Rayer Bazar slaughtering ground shock foreign witness
The brutality of the Pakistani forces and their Bengali speaking collaborators baffled the entire world as the picture of the massacres were portrayed in the international media
The encyclopedias and history books recorded the 1971 genocide carried out by Pakistani troops as one of the worst mass killings of the past century.
The sight of the intellectuals slaughtering ground in Rayer Bazar was a massive shock to many foreigners.
The New York Times in a mid December 1971 issue carried a big report titled "125 Found Slain Near Dacca; Believed to Be Elite of Bengal" describing how the Pakistani forces and their Bengali-speaking collaborators had tried to expose Bangladesh to a state of brainlessness just ahead of their defeat.
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One of the witnesses of the slaughtering ground, Indian journalist Bikach Chowdhury, who arrived in Dhaka on December 16 to cover the surrendering ceremony, wrote despite the joyous mood everywhere, the scene of Rayer bazar Slaughtering Ground had exposed the Indian journalist to a massive shock.
"I saw numerous mutilated bodies lying around inside an abandoned brickfield . . . the local residents and Dhaka's journalists told us how the Bengali speaking Al Badr forces killed these leading intellectuals just ahead of the final victory . . . I still visualize how the body of the editor of the Shiladatya weekly was lying carrying marks of mutilation. So was the condition of Dr Fazle Rabbi's body," Bikach Chowdhury said.
He said the brutality of the Pakistani forces and their Bengali speaking collaborators baffled the entire world as the picture of the massacres were portrayed in the international media.
"The extreme brutality and limitless moral deterioration was the prime factor that caused their (Pakistani) defeat, beyond their strategic disadvantages," Chowdhury said.
