Bangladesh War of Independence: Christian Muktijuddhas (Freedom Fighters) -- 1

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The cover of the book in Bangla,
Muktijuddhe Amra: Christander Obodan
(We in the War of Independence: Contributions of the Christians),
edited by Sunil Pereira, Father Subrata Boniface Tolentino, C.S.C.,
Jerome D'Costa and Boniface Subrata Gomes, and
published by Pratibeshi Prakashani, Luxmibazar, Dhaka, 1995.

This book is an attempt to memorialize the efforts of the Christian -- both Roman Catholic and Protestant -- muktijuddhas (freedom fighters) in the 1971 War of Independence in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). Among several hundred Christian muktijuddhas, this volume portrays 33 of them.

The Christians in the then East Pakistan, irrespective of their different ethnic groups -- Bangalis, mongoloid ethnic groups, and adibashi (aboriginal) communities -- had the same nationalistic spirit as their Bangali Muslim and Hindu compatriots. Christians sacrificially assisted internal refugees of any religious and ethnic background by providing food, shelter, clothing and also directly participated in the freedom struggle as muktijuddhas. More than a dozen Christian muktijuddhas also got killed in the line of their duty.

From the above-mentioned book, I present below four Christian muktijuddhas, who gave their lives in the War of Independence in 1971:

• Subhas Biswas ("Subhasda"):

Subhas Biswas, a Baptist, belonged to the Khalishakhali Village of Gopalganj District. In 1971, he was a student at the Australian Baptist Mission Technical Centre at Faridpur.

During the non-cooperation movement, called for by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman due to delaying tactics of the West Pakistani ruling class to hand over power to the Awami League, Subhas returned to his village. Soon he joined others and left for India.

After a few months' guerrilla training in India, his group returned to his locality. Mr. Shehabuddin was theMuktibahini (liberation forces) Commander of Sector No. 8. For a time, they took shelter at the Children's Welfare Centre of the Australian Baptist Mission at Bhorakandi Village.

The West Pakistani soldiers had set up their camps at Bhatiapara and Gopalganj. From these places they had been wrecking havoc and death and destruction in surrounding areas. Villagers were fleeing in droves and taking shelter from one village to the next.

The commando group of Subhas stayed at the house of Satish Majhi at Khalishakhali Village. One night they attacked the enemy soldiers, but could not last long. Then they planned new attacks. It was October 25, 1971. In their first attack, the motor launch of the West Pakistani soldiers capsized. Soon another group of soldiers came on foot to their rescue.

Fighting started on both sides. Both the groups had their share of the wounded. At one point, Subhas and his friend were the only ones remaining in the bunker. Others gradually moved away in face of fearsome shootings. When the two were trying to crawl away through the same rice field where the enemy was on the other side, one bullet hit Subhas' leg and it was bleeding profusely. At one moment, Subhas lost sense of direction, he sat from his crawling position. Immediately a bullet hit his head and divided his skull. He fell on the rice plants and the whole place was bloodied. His friend somehow could escape from there.

Subhas Biswas became a martyr. After the independence of Bangladesh, the Bangladesh Baptist Fellowship dedicated their largest church on the Green Road of Dhaka to Shaheed (Martyr) Subhas Biswas.

• Khokon Solomon Purification:

Khokon Solomon Purification, a Roman Catholic youth, was from the Shadhon Para of East Rajabazar, Dhaka.

On June 16, 1971, he left Dhaka with some other youths and went to Agartola of Eastern India. After the guerrilla training in India, he participated in several attacks on the West Pakistani soldiers in Dhaka area.

He did not contact his parents for quite some time and they thought that he was killed in some guerrilla operation. One day he suddenly surfaces and meets his parents. After three or four days, he vanishes again. Before leaving, he gave three pairs of churi (bangles) to his mother and said: "If I don't return, you remember me watching these churis." He never returned.

It was November 12, 1971. Khokon Solomon and his co-fighters were busy setting up explosives for destroying a culvert on a road at Saidabad on the eastern outskirts of Dhaka. Unexpectedly an army patrol vehicle appeared and started to shoot at them. Khokan Solomon Purification and his cousin William Montu died instantly, when others could get away from the scene.

Shaheed Khokon's parents were so much shocked at his death that they could never live a normal life again.

Photos Courtesy: Muktijuddhe Amra: Christander Obodan, edited by Sunil Pereira et al, Dhaka: Pratibeshi Prakashani, 1995)

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The Photo Meditation of the Month (March, 2009): DOING IT WITH LOVE

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An elderly village lady preparing vegetables for cooking
Photo (Rangamatia Village, Gazipur District, Bangladesh) © Jerome D'Costa

Doing It With Love

This is an elderly Bangladeshi village lady doing her daily chore with intense care, love and attention. She knows from her long experience that whatever she does with love will end in success. She is cutting leafy and other vegetables and chopping potatoes for a tasty curry she will prepare later.

Her pose and gait tell it clearly that she has put her mind and heart into her work. There is nothing that can disturb her. Every cut and every chop acquire a new meaning. All the vegetables are not to be cut in the same fashion -- the size and shape differ according to the type of vegetable she uses and that's the secret of making the items tasty. Her deftness, her skills and her patience go into the work she does. Although she is slow, she is steady. She knows her work will result in happiness of everyone in the family during the meals.

Mother Teresa of Calcutta once said: "In this life we cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love." Yes, doing it with love should be the motto of us all. Only then will that make the doing meaningful, more humane. A real bond then will be created between the doer and the doee.

Bangladesh War of Independence: West Pakistani Soldiers Kill Catholic Priests

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Photo Courtesy: Father Evans (Holy Cross Church, Luxmibazar, Dhaka),
Father Veronesi (Bishop's House Archives, Khulna), Father Marandi
(Catholic Beginnings in North Bengal by by Luigi Pinos, P.I.M.E.)
Layout and Design: Joachim Romeo D'Costa

The Pakistani ruling elite always considered the Hindus in East Pakistan as enemies and agents of India. During their nine-month long deadly crackdown in 1971, West Pakistani soldiers not only demolished many Hindu temples, but also killed a sizable number of Hindu priests, besides Hindu intellectuals, influential persons and common folks in different parts of the eastern wing of the country.

Comparatively, Christians did not suffer that much death and destruction as suffered by the Hindus. Yet, they were not totally spared. In certain pockets of East Pakistan, death and destruction visited them as well. In many mission church and school compounds, internal refugees --Hindus, Muslims and Christians -- fleeing West Pakistani military crackdown and barbarity had taken shelter. They were fed and clothed. In this process, a good number of local priests and foreign missionaries -- both Catholic and Protestant -- faced threats and harassment from the West Pakistani military personnel.

Three Catholic priests -- two foreign and one East Pakistani -- were brutally killed, too. They were:

• Father William P. Evans, C.S.C. (1919 - 1971):

Father William P. Evans, C.S.C., killed on November 23, 1971, was an American priest and missionary, belonging to the Congregation of Holy Cross. After coming to East Pakistan, he served at different capacities in various Catholic parish churches and, one time, at the Bandura Little Flower Seminary. Finally, he was the parish priest of Golla Catholic Church in Nawabganj Upazilla of Dhaka District.

Although he was a foreigner, he loved the Bangalis dearly and empathized with them and their aspirations. He aided many internal refugees and gave moral support to the muktijuddhas (fredom fighters) of the locality. West Pakistani army personnel in that area was aware of his support of the freedom fighters.

On November 13, 1971, as usual once a week, he was going by a boat to offer Mass at Bakshanagar Village, a mission station a few kilometres away from Golla. As his boat was passing by the army camp at Nawabganj, the soldiers signaled the boat to make a stoppage at the camp. When the boat reached the shore, soldiers grabbed Father Evans and struck him so hard with the rifle butt that he fell on the ground. His body was bayonated several times and ultimately he was killed with two bullets. Then they threw his corpse into the river that carried it several kilometres downstream.

Ordinary people recovered his body and brought it to Golla Church compound. Thousands of Catholics, Muslims and Hindus of the area came to pay their last respect to this holy man before his burial at the church graveyard.

Father Evans' innate smiling face, love of people, humility, humour, and empathy drew people of all faiths to him. He was called a "holy man." Till now, many people visit his grave.

In the Little Flower Seminary at Bandura in the early 60's, he was our rector. From time to time, he used to give us writing assignments in English and after checking them would give his comments. On my assignment sheets, he would often remark: "Short sentences, but complete thought. Keep up the good work." My later journalism and writing career in life was the result of his inspiration.

Father Evans has been honoured in different ways in Bangladesh. The Tribeni Chhatra Kallyan Sangha (youth organization) in 1972 started to give "Father Evans Scholarship" to poor but excelling students. In 1973, this organization had also started "Father Evans Memorial Football Tournament". Later Shurid Sangha (another youth organization) in old Dhaka started its annual "Shaheed Father Evans Memorial Basketball Competition" among different youth organizations.

Source: Bangladeshey Catholic Mondoli (The Catholic Church in Bangladesh)
by Jerome D'Costa (Dhaka: Pratibeshi Prakashani, 1986), pp.302-303

• Father Mario Veronesi, S.X. (1912 - 1971):

After West Pakistani military started their crackdown on the East Pakistanis (now Bangladesh) from March 25, 1971 onwards, many people of all faiths began to take refuge in church compounds -- both Catholic and Protestant. In Jessore town, a number of such people took shelter in the church compound where Father Mario Veronesi, an Italian Xaverian priest and missionary, was the parish priest.

On April 4, 1971 it was the Palm Sunday. Father was taking care of the internal refugees who had taken shelter in his church compound. When the soldiers with their rifles and sub-machine guns entered the compound and were proceeding towards the building, Father Veronesi came out to meet them with his raised hands. He had a large red cross badge on his chest because there was also the Fatima Hospital adjacent to the place. The soldiers immediately started to fire at him and the building. He got bullets in his chest and died there. The soldiers then entered the church and shot and killed four of the refugees.

Initially, he was buried in Jessore. Later his body was taken to Shimulia Catholic Church compound and re-buried near the grave of another Italian Xaverian missionary Father Valerian Cobbe, S.X., who was killed on October 14, 1974 by robbers.

After the independence of Bangladesh in December, 1971, a Muslim student, named Ismail Hossain, wrote a letter to Father Valerian Cobbe and paid tribute to Father Mario Veronesi: "At last we have achieved independence and freedom! We rejoice and thank God and ask him to help our nation progress and live in tranquility. The memory of so many victims is the thing that saddens us most and gives us great pain. The best members of our society have died. Father Mario Veronesi is among these martyrs of our independence. We feel very proud of him: he paid the highest price for our independence!"

This 58-year-old Italian was a priest for 28 years, 19 of which he spent in East Pakistan. He worked in various capacity in different parish churches under the Diocese of Khulna. He is best remembered for working for the upliftment of the poor.

Source: www.xaviermissionaries.org/M_Stories/Martyrs/Vern7.htm

• Father Lucas Marandi (1922 - 1971):

Father Lucas Marandi, belonging to the local Santal ethnic group, was a diocesan priest for 18 years under the Diocese of Dinajpur, East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). In 1971, he was the parish priest of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church at Ruhea in Thakurgaon District. He had a strong patriotic feeling for his country when the West Pakistani army began their bloody crackdown on the East Pakistani on March 25, 1971.

Thousands upon thousands of East Pakistanis in various districts and localities were fleeing the merciless attacks of the West Pakistani soldiers. Many were taking refuge in different border districts of India.

Father Marandi received the news that four Catholic mission centres of the Diocese of Dinajpur were abandoned after the military plunderings. In the Ruhea area itself, most of the members of the minority groups and many Muslims left their abodes and fled to nearby India. His parishoners, through messengers, were appealing him time and again to leave Ruhea and join them in India.

Finally, Father Marandi decided to move. He got the church bullock cart loaded with the parish archives and his personal belongings. He told the cart driver to move towards the border that was marked by the shallow Nagor River, six miles ( kilometres) away. He then reached the riverbank on his motor cycle.

When the cart reached the designated spot, the cart and he himself on the motor cycle crossed the river together. On reaching the Indian side of the river bank, he turned toward the Ruhea Church and kept on looking intently for quite some time. His companions could realize that something ominous was going on in his mind. When someone told him to make a move towards India, Father Marandi turned toward him and said gravely: "No, it has all been a mistake! Let's go back to Ruhea!" He then crossed the river and started to return to his church.

Father Lucas Marandi was all alone in the Ruhea church compound except a few Catholics living nearby. After three days, on April 21, 1971, a West Pakistani army jeep pulled up at the priest's residence. Father greeted them and offered them tea and biscuits. They then left for the north. He felt quite relieved of his tension, but temporarily. After three hours the jeep returned.

Father Marandi came out again, but the soldiers pushed him inside his residence and started to torture him for the next 15 minutes or so. They bayoneted his face beyond recognition. Blood splattered all over the walls. When they left the compound, mortally wounded Father was dying.

A few Catholics who lived nearby rushed in to see what had happened. Seeing his grave condition, they decided to take him to India by the very bullock cart that Father had used earlier. Before reaching the destination, Father Lucas Marandi expired. His corpse was taken to the Catholic Church at Islampur on the Indian side of the border where he is still buried.

Sooner they left the church compound then a bunch of local looters appeared and ransacked the church and priest's residence and carried away everything available.

Source: Catholic Beginnings in North Bengal by Father Luigi Pinos, P.I.M.E.
(Saidpur: Catholic Church, 1984), pp.26-27)

These three priests are the testimonies of the crimes against humanity perpetrated by the ferocious and brutal West Pakistani soldiers.

The Poem of the Month (March, 2009): YOU'RE NOT A MERE FLAG

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Flag Courtesy: www.appliedlanguage.com

You're Not a Mere Flag

By Jerome D'Costa

You're not a mere flag

Simply fluttering in the air,

You're a powerful and meaningful symbol.

A symbol of bloodshed in the Bangladesh War of Independence,

A symbol of offering one's own life for the country,

A symbol of defiance against unjust policies and actions,

A symbol of uniting the country for a common goal,

A symbol of hope and progress for the future.

Let the bipartisan bickerings and differences

Give way to the unity of purpose,

Let not petty selfishness

Mar the greater good of all.

Let not the wickedness of a few,

Bring injustice and suffering on the masses.

Let's remember that

After a long dark night, you appeared as a beacon of light,

To the oppressed, to the suffering, to the diminished.

Yet, through our unity in diversity, sacrifice, and hard work

Want to keep you riding high and above with pride and dignity.

Bangladesh War of Independence: A Tribute to My Father

Dr. Peter D'Costa, B.H.

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Photo Courtesy: Studio 'H' (Nawabpur, Dhaka)

My father, Dr. Peter D'Costa, B.H. (Bachelor of Homeopathy), also known as 'P. D'Costa Sir' to the students of St. Gregory's High School in Dhaka, was born at Rangamatia Village of the then Dhaka District (now Gazipur District) on January 5, 1904.

After passing Class (Grade) 3 from Kaliganj Pilot School, Dt. Dhaka, he was sent to study at St. Anthony's High School in Calcutta. After the Entrance Examinations, he taught at the same school and studied Homeopathy at night at the Dunham College of Homeopathy, Calcutta. After four years, he received his B.H. degree and was awarded the 'Ratimanjari Dassi Memorial Medal' for scholastic achievement.

After one year of the independence of Pakistan, he returned to his village and practised homeopathy medicines. As the financial condition of the newly-independent country was not strong, he could not do well financially in his practice. In 1951, he left for Dhaka and joined St. Gregory's High School (English Medium) as a teacher in the primary section. In 1968, he retired from teaching after suffering a stroke.

He was spending his retired life in the village when on November 26, 1971, the West Pakistani armed forces attacked the village and killed 14 persons including him and burnt down about 90% of the houses.

When we received the news that the military started wading thigh-deep water in the beel (marsh) to come to attack the village, men sent their womenfolk and children away to another village on the other side of the small canal. We did the same with my mother Agnes D'Costa, a teacher of Rangamatia Catholic Primary School, and my adopted sister.

In the weekend I had come from work with the Pratibeshi weekly in Dhaka and could not return due to military and mukti bahini (freedom forces) confrontations in different places, including Kaliganj). So on this Friday, November 26, with fright, my father and I were watching the fires at the far end of the village in the west as well as hearing wheezing bullet sounds over the trees. I tried to coax my father, who could walk with some difficulty with the help of a cane, to go with me as far away as possible, but he refused and said: "If they see me old and sick and still kill me, let them do so. I would rather die at home than in the fields and jungles."

When the bullet sounds became louder, I asked my father to go away with me and again he refused. Then I said that "I have to leave because if they find a young person, they would capture or kill him instantly." He told me to leave immediately. I touched his hand for the last time and left home and ran towards the other village in the north. As I neared the canal, one bullet wheezed past a few inches by me and struck one of the bamboo trees and divided it in the middle. It scared the hell out of me and I shouted: "Jesus, save me!" and jumped over a cane bush and fell into the canal. I waded knee-deep water and climbed over the side of the canal and reached the other side.

Behind the houses in the field I find about three hundred villagers -- men, women, and children -- huddled on the ground. My future wife and members of her family were also there. A few minutes later, we see two muktijuddas (freedom fighters) running past us away to the east. I shouted and asked them whether they had fired at the soldiers. When they said "yes", my common sense told me that the soldiers would definitely come to the other side of the canal and search for the freedom fighters.

I told my future father-in-law, Joachim Costa, a teacher of St. Joseph's High School in Dhaka, that the army would definitely come and, if they find us, would finish us all. He told me to take my engaged finance, her mother and others and walk further up towards the east. As we started to move, others also followed us. We first went to the villages of Deolia and Baktarpur and then finally, just before evening, reached Kapashia village, about three miles north-east. It was a Muslim village where we never set foot in our life. They received us with such care and empathy that we immediately felt at home. They immediately began to offer us water and muri (puffed rice) followed by emptying of some of their rooms for our stay! We will never forget this sacrificing hospitality.

Those who did not move from near the canal, that we left earlier, were ultimately killed by the army.

As a tribute to my father, I had written a poem in Bangla and it was published in the weekly Pratibeshi of February 21, 1972. Below I render the English translation of the poem:

I Remember You

By Jerome D'Costa

Dad, I pleaded with you,
Let's go with us,
Flee somewhere away
From the hands of these
Blood-thirsty barbarous robbers,
Otherwise, they will tear us apart.

You said, No, you go, wherever you can,
Save your life,
I am old, I am sick,
If they come and kill me,
I'll be proud of it,
I've died for the country,
Even if I didn't take up any arms.
Yet, I am a Bangali,
A supporter of Bangladesh,
If I have to die, I will die,
In my golden home,
Where I've taken care of every plant and tree,
Every bug, every insect of my home recognizes me,
I have a deep intimacy
With the golden earth.

Yet, Dad, I pulled you
By the hand and told you that
They're almost here,
But you refused and asked me to leave.

As the frightful rat-a-tat sounds of bullets
Were closing in,
You told me, Leave and go,
Save your own life,
If you die,
Who will then serve the country?

I couldn't stay, I was frightened and heavy-hearted,
I had to go far, v-e-r-y far,
Leaving you alone,
In face of hellish atrocities.

The blood-thirsty beasts came and saw you
Squatting in a trench-like mud-hole,
They didn't hesitate a second,
They threw the deadly bullets at you,
Piercing your belly
And coming out the other side with the bowels.

Dad, whenever I visualize the scene,
My mind and body become cold,
I could never imagine that
Such a death could snatch you away from us.

Dad, you became a martyr
Like thousands and thousands of other Bangalis.
The grateful Bangalis
Of the independent country,
Will remember you for the time to come,
For, the birth of Bangladesh
Became possible due to
The death of people like you.

From the depth of your heart
You longed for this country's independence
That became a reality
Due to your sacrifice.
You are great, you are immortal
In the heart of every Bangali.
Bless us, Dad,
That we may preserve the independence
That you've brought for us
By sacrificing your life.

Bangladesh War of Independence: The Enemy Desecrates Churches

Jerome D'Costa's report in the 'The Nation' of February 4, 1972,
describes West Pakistani army attack on the Rangamatia Village,
presently in the District of Gazipur, Bangladesh

(To read the enlarged version of the report,

please click on the above image)

I had written the above report in early 1972 narrating the attack of the West Pakistani soldiers in late November of 1971 on our Rangamatia Village in the then Dhaka District (now Gazipur District). Fourteen persons, including my father Dr. Peter D'Costa, B.H., were killed on that day and about 90% of the houses of the village were set on fire and burnt down by the enemy.

Later they also returned and entered the Rangamatia Catholic church compound and desecrated and looted the Sacred Heart Church and pillaged the adjoining parish priest's house and the nuns' convent after breaking their locks.

During the deadly crackdown of March 25, 1971 night, the West Pakistani forces also fired indiscriminately in old Dhaka hitting St. Thomas Anglican Church's belfry with a cannon shell. The shell and bullet marks on the front wall were visible for sometime after that infamous day.

West Pakistani soldiers also had forcibly occupied a Protestant church at Akhaura in Brahmanbaria District and turned it into a war prison where captured Bangalis were tortured. Indian photojournalist Robin Sengupta, who covered the war between India and East Pakistan in December 1971, gave a photo of that church in his April 2000 book (page 57) in Bengali Chitra-Shangbadiker Cameraye Muktijuddha (The Liberation War Through the Lens of a Photojournalist).

The Original Report on Attack on Rangamatia Village

I am also reproducing below in red colour the report that had appeared in The Nation, the first English daily from the free soil of Bangladesh, dated February 4, 1972 (I took the liberty to add some commas, add meanings or explanations in the first bracket for easy understanding of present-day readers, and break a few longer paragraphs into shorter ones):

They Even Desecrated The Church

By Jerome D'Costa

It was black Friday, November 26, 1971. On that fateful day, the blood-thirsty army men of General Yahya had let loose a reign of terror in the village of Rangamatia, three miles north-west of Kaliganj in the district of Dacca [now written as 'Dhaka'].

The killers of the Bengalees [Bangalis] reached Doripara, which was between Arikhola and Pubail railway stations, where earlier the railway line was destroyed by the Mukti Bahini [freedom fighters] in cooperation with the villagers, and began to barrage the village of Rangamatia with rifle and submachine gunshots in order to make further advance.
When the army men began to wade the beel [marsh] through knee-deep water, a few Mukti Bahini boys, who were guarding the village, fired at them and wounded three invaders. As the fighting young men were outnumbered by the invaders, they could not defend the village as was expected earlier. The hordes of Yahya entered the village with all the fury and set fire to the whole Christian village and machine-gunned fourteen villagers of all ages.

Rev. Father Houser, C.S.C., an American priest residing in the Mission, along with the Sisters from the convent had to take refuge in a paddy field in order to save themselves from the gruesome barbarity of the Pak forces.

Later the aggressors pitched a camp near the damaged railway bridge [half-a-mile away]. When the priest used to go to visit his people in the far-flung villages, where they had fled earlier, the army men would come to the church compound and loot the valuables. They broke open the priest's house and took away everything worthwhile and made a mess of the church records and files. For safety's sake earlier, many Christians had kept their valuables in the priest's house. All of them had been stolen.

They forcibly opened the church door and broke the tabernacle on the altar, which is considered most holy by the Christians, and took away all the holy articles used in the religious ceremonies. One large statue of Christ, which was kept above the altar, was thrown down from there and broken into pieces. They also looted the nuns' convent.

This way, the homiciders gave vent to their anger which was caused by the heroic Mukti Bahini, when a few days ago, they had killed 30 Pakistani soldiers and gained control of and flew Bangladesh flag on Kaliganj. The army tried in various ways to recapture this vital place but failed. They even used a tank to crush our valiant young men but could not succeed. As a last resort, they air-raided Kaliganj, heinously attacked Rangamatia and regained control of the area after much effort.
The brave and ever hopeful people, who lost their houses and some members of their families, did not despair at all. Their willpower had hardened like steel and they were ready to make any sacrifice for the independence of Bangladesh which came into reality a few days later [on December 16, 1971].

(Updated on February 25, 2019)

Bangladesh War of Independence: The Killing Field of East Pakistan

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Beginning from March 25, 1971, the then East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) was the premeditated killing field of the West Pakistani ruling elite and their marauding soldiers.

Their anger, their revenge, their discriminatory behaviour, and their sadistic atrocities were realized in the nine-month long genocide in East Pakistan. The photos below speak for themselves.

Like thousands of others in Dhaka, these rickshaw-pullers
were also mercilessly killed on the night of March 25, 1971

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Setting fires on structures and burning them to the ground
was also another form of brutality of the West Pakistani soldiers
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Another killing field on a bank of a river
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As people fled away from their villages, there was none to
bury the slaughtered victims of the West Pakistani army
_Wading knee-deep water, villagers are leaving their abodes
and taking shelter in a safe place far away from the army presence

To avoid army atrocities, the old, weak and infirm

are being carried away to safer areas

These villagers left their households and became
internal refugees in a safer place

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More people who were forced to leave their own homes

Photo Courtesy: The Press Information Department,
Government of Bangladesh (1972)