Memory of tragic Swat incident still haunts many

A heap of skeletons of the martyrs killed by Pakistani occupation forces and their collaborators at Foy's Lake Mass Killing Ground. PHOTO: STAR

The memory of the tragic incident involving the ship Swat, that occurred 34 years ago still haunts many, causing deep pains. Similarly, it reminds them of the inexpressible act of heroism against the evil design of the Pakistani Occupation Forces on the day by some valiant freedom fighters, who didn't hesitate to sacrifice their lives for the motherland.

Swat was a Pakistani flag carrier of 470 feet in length and weighing 9223 tonnages. The ship, which was loaded with 5630 tonnages of arms and ammunitions, arrived at the outer anchorage of Bay of Bengal from Karachi port at around 2.30pm on February 28 in 1971 and moved towards Chittagong port at around 4.30pm. The ship, with 21-feet draft, had berthed at jetty no-17 the same night. The arms and ammunition were meant for crackdown on people and freedom fighters of the then East Pakistan

According to the berthing of the ship, the master of Swat was Captain S Alam Chowdhury, whose nationality could not be known, and the pilot during berthing was Mokaddam, a non-Bengali.

As soon as the ship had its unhindered berthing, the occupation forces started unloading the arms and ammunitions under cover of darkness and amid tight security.

The Pakistani officials in Chittagong might have thought that the arrival of Swat with huge sophisticated arms and its unloading would not be spread out. But some student and labour leaders and freedom fighters of Chittagong port area somehow managed to know about the arrival of arms from West Pakistan and the evil design in mid-March in 1971.

They began organising local people, informing the matter to the local political leaders and decided to resist the unloading of arms from the Swat. An action committee was formed with a vow of not allowing the unloading of the arms, even at the cost of their lives.

As per the plan of the action committee, a public meeting was called at the New Mooring Colony at 3.00pm on March 24, 1971.

Responding to the call, people armed with lathi, bamboo sticks and iron rods started pouring in at the meeting venue from early morning. The venue turned into a human sea at around 4.00pm.

The meeting started at 4.00pm with Awami League leader MA Hannan in the chair.

As the leaders called on the people to lay siege to the Swat and resist the unloading of arms at any cost, the human sea started proceeding towards the jetty no-17. But the Pakistani forces intercepted the procession in a most barbaric way without any provocation. They fired on the procession indiscriminately for over half-an-hour leaving many dead and injured on the spot.

The figure of the dead was never known. But there is a wide belief that the number of martyrs on that day was over 200.

The Pakistani forces were compelled to stop the unloading midway. They could only unload 630 tonnages of arms and ammunitions from the ship.

The ship left the Chittagong port for Karachi with 5000 tonnes of arms and ammunition at around 3.30pm on April 18 in 1971. During the departure, one S Bokhari, a non-Bengali officer, was the port pilot.

The total military activities of the Chittagong port area from Jetty No-1 to New Mooring Naval Base were coordinated by Lt Col Abdur Rab from the Navy Fleet Club situated near Barik Meah High School.