* Rajkumar Das
During 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War hundreds of Bangladeshi liberation fighters –Bengali Mukti Yuddhas belonging to the then East Pakistan military and paramilitary as well as guerrillas were martyred and silently buried as the war raged. Many were martyred before War was formally declared on December 3, 1971 and many more made supreme sacrifice during the 13-day long all out fighting. Tripura being one of the most important flash points of the Liberation War and hub of anti-Pakistani guerrilla and military operations, hundreds of martyrs were buried here at many places in Tripura. Over the decades they remained in the memory of the people, their comrades in arms and colleagues and co –fighters who survived. But their last resting places went out of sight and also forgotten. But there were attempts several times to locate the graveyards of the martyrs by the Indian and Bangladesh authorities and also at individual level– some were found, some were not.
As it happened, in one such a successful search endeavour, a local school teacher of North Tripura found memorial tombs of four Bangladeshi soldiers who were martyred in 1971 Liberation War.
“Decades after the Liberation War of Bangladesh, with the initiative of a resident and school teacher – Abdul Chabur – of Ward 2 of Challish Dron Gram Panchayat under Kadamtala in North Tripura, four tombs of martyred Bangladeshi soldiers were found at ‘Baro Kabaristhan’ – just one-and-half kilo meters away from Kadamtala. However, the identity of three out of four fallen soldiers could be established”, local sources said.
Three identified tombs are of Lieutennat Colonnel Emadul Haque, Sepahi Mokmed Ali and Md Jamaluddin. All the three martyred jawans were associated with 8 No Bengal Regiment of Bangladesh Army.
Lt Col Emadul Haque became a martyr on October 17, 1971.
Sepahi Mokmed Ali was martyred on October 12, 1971 and he hailed from Kismat Noapara near Goyaalpara of Comilla district in Bangladesh.
Md Jamaluddin hailed from Pararbon village of Bijoynagar area under Mohana PS of Comilla district in Bangladesh. Jamaluddin became a martyr on October 17, 1971. All these information were found memorial tombs – but no information was found for the fourth martyred jawan.
“We are happy that after so many years – almost 50 years – at least the last resting places of the martyrs were found”, the school teacher Abdul Chabur said.
He also lamented that it was indeed a quirk of fate that no one did notice the existence of these tombs for so many years.
Chabur said, “I hope that administrations of India and Bangladesh will initiate actions to pay homage to the supreme sacrifices made by these jawans for the sake of their country”.
It may be mentioned here that some years ago Bangladesh authorities located one Liberation Guerrilla’s graveyard in Dhalai district and the remains were exhumed and taken to Bangladesh with full honor. (Courtesy: Tripura Times)
* Rajkumar Das may be contacted at [email protected]
