Tangail’s mass-killing ground to get due recognition

The Water Tank area in Tangail town, one of the main mass-killing grounds during the Liberation War in 1971, is finally getting due recognition after over 50 years of the country's independence.

The construction of "Bangabandhu and Liberation War Memorial Centre" in the area has almost come to an end.

Walton Hi-Tech Industries PCL, a private firm based in Tangail, is constructing the four-storey centre, the first of its kind in the district, spending Tk 6.18 crore.

Tangail was known as one of the strongest dens of freedom fighters during the Liberation War, and the brave ones of the district made a wonderful contribution to freeing the country from the Pakistani occupational forces.

After the historic speech delivered by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on March 7 in 1971, Tangail Zila Swadhin Bangla Gono Mukti Parishad was formed, which gradually started organising the local youths.

On April 3, 1971, the Pakistan army entered Tangail town after breaking the resistance of the freedom fighters at Goran-Satiachara in Mirzapur and built its base camp at Tangail Circuit House.

During the war time, the Pakistan army and their local collaborators used to detain and torture the freedom-seekers at the Circuit House premises almost every day.

Later, they would take them to the adjacent Water Tank area and kill them.

Such killings continued till December 11, the day the district was freed from the Pakistani forces.

"I was taken to the killing ground and made to stand in a line to be shot, but luckily, I survived," said Abul Kalam Azad Bir Bikram, a brave freedom fighter of Kaderia Bahini, who fought during the Liberation War.

"When I was about to be shot, there was a call on the wireless phone. After receiving the call, the warrant officer of the Pakistan army took me to the Circuit House, where I saw several reporters from different international media like Voice of America and BBC," Azad added.

But surprisingly, the mass-killing ground of the martyrs had been lying in utter negligence for decades, as a silent witness of the brutal killings.

In 1996, the then Tangail district administration first took an initiative to detect the killing ground, and later, a small memorial plaque was constructed there in 2017.

Later on, then district administration constructed a new memorial plaque at the same spot in 2019.

Construction of a Liberation War Memorial Centre was a long-cherished demand of the freedom fighters as well as the local pro-liberation forces.

As it could not release government funds, the district administration requested SM Nurul Alam Rezvi, chairman of Walton Hi-Tech Industries PCL, to construct the Bangabandhu and Liberation War Memorial Centre in 2020.

Rezvi, who hails from Tangail, gladly accepted the request and started construction work in December the same year.

Rezvi was later given a warm reception by the district administration in November last year.

Tangail Deputy Commissioner (DC) Jasim Uddin Haider said people of Tangail have played a glorious role during the Liberation War.

The memorial centre is being constructed on government land, adjacent to the mass-killing ground, with the installation of a sculpture of Bangabandhu at its entrance, the DC said.