Courtesy: https://twitter.com/raniroyrocky/status/1536596017239695360?s=24&t=n1-0LOhH8saJD1yNpT6eiw
While the horrors of 1971 are still fresh in collective memory of Bengal , there are stories that are lesser known. Here is one such horrifying account of the ill-fated pre-planned train massacre referred to as Operation Kharchakhata.
1971, 13th June, Nilphamari, BD
A total of 436 innocent Hindus were slaughtered, who were promised to reach India safely by train. That day this culvert and railroad in the pic turned into an ocean of corpses.
The infamous operation KharchaKhata in a thread for you.
A large number of Marwaris lived in Syedpur town of Nilphamari district. Hindus from different parts of India, who came to the commercial city of Syedpur for business purposes long before the partition in 1947, stayed in this city.
Night of March 23, 3 days before the start of the 1971 BD War, the Pak army at Syedpur & their local allies, urdu speaking Ms, started killing Bengalis indiscriminately. From March 24, the Bengali families in Syedpur town were completely cordoned off.
Panic spread in Marwaripatti. TulsiRam Agarwala, JamunaPrasad Kedia & RameshwarLal Agarwala, leading personalities of the local Marwari community, were killed by the Pak forces on 12 Apr at the Nisbetganj near Rangpur Cant. Their houses were looted at gunpoint.
On June 5, the Pakistani army suddenly announced, “Those who are Hindu Marwaris will be taken to a safe place in India. A special train has been arranged. The train will reach the border on June 13.” No one could have guessed what would happen next, what was awaiting them.
The announcement lasted for 5 days, meanwhile H Marwaris packed their belongings to board the train. More than 450 Marwaris waited at Syedpur railway station since the night before as they feared of limited train seats.
Next morning the train arrived at 5am, with only 4 bogies reserved for H Marwaris. With their belongings & families, the bogies soon became crammed, ppl could barely stand with their belongings. The train finally started at 10 am.
Before the train started, about 20 H Marwari girls were forcefully picked up in front of thier hapless families. Men were separated from women & kids. All the windows & doors of these bogies were closed after the train left. Then started a journey of horror.
The train slowly came to a halt near Golahat just 2 miles from Syedpur. As soon as the train stopped, the doors of each bogie were opened & local Ms entered inside with sharp machettes in hand. Outside, the Pak army surrounded the whole area with heavy firearms.
Razakar Izahar Ahmed, Urdu speaking Bihari M leader Qayyum Khan & a large number of Pak army troops were present at Golahat. Not a single H Marwari should be spared. The killings started. One by One they butchered amid heavy rains.
“Tum iss mulq ka baagi ho, Tumko aisehi mara jaiga” said one with a machette while beheading an aged man on the track, flung the body to the Nayanjuli canal amid fanatic religious cheering slogans.
In an instant, the bogies were filled with roars of demonic religious cheers & terrified screams of desparation & misery. Some of the bodies were cut into pieces in front of their families & thrown around the railway line. Children are brutally killed.
In just a few hours, 437 innocent people were butchered mercilessly. Many passengers asked them to shoot instead of butchering, but the paks replied~ We have come to kill you. But Pak’s pricey bullets will not be wasted. Everyone will be sacrificed in this coup.
One by one the H men were kicked to leave the bogie & slaughtered. Kids were snatched from their mother’s chest, thrown up in the air, then flung on the railway tracks & smashed the heads or ripped the bodies apart through their torso.
Dhaka Tribune says the Marwari women were taken to an area called Astana-E-Haq & raped en masse by Pak Army, Razakars & local Urdu speaking Ms.
Surprisingly, only 10 young people survived the massacre that day. They got off the train & fled to nearby Dinajpur. Tapan Kumar Das, Gobindo Ch Das, Binod Kr Agarwala were among them who lived to tell the horror of a genocide wrapped in deception.
Witnesses said the killers were cheering “Kharchakhata, Kharchakhata” during the massacre. Operation Kharchakhata or Golahat Massacre was the name of a pre-planned Hindu genocide by Pakistani army, Bihari Ms and Razakars.
