The ‘Dakhiganj Shwashan Baddhyabhumi Dibash’ was observed in Rangpur on Tuesday by paying rich tributes to the martyred 10 intellectuals of Rangpur who were gunned down by the then Pakistani occupation forces on April 4, 1971.
The observance began with placing of wreaths by the leaders of 'Dakhiganj Shwashan Baddhyabhumi Smriti Sanrakshan Parishad’ at ‘Dakhiganj Shwashan Baddhyabhumi Smriti Soudha’ area in Rangpur city on Tuesday afternoon.
Leaders of 'Dakhiganj Shwashan Baddhyabhumi Smriti Sanrakshan Parishad' and different organisations, relatives of the martyred intellectuals, students, civil society members and common people placed wreaths there.
Later, the Convener of ‘Dakhiganj Baddhyabhumi Smriti Sanrakshan Parishad’ and senior journalist Susanta Bhowmick presided over a discussion held at the ‘Dakhiganj Shwashan Baddhyabhumi Smriti Soudha’ premises in the city.
Heroic freedom fighters Comrade Shahadat Hossain, Mozaffar Hossain Chand and Ramakrishna Somani, noted cultural personality and President of Rangpur unit of Ghatok-Dalal Nirmul Committee Dr. Mafizul Islam Mantu, social worker Amjad Hossain Sarker, among others, addressed the discussion.
The speakers said the then Pakistani occupation forces along with their local non-Bengali Behari collaborators caught 11 brilliant sons of Rangpur from their houses on March 27, 1971 and forcibly took them to Rangpur Cantonment.
The occupation army conducted barbaric physical tortures on the 10 intellectuals at Rangpur Cantonment causing intolerable pains and sufferings to them for several days.
Later, the occupation forces along with their local collaborators took them to Dakhiganj Shwashan (crematory) Baddhyabhumi in the eastern part of the city and gunned them down by firing from a point blank range on April 4, 1971.
Fortunately, one of them, Awami League leader Dr Dinesh Chandra Bhowmick alias Mantu Daktar, who received eight bullets, escaped from the horror.
“Mantu Daktar was then taken to India where he joined the ‘Mukti Bahini' after getting proper treatment and fought to liberate the country by killing many enemy soldiers in the war fronts,” said heroic freedom fighter Comrade Shahadat Hossain.
The 10 martyred intellectuals are: Advocate Mahfuz Ali Zorjes, Khitish Halder, Ehsanul Haque Dulal, Rafiqul Islam Rafique, Dhirendranath Shanti Chaki, Durga Das Adhikari, Gopal Chandra, Tofazzal Hossain Moharram, Uttam Kumar Adhikari and Pagla Darbesh.
Susanta Bhowmick, youngest son of heroic freedom fighter Dr. Dinesh Chandra Bhowmick alias Mantu Daktar, said the occupation forces killed the intellectuals on April 4, 1971 as a part of their deep-rooted conspiracy to make the Bangalee nation talentless.
The supreme sacrifice of the 10 intellectuals immediately triggered massive resentment among the people of Rangpur uniting them to snatch away Independence at any cost.
“The occupation army massacred the ten intellectuals on April 4, 1971 further igniting latent valor in every Bangalee of Rangpur region when they started joining the ‘Mukti Bahini’ en-masse,” Bhowmick added.
