Gopalpur massacre

Coordinates: 24°12′12.34″N 89°00′3.38″E / 24.2034278°N 89.0009389°E Gopalpur Massacre was a massacre committed by the invading Pakistani occupation army during Bangladesh liberation war of 1971. The barbaric and inhuman carnage took place at Gopalpur municipality of Lalpur Upazila, Natore on 5 May 1971. The victims of the massacre were the Bengali freedom fighters and their local supporters.

Background

After the declaration of Emergency in March, Pakistan Army was given the task of seeking West Pakistani’s working in far flung areas of East Pakistan and evacuating them to Dhaka and Chittagong. A batch of Pakistani soldiers led my Major Aslam, Capt. Raja and a Sepoy with a list of West Pakistani’s working in Gopalpur reached the house of North Bengal Sugar Mills Administrator Anwarul Azim. The soldiers were particularly looking for Mr. Hassan working with the Sugar Mills and Mr. Syed Ale Imran working for Pak PWD Workshop. Unfortunately for the soldiers the people they were seeking had left the area a couple of months back. Administrator Azim welcomed the party of soldiers, but secretly called in the Mukti Bahani, who closed the gates and tortured the three soldiers to death.

Massacre

The Pakistani army headquarter at Rajshahi dispatched a force by land. The army quickly took control of Pabna, Ishwardi and Natore. On the 5th of May, around 10 am, the army reached Gopalpur and captured the sugar mill, a Bengali stronghold. Around 49 people, most of whom were the employees of the mill and part of Mukhti Bahani, were rounded up and interrogated. A local collaborator Monjur Iman, also a worker of the Mill, assisted the soldiers in identification of the conspirators. The leader of the conspirators, Administrator Anwarul Azim was captured. He was shot down along with 49 members of Mukhti Bahani and their sympathizers.

Only 5 out of the 49 captives: Abdul Jalil Sikdar, Khorshed Alam, Abul Hossain, Emaduddin and Injil Sarkar survived the carnage.[1]

All the bodies of the conspirators were dumped into the pond. [2] After the war, the pond was named Shaheed Sagar (The sea of martyrs). Gopalpur Railway Station was named Azim Nagar Station in memory of Anwarul Azim.[1]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Locals still have nightmare about sacrifices of Lt. Azim, 48 others The New Nation, Internet Edition, May 8, 2009
  2. ↑ বধ্যভূমি থেকে ফেরা তাঁরা চারজন (The four survivors returning from the killing fields) The Daily Prothom Alo, 15 December 2009