February 18, 1950 East Pakistan (now Bangladesh):
A day after the Muladi massacre:
February 18, 1950: Next day on the 18th the entire place was deserted and corpses scattered everywhere. One 117- year old Hindu, Mr. Naresh Chandra Pal, who was widely respected in the village, and refused to leave East Pakistan and go to India, was killed in his sleep. There was wailing and moaning coming from every Hindu home in the village. Innumerable Hindus were dead and their corpses laid in the village, port, and roads. In the garden of one Banerjee, a Hindu gentleman, there were over 300 corpses. Hundreds of people took refuge in the police station requested shelter, the cops refused to give them shelter. Out of desperation, Hindus hid in the jungle, where the Muslims carried on attacks. One Muslim, called Goni Majhi threatened to kill a Hindu, Makhanlal Kundu’s wife and her uncle and took all the jewelry and money. On 18thFebruary many were forced to return to their homes, where almost everything was looted. The Ansars (Islamic helpers) requested everyone to come to in the police station. But in the police station the Hindu men were killed, and the women were distributed among the men in the police station. The cops ordered the people to be murdered inside the police station. One person, who was suffering from tuberculosis was forcefully taken from his wife’s lap and killed; then the Muslims killed his wife Yashodhabala was cut into pieces. One physician, who treated everyone in Muladi, was killed inside the police station. Hundred of corpses of Hindus were thrown into the river. Barodakanti Pal, Gopal Pal, Sukhsundari Pal, Dhiren Pal, Kaviraj D. N. Roy, Madan Pal, Gopal Kundu, Koyek Kundu, were all killed inside their village and in the port area. The police officers wiped the red vermillion (sindoor) from the women’s partings in their hair and forced them to read the Kalima and convert to Islam.
References
Singha, D C. (2021). Rokte Ranjito Dhaka O Barishal. Translated Rinita Mazumdar, Codex Press, Calcutta.
Kama, A. J. (2021). The prolonged partition and its pogroms: testimonies on violence against Hindus in East Bengal 1946-64, foreword by Koenraad Elst. Voice Of India
