Mirzapur massacre day today

Ranada Prosad Saha

Today is Mirzapur massacre day.
On this day in 1971, Pakistani occupation forces led by Captain Ayub with the help of local collaborators shot dead 28 innocent people including women and children at Mirzapur and Andara villages adjacent to Kumudini Hospital.
Earlier on the day, the Pakistani army stormed the compound of Kumudini Hospital and Bharateswari Homes and looked for Ranada Prosad Saha (RP Saha), a great philanthropist and founder of the hospital and homes.
"After the massacre in the two villages, the same Pakistani army team went to the residence of Jethamoni [RP Saha] in Narayanganj town and abducted him, his only son Bhabani Prosad Saha and three others from there. The five persons were lost for ever," said Protibha Mutsuddi, director of Kumudini Welfare Trust.
Marking 'Ranada Abduction Day', Kumudini Welfare Trust has arranged different programmes including special prayers and spiritual songs at 7 in the morning followed by a discussion meeting at Kumudini Complex.
Mirzapur villagers have also arranged special prayers, feeding the destitute and three-day kirtan (devotional songs) at Ranada Nat Mandir, set up on the village home of RP Saha.
Thirty-nine years after the brutal killings in Mirzapur no monument has been constructed there to preserve the memory of martyrs for the future generation, lamented Durlov Biswas, a freedom fighter in Mirzapur.