Demra massacre () in

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

was the massacre of unarmed

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

residents of the villages under Demra Union in present-day Faridpur Upazila in

Pabna District Pabna District () is a district in west central Bangladesh. It is a geographically and economically important district. Its administrative capital is the eponymous Pabna town. The main five rivers of this district are: Padma, Jamuna, Baral, Atra ...

by the

Pakistan Army The Pakistan Army (, ), commonly known as the Pak Army (), is the Land warfare, land service branch and the largest component of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The president of Pakistan is the Commander-in-chief, supreme commander of the army. The ...

aided by local collaborators on 13 May 1971. It is estimated that 800–900 people were killed in a single day. Rape and plunder were also carried out and temples, schools and houses were set on fire.

Background

When the Pakistani army spread out from

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; , ), List of renamed places in Bangladesh, formerly known as Dacca, is the capital city, capital and list of cities and towns in Bangladesh, largest city of Bangladesh. It is one of the list of largest cities, largest and list o ...

towards the districts as a part of the

Operation Searchlight Operation Searchlight was a military operation carried out by the Pakistan Army in an effort to curb the Bengali nationalist movement in former East Pakistan in March 1971. Pakistan retrospectively justified the operation on the basis of ant ...

, the people began to flee their homes. The Hindus began to flee

and take refuge in neighbouring

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. On their way, they had taken shelter in the remote village of Baushgari in Demra union.

Events

The Pakistani army led by the local collaborators entered the area through the Boral river and then cordoned off the Baushgari and Rupsi villages. One collaborator named Asad led the Pakistani troops to the Baushgari village. In the nightfall, the men were dragged out of their houses and made to stand in a line while the women were raped in front of them by the Pakistani troops with the help of the collaborators. After that, both the men and women were shot to death and their houses were set on fire. A few survivors interred the charred remains of the bodies in a mass grave the next morning. Around 350 Hindus were killed in Baushgari village.

Investigation

An 11-member team from the International Crimes Tribunal investigated the Demra massacre in 2010. The team was led by Sayed Rejaur Rahman, one of the prosecutors of the tribunal. The investigators visited the killing spots in Baushgari village and interviewed the witnesses to the war crimes. In their investigation, they found Motiur Rahman Nizami guilty of masterminding the massacre. Nizami was convicted and

executed Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence (law), sentence ordering that an offender b ...

hanging Hanging is killing a person by suspending them from the neck with a noose or ligature strangulation, ligature. Hanging has been a standard method of capital punishment since the Middle Ages, and has been the primary execution method in numerou ...

in 2016.

References

{{1971 Bangladesh genocide, state=expanded May 1971 in Bangladesh Massacres in 1971 1971 Bangladesh genocide Massacres of Bengali Hindus in East Pakistan Massacres committed by Pakistan in East Pakistan 1971 mass shootings in Asia Mass shootings in Bangladesh Sexual violence in the Bangladesh Liberation War Gang rape in Bangladesh Pabna District Looting in Bangladesh Attacks on Hindu temples in Bangladesh Attacks on schools in Bangladesh School arson fires in Asia Hindu temple arson Residential building arson attacks in Bangladesh Arson in 1971 Attacks on buildings and structures in 1971 Attacks on schools in the 1970s