Liberation War memorial cleaned at village in Barishal

Bashundhara Shuvosangho activists cleaned up a Liberation War memorial at a rural area in Barishal on Tuesday noon ahead of the National Genocide Day and Independence Day.

The memorial is located at Kathira village, Goila union, Agailjhara upazila in the district.

Shuvosangho’s Agailjhara upazila unit Vice-President Md Shah Alam Rari led the cleanliness drive.

After the drive, Md Shah Alam gave a brief speech on the history of the site.

During the Liberation War of 1971, many people from the Kathira village secretly took shelter at a Christian Baptist church, near which the memorial was later constructed. However, with intelligence support from their local collaborators, the occupying Pakistani army tracked down the people in their hideout, and massacred them.

The bodies were thrown into a nearby water body. Only 45 of the victims were later identified, while the large majority remains unnamed to this day, Md Shah Alam added. Afterwards, the government set up a memorial at the site to honour the martyrs.

Shuvosangho conducted a cleanliness drive at the memorial premises on Tuesday, with a view to honouring the victims of the massacre ahead of the National Independence Day, and to preserve the sanctity of the site, Md Shah Alam said, adding that his organisation would continue humanitarian and patriotic activities in the future.