1950 East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), Sylhet: Hindu Genocide :
February 1950: East Pakistan (now Bangladesh):
January and February 1950: The torture on Hindus spread from Dhaka and Barishal to Chittagong and then to Sylhet and other district of East Pakistan (Bangladesh).
January 22, 1950 (Harigung): The Civil Court was on fire. Immediately, a rumor was spread that Hindus gave the fire, although no investigation had been made.
January 23, 1950: A meeting of Muslim League was held and there hatred against the Hindu community was spread by the Muslim leaders. The minority Hindu was terrified. After this meeting, the Ansars and the Muslim crowd jumped on the Hindu minority crowd and killed indiscriminately; they did not spare even women and children. Congress party worker and freedom fighter against the British Raj like Sureshchandra Biswas (ex President of the Congress Party), was also not spared. The crowd inserted a knife in his waist and wounded him in other places. He was brought to his house in a very vulnerable condition. In addition, respected Hindu personalities like Hindu Digendranath Dutta who was 92 was beaten up in the road and he became bedridden. What is significant is that the State was part of this torture. The cops went into every Hindu household without warrant and 200 Hindus were arrested. Almost all Hindu households were empty of men and only women were left. Some tried to shift the women elsewhere, but even that path was closed as the exit for Harigung was blocked by the Muslim league and the Ansars.
February 6, 1950 (capital Dhaka): A Council of Assembly was called to talk about the attack on Sureshchandra. The S.D. O (Subdivisional District Officer) did not allow any news to go out from Sylhet. In addition, Sureshchandra was not allowed to go to Dhaka. In addition, another Hindu gentleman was arrested at 10 in the evening, and his gun was confiscated. Those who resisted his arrest were tortured. Hindus like Dhiren Dutta, Hirendra Lal Chaudhury, Bireshwar Chakravarty, Arun Daschaudhury, along with 3000 Hindus were arrested and sent to jail in East Pakistan. This Harigung incident set the stage for a larger torture in Sylhet in a few days.
Sylhet City
February 1950: The rumor that Fazlul Haque was assassinated in Calcutta, India, which was later found a lie as Fazlul Haque came forward and said he was alive and well. Nonetheless, taking this rumor as true and the fact that most Hindus did a referendum against the inclusion of East Pakistan into Pakistan, the Muslim League started spreading hatred against Hindus. February 10 was Friday and a market day and a poster was displayed in the market that Hindus were oppressing Muslims and a picture was shown that Hindus were dragging a Muslim was a rope around his neck. In a meeting in Govind Park one Muslim leader called for Jihad and said that the Kafir (Hindu) blood will flow.
February 13 and 14, 1950: Curfew was imposed in Sylhet; nonetheless, in the evening one Hindu, Moti Das, was killed and two other Manipuris were killed. One young Hindu boy was returning from Bandarbazar and was killed. Even Hindu professionals were not spared: Lawyer Charuchandra Sarkar in Puran Lana, Mangal Bhattacharya, Vikash Dutta, Binoy Roy wee knifed and wounded. The Hindus tried to flee but the Ansars and the Muslim crowd surrounded the Hindus and closed all the path. A few, however, could escape to India.
February 15, 1950: Murder, killing, and forced conversion continued in the villages. The house of landlord Prabir Chakravarty, by the Shilan river, was surrounded by a Muslim crowd and looted. One Muslim neighbor, however, rescued him. On February 15 Nambazar was looted and in the evening in Naogram the house of one Hindu, Gurucharan’s house was looted. At 7 in the evening, Noagram was surrounded by Muslim crowd who carried lethal weapons. There were 1500 Hindu families in Naogram and some fled to the jungle. Hindu homes were set on fire and the idols in the Temple were broken to pieces . No cops or Magistrate came to rescue.
Abduction and Torture Of Hindu Girls:
The next village was Namarthpur, the young daughter of Hindu Aswahni Kumar was abducted by the Muslims in broad daylight. The father complained to the police, but nothing was done. Next day she was found with severe with severe wound and the cops came and threatened Ashwini Kumar that unless he withdraws his complaint, he would be punished severely. Under pressure, Ashwini had no option but to withdraw the complaint.
In Dhakdakshin, two Hindu girls were abducted from Bharat Chandra’s house. After a couple of days some people in the neighbor heard crying from near the pond and brought them back and took them to Sylhet town in the Hindu relief camp. Bharatchandra took them to the hospital where they died. Hindu women were abducted from other villages like Choukand, Shivgung, Dhakadakshin, and Dhakauttor. Daughter of Aksay Bhattacharya, President of Kanisail, was abducted and found near the house in an unconscious state. The house of Hindu ex Headmaster of Dattaracel High School and was looted.
February 15, 1950: At 9 in the morning In Bahubal police Station (Karimgung district) Silami village, a group of Muslims with lethal weapon and set Hindu houses on fire. Many Hindus fled to the jungle and those who could not were forcibly converted. Those who resisted conversion were killed. In Habibgung Chuarghar police station, Ketan Das, Ashwin Nag, Birendra Nath, etc were forced to convert to Islam. In Gangajal village the home of Dhirenchandra Dev Purakayaastha were looted by Muslims. Around 9 AM hundreds of Muslims came into Murli village gave slogans and attacked Hindu homes. The first was the home of one Senapati. The idols were all broken. Then they went to adjacent villages like In Daspara, Ajamtpur, Nairgung till Maheshpur. The torture went on throughout the day. The nest days the Hindus were forced to sign a consent form where they had said that they willfully converted to Islam.
The Steamer (motor boat) factory in Fenchigung police station was looted and burnt. And One Hindu, Pulin De, was killed near Ilishpur. Ambiak Kaviraj of Maygoan’s house was looted and Makhan Som’s house were looted and set on fire. In Rukumpur, under Balagung police station Hindu homes of Digendra Sen, Gopesh Sen, Shivcharan Das were set on fire and the people in the household were beaten up. In Fulshaine village under Gopalgung police station , the houses of wealthy Vaikuntha Nath’s Roy and Rashbehari Roys were looted. In Vishwanath police station Hindus were taken and brutally tortured. In Dandampur village every single Hindu home were looted and they were forced to read the Kalima and convert to Islam. In Tukrkandi the house of Hindu Yogendra Ghosh was looted and Yogendra Nath was beheaded. His body was thrown out on the roadside and was devoured by jackals. In Shirajgung of Vishwanatha police station, the houses of Pal Chaudhury and some Brahmans were looted and they were forced to read the Kalima. When one Hindu Pandit, Smrithitirtha, refused to convert, his sacred thread was torn and he was wounded severely with a knife. All the idols were broken and thrown into the pond and the ponytail that Brahmins have on their heads was torn.
February 16, 1950: 300 armed Muslims attacked Akhra village and destroyed the Temple and the idols were broken. They tried to kill the priest, who fled. The crowd swelled and looted everything in the Temple. They looted the Landlord Haripada Chaudhury and Bimal Bhattacharya’s house — the women fled to the jungle.
February 17, 1950: They first attacked all the upper caste Hindus and cut off their sacred thread and converted them to Islam and then went to the next village. The conch shell bangles were broken and their sindoor were wiped off. In Kurma village the same thing happened. In Rajgung the houses of Hindu Virbhatta and Ramachandra Bhatta were looted.
February 17, 1950: Lakeshwar village in Chatak were attacked by armed Muslims. First, they looted the house of Nirad Ranjan Bhattacharya and took all the jewelry, and utensils, cash and then looted the homes of other Hindus like Ramani Bhattacharya, Nalini Amarendu, Rabindrachandra, tore their sacred thread and forced them to read the Kalima and tore their ponytails. The same things happened in the adjacent village Markal village — looting and widespread conversion . A Muslim crowd attacked Sadarpur village under Jakirgung police station.
February 19, 1950: The homes of two lower caste Hindus, Sukhlal home was looted and Gurulal were looted. When Gurulala went to the police station to complaint the cops beat him up with the butt of the gung. Then they abused him verbally and thew him out of the police station. Several villagers swam across the river and left everything and fled. The homes of poor Hindus like Akrur Namasudra, Ramesh Namasudra , in Puirkhal Paragram village were all looted and their homes were occupied by the Muslims.
Intresting, everywhere the Ansar and the crowd went, they took the Mullahs with them so that the process of conversion would be fast and complete. These attacks were all pre planned and the ideas came from the Deputy Commissioner, Mr. Nomani and Aajmal Ali, an ex-accountant and Badrul HaqueThe police, S.P, did not do anything to cub the violence, those who did some little protest was voices were silenced by the crazy crowd.
