among forgotten 1971 martyrs

The brutal forces also killed five-year-old Kakoli and gang-raped Manmath Kundu's young daughter.

Local union parisad dafadar Tahiruddin Shah, businessman Satish Chandra Basak, Sharot Majumder, Akshay Kundu and the family members of the then manager of Muslim Commercial Bank were also killed by the occupation force that day. 

The Pakistani army riddled with bullets the artistic sculptures created by renowned sculptor Nalini Mohon Kundu while Rajakars vandalised and looted temples and houses in the area. Several houses were torched too.

Two days later, the bodies were buried in a mass grave near Chowdhurybari's Shyam Sarobar as locals could not perform the religious rite in fear of the barbaric forces. 

The upazila administration and Muktijoddha Sangsad in 2012 arranged setting a plaque of martyrs at the mass graveyard.

"The government should take necessary steps to build a monument at the mass grave of martyrs. The list in the plaque should be corrected as names of a few martyrs have been dropped and some are misspelled,” said Abdul Mazid, commander of upazila unit of Muktijoddha Sangsad.

"If the government gives us direction to preserve the mass grave, we will take necessary steps in this regard," said Shahed Parvez, upazila nirbahi officer of Dupchanchia.