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APRIL 13, 1971

Black day for Hindus in Ctg

TUHIN SHUBHRA ADHIKARY and WASIM BIN HABIB
April 13 is a day that inhabitants of five Raozan villages in Chittagong would perhaps never forget.
On that day in 1971, the villagers saw a dreadful destruction and massacre unleashed on them. It's the day when they suffered a loss they would never
recover. Put plain and simple, the villages turned valleys of death.
The man who perpetrated the atrocity on the five Hindu-majority villages is none other than their neighbour Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, the self-declared brigadier of Chittagong
With the intent to destroy in whole or in part the Hindu community, he along with his accomplices and Pakistan army launched the attack on the villages -Maddhya Gohira Hindupara, Gohira, Jagotmallopara, Sultanpur Banikpara and Unasattarpara, said prosecution and witnesses.
The attack lasted about ten and a half hours - from 6:30am to 5:00pm.
Theycommitted genocide by killing 111 Hindus in four villages and murdered Natun Chandra Sinha, who was regarded as the most respected man in the community, in another village. The atrocities left scores more injured.
Before the killing Salauddin's men summoned the people out of their homes in the name of holding a meeting and assembled them in a place. They then lined the people up before the Pakistan army opened fire
The attackers also looted homes, torched them and destroyed the neighbourhood. The reign of terror forced hundreds of survivors of the villages to leave for India to take shelter as refugee.
In 2010, 39 years after the atrocities, Salauddin was arrested and put on trial. In October 2013, a war crimes tribunal sentenced him to death for committing genocide in two villages -Sultanpur Banikpara and Unasattarpara -- and for killing Natun Chandra. He was also given 20 years in jail for atrocities in Maddhya Gohira Hindupara and Jagotmallopara.
Yesterday, the Supreme Court upheld all these sentences, clearing the way for his execution.
Son of Fazlul Quader Chowdhury, Salauddin's ancestral home was in Gohira Chowdhurypara, adjacent to the five villages. Fazlul was a top politician in the then East Pakistan and was elected lawmaker from Raozan constituency several times.
But why did Salauddin carry out the atrocities?
Investigators and witnesses said it was because of the 1970 general election. In that high-voltage election, Fazlul lost to an Awami League candidate and they blamed it on the Hindu community.
Also, their conviction for Pakistan's unity drove them to join hands with the Pakistan army to execute the latter’s plan to annihilate the Hindu population by killing, converting into Muslims, and ousting them from the country, according to the prosecution.
As per the plan, Salauddin, his
accomplices and the Pakistan army first attacked Maddhya Gohira Hindupara around 6:30am and killed five Hindus of a family, including a woman.
Narrating the incident before the tribunal, Nirmal Chandra Sharma, who narrowly escaped the atrocity, said all his relatives, including his mother and uncle; pleaded for mercy, holding the legs of Salauddin and the army personnel, butto no avail.
The army put all of them, including Nirmal, in a line and opened fire. All his relatives were killed but he survived as he leaned sideward as soon as the shootingbegan.
As the Pakistan army and Salauddin left, Nirmal, now 69, saw a bullet pierced open his mother's belly. "You could see the inside of her belly," he told the court on July 9,2012.
Salauddin and his men then wentto the house of Natun Chandra, a social worker and philanthropist, between 9:30am and 10:00am. They dragged him out of a temple and killed him.
The raid on Jagotmallopara village began between 10:30am to 11:00am, where they killed 32 villagers and torched their houses.
Salauddin and his men along with Pakistani soldiers stormed Sultanpur Banikpara around 1:00pm. They looted and destroyed houses there.
Septuagenarian Anil Baran Dhar, a survivor of the atrocity, testified that he received bullets in his left hand and back and doctors had to amputate his hand.
He said Pakistan army along with Salauddin and his father's supporters reached the village, chanting slogans.
"Arriving at our house they dragged me and my father Upendra Lal Dhar out of the house There were two more persons - Manindra Lal Dhar and Nepal Chandra Dhar -- in the yard," he testified in the tribunal on March 19,2013.
"They ordered us to stand in a line and then opened fire on us," he said, adding, "We all collapsed on the ground. I fainted immediately."
The last place Salauddin and his gang attacked on April 13 was Unasattarpara village. They reached the village between 4:00pm and 5:00pm. There they killed 70 people
Octogenarian Chapala Rani described the attack on her village before the court.
She said the Pakistan army cordoned off their village and took them to a spot close to Satish Mohajon’s pond in the afternoon.
Chapala said the people who had been assembled atthespotstarted ciying
"My brother-in-law Benemadhob asked me not to cry as Mokbul Chairman and Salauddin were with the army.... As the firing began, I lost consciousness and fell on the ground. My brother-in-law Benemadhob, another brother-in-law Tarapodo and my father Satish Paul were shot dead,"