Chandhat battle of Faridpur freedom-loving people recalled

FARIDPUR, Dec 1 (BSS): The battle of Chandhat in the War of Liberation in 1971 in Nagarkanda thana of the district between the Mukti Bahini and the Pakistani occupation army is a glorious event in the annals of our great liberation history.
This historic battle which took place on May 29 in 1971 in the remote village of Nagarkanda thana raised the morale of the freedom freedom-loving people of the district at the very outset of the liberation war when the freedom fighters were yet to be organized to face a very powerful enemy.
At that stage the freedom fighters popularly called Mukti Bahini were neither organized nor had sufficient training, or equipped with sophisticated weapons to fight the well-trained and heavily armed marauding Pakistani forces.
"But our high morale and directives declared by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in his historic March 7 speech 'Face the enemy with whatever you have' gave us the necessary strength," said Altaf Hossain Khan now 63, then a Lance Nayek of Pakistan army on leave and a proud freedom fighter who actively took part in Chandhat battle.
Valiant Freedom Fighter Altaf Hossain told BSS recently that as soon as Pakistan army cracked down on freedom loving Bangalees on the night of March 25 he along with some other army, police and EPR men who either defected or were on leave, organized themselves under the command of retired army Havilder Abdul Aziz Molla.
After acquiring some arms of police mainly 303 rifles with ammunitions from Bhanga and Nagarkanda thana people of Chandhat and its surrounding villages bordering Muksudpur thana of the then Gopalganj subdivision started training to resist Pakistan army. This formation of Mukti Bahini had created alarm among some lackeys of Pakistan army who sent the news to Pakistan army camp at the Faridpur district headquarter.
This historic victory of the freedom-loving people who took up arms to fight an unequal war to break off the shackles of the oppressive rule of the Pakistanis had created an important impact among the Freedom Fighters of this district at the very initial stage when the trained FFs were yet to reach from across the border.