Pakistani forces and their local collaborators carried out as many as 1,752 incidents of genocide in 10 districts in 1971, a survey has revealed.
A group of researchers, with noted historian Professor Muntassir Mamoon in the lead, carried out the survey which was conducted in Nilphamari, Bogra, Natore, Kurigram, Pabna, Rajshahi, Satkhira, Narayanganj, Bhola and Khulna districts, reports BSS.
It will also be carried out in the rest 54 districts in phases.
"1971 Genocide-Repression Archive and Museum Trust", which was established under the initiative of Prof Mamun in Khulna, is conducting the survey.
"Before the survey, we had an assumption that there were five to six incidents of genocide, a few mass graves and torture centres in Nilphamari. But we found in the survey that there were 11 genocides, 37 killing grounds, 17 mass graves and 20 torture centres in the district in 1971," Mamun said while presenting the survey report at the inaugural ceremony of a daylong seminar at Bangla Academy auditorium here.
Cultural Affairs Minister Asaduzzaman Noor addressed the function as the chief guest, while writer and journalist Shahriar Kabir also spoke on the occasion. Ten volumes of the survey report were published in the function.
Prof Mamun said, in Khulna, there were 1155 incidents of genocide, 27 killing grounds, seven mass graves and 32 torture centres while in Bogra, the number of genocide was 45, killing grounds 33, mass graves 20 and torture centres 41.
In Narayanganj, 209 genocides were carried out and there were 23 killing grounds, 10 mass graves and 46 torture centres while in Rajshahi, the number of genocide was 127, killing grounds nine, mass graves 26 and torture centres more than 100, he added.
The survey said as many as 60 genocides were carried out in Natore in 1971 Liberation War while number of killing grounds was 18, mass graves 22 and torture centres 23 in the district.
In Kurigram, the number of genocide, mass graves, killings grounds and torture centres were 84 in total while 126 were in Pabna, 41 in Satkhira and 74 in Bhola, it added.
Mamun said the figure of 1971 martyrs in the latest survey would exceed the government announced figure of three millon.
In his address, Asaduzzaman Noor regretted that the genocides, carried out on unarmed Bangalees by the Pakistani occupation forces and their collaborators including Al Badr, Al Shams and Rajakar, is yet to get international recognition.
Holding international politics responsible for that, the minister said, because of such approach of the international community, the perpetrators of crimes against humanity around the world cannot be exposed to justice, he observed.
Paying rich tributes to the architect of independent Bangladesh Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Noor said no other leader in the world could attain as much trust and faith of people as Bangabandhu did.
People in thousands especially uneducated rural youth took part in the Liberation War responding to his call and embraced martyrdom to free the nation from the Pakistani subjugation, the minister added.
He said it is a matter of sorrow that the defeated forces of 1971 are still doing politics in Bangladesh.
In no other country in the world, a political party which does not believe in the state's independence and sovereignty can do politics, he added.
In his speech, Shahriar Kabir demanded passing the Liberation War Denial Crimes Act in the parliament immediately to bring to justice those who created debates over the figure of 1971 martyrs.