In memorium of '71 Liberation War

Munshigonj liberated on Dec 11

The saga of the heroic freedom struggle against the subjugation of the Pakistani Occupation Forces in the district culminated in victory, and Munshiganj was liberated from the Pakistani marauders on this day – the 11th of December, 1971. The day is now remembered here by the people at large both as an auspicious day of glorious triumph of Bengalee nationalist and patriotic forces and as a tearful occasion of mourning for the valiant martyrs who laid down their lives in our War of Liberation. The people of Munshigonj now console themselves with the thought that the freedom fighters shed their blood for a noble cause. To quote the poet Laurence Binyon – 'There is music in the midst of desolation and a glory that shines upon our tears.'

The Pakistani occupation forces mounted a dastardly raid and overran the Munshigonj town on May 9, 1971. They set up a military camp at the Haraganga College hostel. Before capturing the town, the gun-boats of Pakistan Army invaded Gosair Char areas in Gazaria thana under cover of darkness of the night and perpetrated a horrible genocide in the sleepy hamlet. The occupation soldiers, in a murderous frenzy, dragged the unarmed, innocent people, mostly fishermen, out to the river-bank. The baffled victims were herded into a long row and then shot-dead by brush-fire. In all 360 innocent villagers dropped dead in an instant.On May 14, the occupation army most brutally killed seven eminent people of the town at Chowdhury Bari in Kewar. During their occupation of the then sub-division for a little over 7 months, the Pakistani soldiers and their local collaborators let loose a reign of pillage, killing, arson and raping of women.

Gradually the Pakistani occupation army got signals of resistance by the armed freedom fighters from the outlying areas. In September the Pakistani soldiers were routed by the freedom fighters at Shikrampur Hat in Baroikhali. About 100 Pak soldiers were killed in that battle. Another fierce battle took place at Goalimandra. In the engagement about 75 (seventyfive) Pak soldiers met with a watery grave as their gun-boat, riddled with freedom-fighters' bullets, went down into the stream. In December the Pak army encountered a determined resistance by the brave freedom fighters at Ratanpur near Munshiganj town. In the face of stiff resistance, the Pak soldiers had to flee the place, leaving behind three bodies of their colleagues in uniform. At one stage of the Liberation War, the Munshiganj town was encircled by armed freedom fighters. The Munshiganj thana was raided and burned down in the town by the freedom fighters.

By the beginning of December, the Pak soldiers were virtually confined to the camp in the college hostel. The freedom fighters had already established their sway over rural areas. Finding themselves in such a precarious situation, the morale of the Pakistani occupation forces started sagging and they fled the Munshiganj town under cover of darkness in the small hours of December 11, 1971. Soon afterward, the freedom fighters marched into the town in a triumphal procession shooting into the air from their fire arms in celebration of the victory of their liberation struggle. People from all walks of life, who heaved a sigh of relief from the nightmarish persecution and atrocities of the Pak Army, heartily greeted the freedom fighters