RAJSHAHI, April 13, 2019 (BSS)- People of Charghat observed Genocide Day here today (Saturday) remembering a mass killing by Pakistani army in Thanapara area under Charghat Upazila in the district on 13 April in 1971.
Local freedom fighters and cultural activists joined a Milad Mahfil arranged in Charghat. In the morning, they prayed for the martyrs beside multitude grave at near bank of Padma River behind the Bangladesh Police Academy.
State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam, MP, joined the programmes.
According to the historic records, thousands of women and children from Thanpara adjacent to Sardah Police Academy, half-a-kilometer north-west from Charghat Bazar, left the house and took refuge along bank of the river Padma.
The invading Pak army surrounded thousands of people gathered on the bank of the Padma on that day (April 13). The invading forces ordered men to be aligned in a number of lines by bringing out women and children from the crowd. Subsequently, they killed all the men by indiscriminate firing. Around five hundred people were murdered brutally on that day.
At that time, Pakistani army took position in Sardah Police Academy (PTC) that is now Bangladesh Police Academy.
A Monument was installed at the Thanapara area in memory of the martyred.