Changing face of Gopalganj
From RANAJIT ROY, GOPALGANJ. (Bangladesh), JAN. 3-In official documents Gopalganj, which serves as the headquarters of the Sub-division of that name in Faridpur district is still referred to as such but a move is afoot to rename it Mujib Bari after Sheikh Majibur Rahman. The Bangabandhu hails from Tungipara village, about 12 miles from here.
Students, who played a glorious role in the freedom struggle, have taken the lead in the matter and are determined to have it their way. Without waiting for official endorsement of their proposal they are going about changing the name Gopalganj to Mujibbari on the signs of shops and public offices.
There can be no doubt that the idea will catch on for everybody in Gopalganj is immensely proud of the fact that the Sheikh comes from his sub-division-everybody, that is except those who during nine months since March 25 collaborated with the West Pakistani occupation troops, were guilty of murder and brigandage, and now find themselves in prison or have gone into hiding to escape people’s wrath.
The sub-division is a low lying tract of land with the districts of Barisal, Khulna and Jessore on its borders on three sides. Ill-served by roads (rivers and canals are its highways) and with no modern industries whatsoever, its economy is wholly agricultural. Gopalganj town itself stands on a dying off-shoot of the Madhumati, which, in dry seasons, even shallow-draft motor launches cannot negotiate.
Neither the town nor the sub-division was of importance to the West Pakistanis from the military points of view. In fact, no battle took place between them and the Indian Army anywhere in the sub-division. The Pakistanis stationed a token force of about 150 in Gopalganj town. The guerillas took good care of them and put them on the run on December 7. For three full days the town was in charge of the guerillas. Indian troops reached there on December 10.
The Pakistani troops took up position in Gopalganj with the sole purpose of striking terror into the people. Every part of Bangladesh was made to suffer. Gopalganj had more than its share of destruction and killing. Possibly the Pakistanis wanted to teach the people of the sub-division the bitterest lesson of all for having produced the Bangabandhu.
A cluster of Government buildings on the western fringe of the town was converted into what the local people call a “cantonment”. For mobility the Pakistanis used speed boats and motor launches which they turned into troop carriers.
The cantonment soon became a dreaded slaughter house. During the period the Pakistanis were there an unknown number of patriots and people suspected of helping the guerillas were taken to the “cantonment” to be butchered. Even now human skulls and bones lie scattered in the area. The bodies of most of the killed were, however, thrown into the river.
Until April 30, the sub-division including the town of Gopalganj, was administered in terms of the Sheik’s directives given before his arrest. On this day the Pakistanis appeared in the town in the morning. Their reputation as murderers of unarmed people had precedded them. Some local officials forewarned the people of the imminent arrival of the Pakistanis and large numbers fled the town.
The Pakistanis first went to the police station and then to the house of Wahiduzzaman leader of the Muslim League (Qaiyyum group) who was once a Minister in Ayub Khan’s Cabinet and had grown rich during his tenure as Minister. A programme of massacre and destruction was drawn up and the Pakistanis aided by local traitors immediately went into action.
It was symbolic that they began by destroying the modest timber and corrugated iron house of Sheik Mujibur Rahman. They probably imagined that thereby they would be able to kill the spirit of revolt the Sheik had kindled in the Bengali heart. They went on spotting the houses of other Awami League leaders and student activists to raze them to the ground.
Simultaneously, they fell upon Hindus and Hindu houses with utmost fury. They had the following cry on their lips: “Where are the Malauns (Hindus), where are the Awami Leaguers? Kill them, loot and burn their houses.”
Soon they reached the bazaar area of Gopalganj town, broke open the shops, looted them and encouraged their cronies to join in the loot and then set fire to the entire market. Not many died in the operation because most shopkeepers had fled. There was no one to fight the blaze which spread from shop to shop until, except for a few establishments only charred remains of row after row of shops outlined the area where the market stood.
The fire did not distinguish between shops owned by supporters of the occupation regime and those of others. The Hindus controlled about 40 per cent of the business there. The most substantial establishment was that of Mr. Prafulla Kumar Shikdar. It was housed in a two-storeyed strongly constructed brick house with built-in iron safes all of which were rifled and goods were removed before the house was set on fire.
Gopalganj sub-division has a fairly large section of Christians. On its eastern fringe bordering Madaripur subdivision the Christian missionaries built churches, schools and hospitals. The Christians did not wholly escape the fury of the Pakistanis but, in general, they were left alone. In an attempt to save themselves from Pakistani vengeance, the Christians in Gopalganj town put bold crosses on their houses alongside the scribbled legend: “Christian house-Khristan bari.”
Having completed the first round of their mission the Pakistanis left Gopalganj within about four hours and headed for Boultali by motor launch spreading destruction on either side of the Bheel canal which joins Haridaspur, near Gopalganj. With Sindiaghat about 20 miles away. A weekly market was held in Boultali. The people were attacked and the market was set on fire too.
For a little over a week there was full Pakistani activity. The occupation troops reappeared in Gopalganj town on May 10 and once again indulged in a spree of murder, loot and arson. The troops emptied three banks and the Government treasury. Shortly before the surrender, they looted the treasury for a second time.
During the second round of their terror, they went from village to village. No Hindu village was left unscathed. Almost every house was looted. Many Muslim villages also suffered grievously. They were suspected of sustaining guerillas who had in the meantime began their operations against the enemy although yet on a small scale. The Sheik’s village house in Tungipara was one of those attacked.
The destruction was so widespread that officials and non-officials find it difficult to name offihand any village that had not suffered; they readily rattle off names of those which had. Raping was indulged in on a large scale, if what people who have lived through the nine months of terroy, say is relied upon.
In any case, the very sight of a Pakistani troop vehicle made villagers-men, women and children- run for safety. They hid themselves in jute and paddy fields or in water full of hyacinth. The Razakars acted not only as auxiliaries to fight the guerillas and spy on the people but also as agents to seize village women and girls for the Pakistanis.
The barbarity from every point of view was limitless. It has to be recorded that the Pakistanis were at the initial stages able to create an impression that the Hindus would be driven out of Bangladesh for good or exterminated and that their property could be shared by the local Muslims. Many Muslims, including of course the Razakars and supporters of the Muslim League, the Jamat-e-Islam and Nurul Amin’s Pakistan Democratic Party took part in the looting.
In the looting spree even Government property was not spared. For two nights I lived in the Inspection Bungalow in Gopalganj town. When I arrived the chowkidar was in a fix. There was no bedding for everything that had been looted. The Subdivisional Officer, Mr. K. C. Das, who had recently taken over charge of the Subdivision after having spent many months in India as a refugee, was very helpful. At his instance, new bedding was bought that evening. When I left Gopalganj the inspection Bungalow had only this set of bedding.
Normally, Inspection and Dak Bungalows are under heavy pressure for accommodation of traveling Government officials and visitors, there being not even a tolerable hotel in any of the sub-divisional towns in Bangladesh. For a whole month before I arrived the bungalow in Gopalganj had not seen a single visitor. The last visitor was Mr. Shamsuddin Miah, District Auditor, Faridpur. He made this remark on the register: “No bedding; spent the night on the floor.” He spent the night of November 4-5 at the bungalow.
The military rules gave written directives to the administration that in official reports the destruction and killing were to be attributed to “miscreants”. This was during the early stages of the terror. When the Mukti Bahini started its activities, the order was that the blame for the crime of the Pakistanis and the Razakars was to be put on the guerilla. The final order was that “Hindustani agents” were to be held responsible for all this. They kept Press and the radio faithfully followed the directives. Yet, the people, who had learnt through their own bitter experience, could not be fooled.
By their terror the Pakistanis achieved the opposite of what they were bargaining for. The more the terror lasted the more the people steeled themselves to fight the enemy. The ranks of the guerillas continued to swell.
The freedom fighters had begun organizing themselves into a volunteer corps and getting rudimentary training in arms since long before the Pakistanis invaded Gopalganj. Their first major success was recorded on May 9 when in Gopalganj town they killed the second officer and several other collaborators. The S.D.O had fled before the Pakistanis arrived.
By September the guerillas had become so strong-some of them had got training in camps in India and had acquired arms and ammunition that they were able to give battle to the Pakistanis. With a force of 300 they split themselves into several groups ambushing or attacking the enemy at their weakest point. The commander of the Mukti Bahini gave me the following count of casualties up to December 7 when the Pakistanis evacuated Gopalganj: freedom fighters killed -14; enemy, including Razakars, killed -259.
The guerillas opened the jail gate. But the jail was soon filled again with Razakars and other collaborators. In the villages, short shrift was made of many Razakars, all of whom were Bengalis by villagers who had suffered at their hands all these nine months. But these killings were not as numerous as might have been had not the leaders called for restraint and preservation of peace. Many collaborators are now living the life of fugitives, fleeing from village to village.
The Thanas are all unmanned now. The officers and constables who had collaborated with the occupation troops have fled. Those who had taken up arms against the Pakistanis have not returned yet. Many of them may have become martyrs in the freedom struggle. The magistracy is depending upon the Mukti Bahini to function as the police until the thanas are properly manned again. If law and order has not been seriously disturbed, thanks are due as much to the Mukti Bahini as to the understanding of the situation by the common man.
When refugees return to Gopalganj town or to their villages a vast majority of them will find that their houses have been either looted or destroyed. If they were living in brick-built houses the structures may be standing but doors, windows and even wooden beams have been removed. In urban areas, Hindu merchants as a community and Awami League supporters among the Muslims will almost everywhere see that they have lost whatever they had.
Refugees have begun returning the agriculturists among them with their families. Traders are leaving their families in India. They want to investigate what has happened to their houses and business establishments and what the prospects of resettlement are before they will decide whether the time has come for them to take their families back also. Reception centers have been or are being opened in the sub-division.
Although law and order is not seriously distrubed, the large quantities of arms and ammunition which are with the people do pose a danger. As in other areas in Gopalganj no one seems to be eager to surrender arms to the Government. Not all guerillas are of the idealistic kind and there are many armed Razakars still abroad. The possibility is there that some of them are using these arms for personal vendettas or rank robberies.
Robberies and murders are taking place. The weapons generally used are stun guns and rifles. In the absence of a police force no inquiry is possible. The Mukti Bahini is surely not the proper agency for such inquiries and the robbers and murderers are going unpunished.
An incident which has attracted sub-division-wise notice may be mentioned. Ulpur was before the partition of middle class villages. Only three or four middle class families are now living there. Most of the buildings are in the occupation of Hindu farmers and artisan classes.
Dr. Ramesh Roy Chowdhury was a very popular physician there. The village was a facked by the Pakistanis May. Several were shot without ceremony. But Dr. Roy Chowdhury and his family were saved by the Muslim who gave them shelter in different villages by rotation during the entire period of terror.
He and his family return to the village on December 17 the day after the Pakistan surrender. At 2 a.m. December 21. he was woke up from sleep called out, a shot dead on the spot with sten-gun. The motive of the crime remains unascertained for there has been no inquiry worth the name. The suspicion is that professional rivalry may be at the root of the crime or that some of who had an eye on the land and houses he owned or to care of on behalf of his reactions, engineered the killing with the help of a group that had arms and was prepared to commit crime for which they were paid.
Incidentally, the image of Kali at the Ulpur Kalib remains undamaged, the one image of a deity which, as I have been able to myself in several districts, has not been desecrated.
Reference: Hindustan Standard, 03.01.1972