MANIKGANJ, Dec 9, 2023 (BSS)-Tomorrow is the Mirpur tragedy day. The day will be observed marking the killing of the innocent people on this day in 1971 by the occupational Pakistani army.

 Freedom fighters of Manikganj played a heroic role during the Liberation War in 1971. They fought an uneven battle against the well trained Pakistan army in Mirpur area on that day.

A terrible fight was fought in the village Mirpur under Uthali union of Shibalaya Upazila of the district on December 10, 1971 in between Freedom Fighters and Pakistan occupation Army and their associates Razakars. On that day the Razakars with the help of the Pakistan Army looted the village and set fire into more than one hundred houses of the village.

 They also killed innocent villagers including one Kokaram. The occupation forces and their allies fired 80 bullets towards him and cut him in many pieces.

The people of the village remember the day every year with various programmes. The retired headmaster of Puran Poyla Government Primary School Mofiz Uddin Ahmed who was the student of class eight during the liberation war described the incident of 1971. According to Mofiz Uddin and some other elderly people of the village, Mirpur, was used as a transit camp for the freedom fighters who came from the west side of the river Jamuna and moved towards Dhaka and other parts of the then Manikganj Sub-division.

Ismail uddin Molla, a leading personality and rich man of the village was responsible for firing the freedom fighters safely. In the beginning of December, a camp was established in the village under the leadership of Monsur Alam khan with 170 freedom fighters. On December 7, a message reached to the camp that a big contingent of Pakistan Army was coming from Tangail towards Manikganj through Nagarpur, Daulatpur and Ghior.

For resisting the Pak Army, most of the freedom fighters keeping only 30 in the camp marched towards Terosree on December 8.
Understanding the small number of freedom fighters, a group of some 300 Pak army and 100 Razaker suddenly attacked the camp at about 10.30 am on December, 10. The freedom fighters responded them strongly. But within half an hour, due to shortage of ammunition, the freedom fighters left the spot and went into hiding. Then the Pak Army searched house to house for the freedom fighters and their local well wishers started looting the village.

 In the battle, camp leader Mansur Alam khan and one of his associates were wounded seriously.

All of the villagers left the village and went into hiding. The occupation forces caught an old man named Kokaram from a bush where he took shelter and killed him brutally, firing bullets and cutting his body into pieces. On the way, the Pakistan Army brutally killed Subal Sarker, Gopal Sarker, Subash Pathok and Amit Chakrabarty and torched about one hundred houses of the village.

The casualty of the Pakistan Army was not known as there was nobody to collect information.
When the Pak Army was destroying the village, then the joint forces started shelling on the vessels at Aricha ghat with air craft’s.

The local people said the Pakistani Army burnt tin shed house of Mollah Bari of the village still remains as the symbol of the Liberation War which was the camp of the Freedom Fighters during the liberation war.