Sendia massacre 1971 [Sendia, Bangladesh]

[REPORTED AS SEEN]

The date of the incident in various accounts is given as 5 Jaistha 1378 in the Bengali calendar, which is either 19 May or 20 May 1971 depending on whether it is the traditional Bengali calendar or standardized Bengali calendar. On the day of the incident at around 9 AM, a contingent of the Pakistan Army from the Tekerhat army camp, set out in a launch and got down at Bhennabari, presently under Gopalganj District They started firing and arson at Char Chamta and proceeded through Kadambari Union under Madaripur District and resorted to a massacre at Ullabari. From there they proceeded towards Sendia, firing indiscriminately and committing arson along the way

At around 4 PM, the Pakistani Army along with their collaborators arrived in Sendia village. The Hindus from the nearby villages of Khalia, Palita and Chhatianbari villages took shelter the sugarcane fields in Sendia, after hearing gunshots. When the Pakistan Army entered Sendia, it was almost deserted. The Pakistani soldiers and their local collaborators looted the village and set it on fire. One elderly woman was burnt alive. The remaining villagers were taken captives, blind folded and hands tied, they were tortured to death at six different spots in the village. When the army contingent was about to leave, a goat’s cry blew up the villagers cover in the sugarcane fields. The Pakistan Army opened fire from their semi-automatic weapons killing more than a hundred Bengali Hindus  on the spot. Six days later five more persons were killed. Later, the survivors buried the dead bodies in six mass graves.