Ten intellectuals of Rangpur embraced martyrdom on Apr 3 in ’71: Ex-BMS leader

FE Team | Published: April 03, 2021 21:50:53

RANGPUR, Apr 3 (BSS): Ten intellectuals of Rangpur embraced martyrdom on Saturday of 1971 when the Pakistani occupation army gunned them down after unleashing inhumane torture at Shwashan (crematory) Baddhyabhumi in the city.
Talking to the agency, former district Commander of Bangladesh Muktijoddha Sangsad (BMS) Mosaddek Hossain Bablu said the Pakistani demons with Razakars, Al-Badars, Al-Shams and Biharis caught 11 brilliant sons of Rangpur from their houses on March 27, 1971.
"The occupation forces with their local non-Bengali Bihari collaborators forcibly took them to Rangpur cantonment and resorted to barbaric physical tortures causing intolerable pains and sufferings to them," he said.
At night on April 3, 1971, the Pakistani blood-hungry occupation army took them to Dakhiganj Shwashan Baddhyabhumi in the eastern part of the city and gunned them down by opening brushfire.
"Fortunately, one of them, Awami League (AL) leader Dr. Dinesh Chandra Bhowmick alias Mantu Daktar, who received eight bullets, escaped the horror," Bablu said.
Bablu came to know the horrific killings while having conversation with Mantu Daktar in 1971.
Mantu Daktar was taken to India where he joined the 'Mukti Bahini' after getting treatment and fought to liberate the country, killing many enemy soldiers in the war fronts.
The 10 martyred intellectuals are: Advocate Mahfuz Ali Zorjes, Khitish Halder, Ehsanul Haque Dulal, Rafiqul Islam Rafique, Dhirendranath Shanti Chaki, Durga Das Adhikari, Gopal Chandra, Tofazzal Hossain Moharram, Uttam Kumar Adhikari and Pagla Darbesh.
Former Rangpur city unit Commander of BMS Sadrul Alam Dulu said the occupation forces killed the ten intellectuals of Rangpur at night on April 3, 1971 to make Rangpur talentless and foil the War of Liberation.
The people of Rangpur actually started the War for Liberation from the beginning of March in 1971 after becoming extremely angry when Yahiya Khan on March 1 cancelled the scheduled parliament sitting on March 3 and declared curfew on the day.
Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman with huge hatred vehemently rejected cancellation of the scheduled parliament session and called a strike on March 2 in Dhaka and March 3 throughout the country.
As per call of Bangabandhu, the whole nation was in unprecedented non- cooperation movement against the Pakistani regime that declared curfew in the then East Pakistan on March 3, 1971.
"On March 3, 1971, thousands of people irrespective of caste, creed and religion brought out huge protest processions from Kachari Bazar point breaking curfew in Rangpur city as elsewhere in the country," Dulu added.
Non-Bengali Bihari Sarforaz Khan shot dead heroic boy Sangku Samajhder, 12, of Rangpur on March 3, 1971 at 9:30 am while Sangku was taking part in the massive non-cooperation movement rally that was passing through Alamnagar area in the city.