A witness to brutality of Pak occupation forces

Even more than four decades after independence, no initiative has been taken to preserve an unseen bunker that stands in the district town as a witness to the cruelty of the Pakistani occupation forces and the sacrifices of the local people during the Liberation War.

The bunker, located in the Primary Teachers Training Institute (PTI) area in the town, is hidden from people's eyes due to lack of initiative of the local administration to make it a memorial of the Liberation War.

Local sources and freedom fighters said the PTI area was the brigade headquarters of the Pakistani occupation army in 1971. They dug a 30-foot-long, 25-foot-wide and 10-foot-deep bunker there for torturing local people and freedom fighters

Pakistani forces abducted the then District Council Chairman Azizur Rahman, also convener of the sub-divisional committee and general secretary of Awami League Moulvibazar unit, on March 26 in 1971 and tortured him in the bunker.

The Pakistani soldiers brought huge numbers of people to the bunker and torture them there, locals said.

On a visit to the area, this correspondent saw that the bunker is closed on three sides, with a staircase going to the interior.  

Head of PTI AKM Saiful Hasan said they are taking care of the bunker.

Azizur Rahman said they will initiate a project to build terracotta statues to depict the torture that was carried out there by the Pakistani army.