Jalladkhana Killing Field: A haunting reminder of the tragic past
It was just a regular water-pump house, but in 1971, the Pakistan army transformed into an embodiment of horror -- a mass killing field, where the officers killed and dumped countless bodies.
The epicentre of this horror are the wells that saw many martyrs' bodies fall into them.
For years, this dark chapter in history remained ignored, and its significance was almost lost into oblivion. It only gained attention in 1999, when several mass graves were discovered in the capital's Mirpur.
To uncover the truth, the Liberation War Museum collaborated with Bangladesh Army and conducted excavation work at the site that year. This later led to the establishment of Jalladkhana Killing Field Memorial in 2007. During excavation, the remains of numerous victims were found.
KM Nasir Uddin, in-charge of the memorial, shared his memories with The Daily Star.
"Before excavating, we found that a family was still staying at the abandoned pump house. However, they did not have any clue where they had been spending their nights," he said.
"Then we explored a well where they live, right beside their bed. We recovered a number of skulls and bones from there," he added.
During the drive, a total of 70 skulls, 5,392 pieces of bones and many personal belongings were recovered from the pump house, according to the site sources.
Visiting the site recently, this correspondent saw a message at the entrance that read "Can you hear what Mirpur Jalladkhana wants to say?" It is a poignant call to understand the victims' suffering and to never forget their sacrifice.
In the memorial there are two wells of different sizes – one outside and another inside the pump house, which bear the marks of brutality that took place 52 years back.
The occupational forces killed innocent people in front of these water-filled wells and dumped the bodies in them. Those killed in other areas were also dumped there.
The purpose of dumping the bodies in these 20 to 30-foot deep structures was to erase the evidence, but the reality eventually surfaced.
The top of each of these wells have now been covered with glass, on which the words "In silence, we pay deep respect to all the martyrs" are written. Visitors who come to see the wells stay stationary in reverence, paying their respects to the unknown martyrs.
The excavation also revealed personal items such as prayer beads, wallets, torn clothes, sarees, scarfs, and shoes of different sizes, alongside the recovered skulls and bones. These items are now on display next to the well, serving as a chilling reminder that no one, regardless of age or gender, was spared during the massacre.
In 2007, the triangular memorial was built by keeping the structure of the pump house intact. It features nearly 500 names of killing grounds across the country and displays soil from six killing fields in clay pots as a tribute to the martyrs.
At the centre of the memorial, there is a burnt brick mural titled "Jibon Obinashwar (life is immortal)", depicting the sacrifice of the martyrs through the depiction of their mutilated bodies.
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