RAJSHAHI, Mar 8 (BSS): The nine-month long War of Liberation waged by the people of Bangladesh in 1971 will remain as one of the most glorious chapters in human history that is preserved at the museum Shahid Smriti Sangrashala at Rajshahi university.
The sovereign and independent People's Republic of Bangladesh, as it stands today, is the outcome of an arduous struggle of the people under the leadership of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
An entire people of 70 million, inspired by their great leader Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, rose in arms against the military junta of Pakistan when years of political persuasion failed to secure for the Bangladeshis a place of honour and justice.
Recalling his memory, Prof Abdul Khaleque, former Vice-chancellor of Rajshahi University (RU), said the RU, the second largest public university of the country, had a vital and glorious role in the liberation war. During the war, the university lost a number of its teachers, students and officials.
To pay tribute and recall contribution of these martyrs in the liberation war the university authorities set up several monuments and a museum on the campus.
There are three galleries in the museum. The galleries begin with covering the early history of Bangladesh. A major section records the events of the Language Movement for the recognition of the Bangla language in Pakistan, which is regarded as the beginning of the movement for Bangladesh's independence.
Several galleries of the building highlight sectional conflict between West Pakistan and Bangladesh (then East Pakistan) led by Bengali nationalist leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the events of 1971, when the postponement by Pakistani military ruler Gen. Yahya of the convening of the National Assembly of Pakistan, in which Sheikh Mujib's Awami League had won a majority, led to the call for the independence of Bangladesh.
The coverage of the liberation war included the training and operations for the Mukti Bahini (Freedom Fighter), the guerilla unit built by the Awami League to resist Pakistani forces. Several galleries focus on the genocide carried out by the Pakistani army against the Bengali people, with Operation Searchlight targeting Bengali intellectuals, students, Hindus and Awami League leaders that created humanitarian crisis with the pouring of an estimated ten million refugees into neighbouring India.
The coverage of the war continues to India's support for the Mukti Bahini and its subsequent direct intervention with the outbreak of the Indo-Pak War, which led to the surrender of Pakistani forces in Bangladesh on December 16, 1971.
The museum also preserves the memories of Professor Dr Samsuzzoha along with the other teachers of Rajshahi University who sacrificed their lives for the country.
The galleries display the weapons used by the Mukti Bahini, personal effects of many Mukti Bahini fighters and civilian victims of the atrocities committed by Pakistani forces, many donated by their families after the war. The galleries also displayed human skulls and bones retrieved from mass grave of civilians killed by Pakistani forces in 1971.
On 14 April in 1971, the Pakistani military entered the university campus. They first stationed their headquarters at the Rajshahi University guest house Juberi Bhavan. Later, they shifted head quarters at Dr. Zoha hall which was used as concentration camps until Pak retreat on December 18, 1971.
All the freedom- loving people in this region were whisked away by the Pakistani army and their collaborators and kept into Zoha hall for torturing to death. They took a hard line in the university and led their destructive activities in nearby region of the city.
After independence, on April 23, 1972 a mass grave was discovered which was the largest in the country, the area of which measures more than 3 acres! Later in 2003 university authorities built a mass graveyard monument to pay respect to the martyrs at the east side of the campus.
In 1972 the authority established Shahid Smriti Sangrashala' which is the first museum of liberation war in the country. Rare mementos used in war by the freedom fighters including arms, clothes and documents are displayed at the Shahid Smriti Sangrashala. Besides, the museum preserved here about thousands of skeleton of martyred freedom fighters who lost their lives in the greater Rajshahi district during the liberation war.
