No memorial in Ajgara Bazar massacre ground

More than 50 people, who were killed in Pakistani shelling at Ajgara Bazar in Laksham upazila of Cumilla during the country’s liberation war in 1971, have largely been forgotten over the years in independent Bangladesh.

No memorial has been built to pay respect to them in the last 48 years even as their relatives and the survivors plead for recognition.

Ajgara Bazar was a bustling marketplace known for its paddy trade. It was overcrowded in the afternoon of 6 April 1971. Out of nowhere, two Pakistani fighter jets flew over the market. Around a minute later, the jets returned and bombed the bazar, killing an estimated 50 people on the spot and injuring another 200.

Seventy-six-year-old Ramjan Ali, then a young trader at the market, vividly remembers everything. He described how the lively market turned into a land of death within a moment.

It has been more than 48 years since the incident but no memorial has been built here to commemorate the martyred people. “Unfortunately, no memorial events were organised to pay respect to the victims of Pakistan brutality,” Ramjan said.

Nurul Amin, president of the market management committee, was only 16 during the liberation war.

“I along with other freedom fighters was doing physical exercises in a nearby place. Suddenly, we heard explosions. The first bomb was dropped on a nearby low-lying land but the second one hit the market. There were bodies everywhere. More than 50 people were killed,” he said.

A book titled ‘Muktijuddher Chetonai Laksam’ by veteran journalist Abdul Jalil said 30 people were killed in Ajgara Bazar tragedy.

Mobarak Hossain, whose brother Sadek Hossain of Paotali village was killed in the attack, urged the authorities concerned to build a memorial to commemorate the victims.

Ayesha Khatun, wife of Ali Ashraf who died in the incident, said her husband left behind seven children. “Nobody came to help us even when we’re leading an inhuman life,” she lamented.

Laksam upazila Muktijoddha commander Abdul Bari Majumdar said the Pakistani occupation forces killed a large number of people at Ajgara Bazar. “A memorial should be built here to remember them.”