By Mamun Islam

  RANGPUR, Mar 10, 2022 (BSS) - People of Rangpur started showing stiff resistance against the Pakistani occupation forces from the beginning of volatile March in 1971 igniting the struggle for ultimate independence.

  Like the whole Bangalee nation, Rangpur people realized the conspiracy of abhorrence Pakistani junta Yahiya Khan who cancelled on March 1 the scheduled parliament sitting on March 3, 1971 and declared curfew on the day.

  Vehemently rejecting postponement of the parliament session, Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman called strike on March 2 in Dhaka and March 3 in the country when people of Rangpur started mobilising them resolutely.

  Heroic freedom fighter Majibar Rahman Master said thousands of people brought out protest processions breaking the curfew in Rangpur city on March 3 as part of the nationwide unprecedented movement against the Pakistani regime.

  The Pakistani army got terrified witnessing heroism of the Bangalees on that day when Rangpur sacrificed lives of its three heroic sons Sangku Samajhder, Abul Kalam Azad and Omar Ali during the curfew breaking processions.

  Being organised, some 30,000 Bangalees attempted to capture Rangpur Cantonment on March 28, 1971, after only three days of March 25 crackdowns, when some 600 of them were gunned down by the occupation army at Nisbetganj area in the city.

  Observing the insurmountable heroism of Rangpur people since March, the occupation army with their local collaborators started cleansing local intellectuals alongside innocent Bangalees.

  Former Commander of Rangpur district unit Command of Bangladesh Muktijoddha Sangsad heroic freedom fighter Mosaddek Hossain Bablu said the Pakistani army caught 11 Bangalee intellectuals here on March 27, 1971 in a pre-planned manner.

  The occupation forces with their Behari collaborators took them to Rangpur cantonment and conducted barbaric torture on them for their active role in noncooperation movement and uncompromising patriotism.

  Fearing threat of patriotism from the intellectuals, the Pakistani occupation forces took them to 'Dakhiganj Shwashan Baddhyabhumi' in the city on April 4, 1971 and gunned them down to make the Bengali nation talentless.

  Incredibly, one of them, then Awami League leader Dr. Dinesh Chandra Bhowmick alias Mantu Daktar, who received severe injuries as eight bullets penetrated his body, escaped death despite indiscriminate firing at him along with the other intellectuals.

  "Later, he joined the 'Mukti Bahini' after getting treatments in India and fought the War of Liberation to liberate the country from the occupation forces by killing many enemy soldiers in different war fronts," Bablu said.

  The martyred intellectuals are Advocate Mahfuz Ali Zorjes, Durga Das Adhikari, Dhirendranath Shanti Chaki, Khitish Halder, Gopal Chandra, Ehsanul Haque Dulal, Tofazzal Hossain Moharram, Rafikul Islam, Uttam Kumar Adhikari and Pagla Darbesh.

  General Secretary of Rangpur unit of 'Ghatok Dalal Nirmul Committee' Moazzem Hossain Lavlu said genocides of the ten intellectuals triggered heroism in every Rangpur people instantly inspiring them to launch stiff resistance against the Pakistani army.

  Like in many other places, the occupation forces with their local collaborators committed horrific genocide of 1,200 innocent Bangalees at Padmapukur and Jharuarbeel areas Badarganj upazila here on April 17, 1971.

  Heroic freedom fighter Abdus Sattar said the whole Padmapukur and Jharuarbeel areas turned into mass slaughtering ground when fresh bloods of innocent Bangalees turned the grasses and waters there into red.

  "The occupation forces got scared witnessing heroism of three martyred sons of Rangpur on March 3, ten intellectuals on April 4, martyrdoms of 1,200 Bangalees on April 17, 1971 and started conducting indiscriminate genocides across the region," Sattar added.

  The continuous genocides sparked real heroism in every Bangalee when thousands of them irrespective of caste, creed and religion fled homes to join Mukti Bahini and fought against the occupation forces till achieving the independence.

  Since the beginning of March, the brave people of Rangpur sacrificed lives and fought determinedly until achieving the ultimate independence on December 16, 1971 by defeating the Pakistani occupation army.