Pak Army Aided by Razakars, Beharis
<i>600 massacred on this day in Lalmonirhat</i>
Witness to the gruesome killing of about 600 innocent people by Pakistani occupation army on April 5 in 1971, this place beside Lalmonirhat Railway Station now has no sign of cognisance.Photo: STAR
Today is Lalmonirhat mass killing day. On this day in 1971, Pakistani occupation army with the help of razakars and Urdu-speaking people (Biharis) killed around 600 Bangalees at the rickshaw stand near Lalmonirhat Railway Station. Lalmonirhat railway hospital doctors A Rahman, A Moktadir, M Rahman and AG Mostafa, railway engineers Anim Ahmed, Karim Bux, Yiar Ali, Abul Kashem were among the victims. Pakistani army with the help Bihari Kala Khan alias Kalu “Gunda” and razakars picked up railway officers and employees, school and college teachers, businessmen and cultural activists from their residences and offices on April 3 and 4 and took them to the railway officers club. After torturing the Bangalees, the occupation army led by a Major took them to the rickshaw stand beside the railway station in the morning of April 5, 1971. They lined up the Bangalees and sprayed bullets on them. About 600 people were slain by Pakistani army at the richshaw stand which was one of the main killing grounds of the district. The victims were buried near the railway office at railway colony. Over 200 skeletons, bones and skulls were recovered from the mass graves in the area soon after the independence. Talking to this correspondent, Lalmonirhat District Muktijoddha Sangsad Commander Yousuf Ali reiterated his demand for building a memorial for the martyrs at the rickshaw stand. "I placed the demand before the ministry concerned four times in the last three years, but to no effect," he lamented.
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