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Haunting memories of JINJIRA MASSACRE
In another room, I was hiding under a bed silently praying to Allah to save me. ... While I was waiting there, the soldiers shot dead another of my nephew.”
ERSHAD SARDER
a survivor of Jinjira’s
Sarder family massacre
The situation was beyond description. Some of the people were killed on the spot, and those who were injured were screaming for water. The entire Hindu block of our village was razed to the ground by the Pakistan army.
SAIFUL ISLAM
eyewitness of Jinjira massacre
﻿AHMAD ISTIAK
“Pakistani soldiers broke into our house through the backyard. Sensing their presence, three of my nephews gathered in one room. Another managed to flee. The soldiers entered our house firing indiscriminately killing the 3 helpless boys. They fell on the floor just like logs. …
In another room, I was hiding under a bed silently praying to Allah to save me. There were so many pots and pans in front of me underneath the bed that the soldiers did not notice me. I was extremely thirsty. While waiting under that bed, the soldiers shot dead another of my nephew.”
Ershad Sarder, a survivor of Jinjira’s Sarder family massacre, was narrating his ordeal with teary eyes. Ershad alone buried at least 20 bodies on that day.
On April 2, 1971, during the Jinjira massacre, most of the houses in Keraniganj’s Jinjira, Kalindi and Shubhadda areas went through similar ordeals to the Sarder family.
It could never be confirmed how many were actually killed during the Jinjira massacre. According to eyewitnesses, up to 5,000 people were killed by the Pakistan army on that day.
After the mass killing of March 25, many people who fled Dhaka took shelter in these villages crossing the Buriganga river. These villages, mostly inhabited by the Hindus, were considered strongholds of the Awami League. In the initial days of Bangladesh’s Liberation War, many top leaders of the Awami League including Tajuddin Ahmad fled Dhaka through Jinjira. Influential student leaders including Shajahan Siraj, Tofail Ahmed, and Serajul Alam Khan took shelter there.
Receiving intelligence reports that Awami League was getting secretly organised in Jinjira through its student leaders, the Pakistan army decided to launch a raid. One of the masterminds of Operation Searchlight, brigadier general Jahanzeb Arbab devised the plan which was executed by brigadier general Rashid.
By that time, the military surrounded the area with barbed wire and bamboo fences so that nobody could escape the carnage. Some soldiers started firing at the village. Frightened, people were running to and fro but they were surrounded from all sides.
MOSTOFA MOHSIN MONTU
an eyewitness of the massacre and Dhaka district commander of Mukti Bahini
As per the plan, Pakistani troops took position at Mitford hospital with heavy weaponry. Mortars and machine guns were placed on the roof of Pori Bibi’s mosque. Troops crossed the river and landed in the villages of Jinjira, Kalindi and Shubhadda unions through gunboats.
At around 5:00am, Brigadier Rashid fired a flare and signalled the troops to start the raid. Then and then Pakistani soldiers started one of the most horrific massacres in the history of our country, setting fire to houses and bazaars using gunpowder and killing civilians indiscriminately.
Julhas Mian, an inhabitant of south Mandail, recently narrated his ordeal to The Daily Star.
“After the massacre of March 25, we started patrolling outside the village so that we can know beforehand when they would come. On that morning, I went to the river bank and saw five gunboats full of Pakistani soldiers had just arrived. Some of the soldiers got down from the boat and asked me where Narikelbaria was. They also asked about the location of student leader Mostofa Mohsin Montu’s house.
After the encounter, I ran back home. Sensing the situation, my family members had already started to flee. I joined them and went to the mosque of Borhanibag village. Thousands of people had already gathered at the mosque. One of the houses adjacent to the mosque was burnt to the ground by the Pakistani soldiers. A man said seven people were killed by the soldiers there.
I felt the mosque was not safe either. So, I decided to go back home through the paddy fields and found numerous dead bodies there. Reaching home, I found several dead bodies on the banks of our pond. We took the wounded to the Mitford hospital and buried the dead bodies.”
Saiful Islam, an inhabitant of East Mandail village and another eyewitness of Jinjira massacre, told The Daily Star, “The situation was beyond description. Some of the people died on the spot, and those left injured were screaming for water. The entire Hindu block of our village was razed to the ground by the Pakistan army. Some of our neighbours hid in the jungle as they learnt about the incoming raid. When the soldiers left the village, we asked them to come out but nobody responded. Later, we found their lifeless bodies in the thicket.”
Saiful claimed that at least 5,000 people were slaughtered on that day.
On April 3, 1972, a report by Saiful Islam was published in the daily Dainik Bangla titled “Hellish brutality in Jinjira’’. That report has been included in the 8th volume of the official historical records of the Liberation War of Bangladesh (Bangladesher Shadhinota Juddho Dalilpatra).
The report read like this, “As the night dawned, inhabitants of Keraniganj were still sleeping. Suddenly loud bangs of guns and mortars pierced through the silence of the dawn. The Pakistani soldiers started the killing spree. The whole area was filled with cries and people’s pleas to live. Frightened, shocked people tried to flee. … Frightened people couldn’t decide what to do as they were surrounded ….
Houses of Jinjira, Kalindi and Shubhadda unions were ransacked and burnt and hundreds of mothers and sisters were raped. Each and every house of these three unions was attacked. Finally, when the killing spree was stopped on the command of Brigadier Bashir, it left behind a series of horror tales in the memory of survivours.”
A number of mass killings on that fatal day have been well documented.
On April 2, more than four hundred people were lined up and gunned down by the Pakistan army in a single place called Monu Miar Dhal. Later, a memorial was erected in that place in memory of all people martyred in Keraniganj during the Liberation War. Besides, 60 people were killed on the bank of a pond adjacent to
Mandail main road. The soldiers killed 11 women in one house of Kalindi village.
Mostofa Mohsin Montu, Dhaka district commander of Mukti Bahini and a famous student leader at that time, told The Daily Star, “After the massacre of 25th March, I came to Keraniganj along with the national leaders and the leaders of Bangladesh Chhatra League. Although the national leaders left for the border, leaders of Chhatra League were with me. Pakistani soldiers were informed about our
presence in that area.
On April 1, a doctor of Mitford Hospital secretly informed me that some Pakistani officers were keeping close surveillance on Keraniganj using telescopes. They were also amassing mortar shells and ammunition on the roof of the hospital. I conveyed this information to all my contacts without any delay. However, we could not realise that they would launch the raid within such a short time.
Pakistani soldiers took position in the canals using gunboats at around 2:00am. At 3:00am, I learned that Pakistani soldiers crossed the river and landed in Jinjira. At 4:00am, the soldiers got the signal from Pari Bibi’s mosque.
By that time, the military surrounded the area with barbed wire and bamboo fences so that nobody could escape the carnage. Some
We started to flee [seeing the soldiers]. ... We found several dead bodies when we returned home several days after the massacre. Some of the dead bodies floated away through the canal and some were buried by the villagers.
SAHADEB CHANDRA MONDOL
an eyewitness of Jinjira massacre
soldiers started firing at the village. Frightened, people were running to and fro but they were surrounded from all sides.
They kept firing at the village for three hours. Till 11:00am, they conducted house to house searches and killed many people.”
After Jinjira union, Shubhadda union bore the brunt of the Pak military’s cruelty. During the massacre, poet Nirmalendu Goon took shelter at a Shubhadda village mosque.
In “Jinjira Genocide 1971”, Goon described the horrific atrocities committed by the Pakistan military. “When I reached the mosque courtyard, it was overcrowded. I saw several dead and wounded bodies in the mosque courtyard. Some of them were lying and some of them were upside down. … It was hard to tell if they were still alive or not. They were bleeding profusely,” he wrote.
Another eyewitness of that massacre Sahadeb Chandra Mondol of Madhya Shubhadda village told The Daily Star, “Pakistani army started firing arbitrarily as soon as they entered the village through the canal. That forced us to flee from our homes. Many of us got killed. We found several dead bodies when we returned home several days after the massacre. Some of the dead bodies were floated away through the canal and some were buried by the villagers.”
Mohammad Almas, an inhabitant of Par Gendaria village of Shubhadda union said he counted at least 30 dead bodies in his neighbourhood.
After this massacre, Pakistani military administration launched a propaganda campaign. On April 2, 1971, they broadcasted that Pakistan army had subdued the separatist miscreants who took shelter in Keraniganj on the other side of the Buriganga river. On April 3, the headline of the daily Morning News, a newspaper that served the Pakistan army, was “Action against miscreants at Jinjira”.
Jahanara Imam wrote in his book “Ekattorer Dinguli” about the massacre.
“I was shocked to read the headline of Morning News. It said, Action against miscreants at Jinjira. I was hearing from the day before that Pakistani soldiers bombed the villages of Jinjira and many people were killed there. So, were the apprehensions true?!”
People of this generation may not comprehend the scale of brutality the people of Jinjira faced on that day. But that does not matter for people like Ershad who lost their loved ones. They still shiver remembering the shocking scenes of the carnage that unfolded before their eyes.
The article has been translated by Md Shahnawaz Khan Chandan
It could never be confirmed how many were actually killed during the Jinjira massacre. According to eyewitnesses, up to 5,000 people were killed by the Pakistan army on that day.