Krishnapur: The Hindu Village That Became a Killing Ground on September 18, 1971

By Vinay Nalwa

September may be drawing to a close, but for the Hindus of Bangladesh, the month carries memories that do not fade with the turning of the calendar. Among them is the memory of Krishnapur, where 127 people were killed on September 18, 1971.

Every September 18, the people of Krishnapur return to the same place where their village changed forever.

This year, on September 18, 2026, the Lakhai upazila administration and local organisations again observed Krishnapur Genocide Day in Habiganj. The occasion commemorated the massacre of 127 people in the predominantly Hindu village during Bangladesh's Liberation War. More than five decades later, however, the question of recognition remains. Local residents have continued to demand that the victims be formally recognised among the martyrs of the Liberation War.

The story of Krishnapur is particularly stark because the village had initially appeared to be a place of safety.

Located in the haor region, Krishnapur was then a remote village in the greater Sylhet area, largely cut off from communication. During the first six months of the war, it had remained relatively untouched. Its isolation gave residents a sense that Pakistani forces would not reach them. Hindu families fleeing violence from surrounding areas also began taking refuge there.

That assumption proved tragically wrong.

By September, the forces operating against the Bengali independence movement had begun reaching deeper into the region. The attack on Krishnapur was not a spontaneous encounter. Local accounts recorded that Razakars gathered at the Pakistani camp at Ashtagram in Kishoreganj on September 16, where the operation against Krishnapur was planned. The following day, Razakars reached the village by boats and speedboats and surrounded it.

The relationship between the Pakistani military and its local collaborators is central to understanding what happened next.

The Razakars and Al-Badr were not merely present in the aftermath of the army's operation. Tribunal testimony placed them alongside the Pakistani soldiers during the attack. Survivor Haridas Roy told the International Crimes Tribunal that approximately 50 to 60 Razakars and Al-Badr members, together with 20 to 25 Pakistani soldiers, attacked Krishnapur. He identified Liakat Ali and Aminul Islam as leaders of the group.

Liakat Ali was identified in the tribunal proceedings as a Razakar commander, while Aminul Islam alias Rajab Ali was identified as an Al-Badr commander. The tribunal later found both men guilty of crimes against humanity, including murder and genocide, and sentenced them to death in 2018.

The attack began in the early hours of September 18.

Local accounts place the arrival of the Pakistani soldiers at approximately 4 to 5 in the morning. They came from the Ashtagram camp in speedboats and larger boats, accompanied by Razakar and Al-Badr personnel. Pakistani soldiers opened fire as they entered the village. The collaborators moved through the settlement, looting houses and taking cash and gold ornaments. Houses were set on fire.

Then came the mass execution.

Villagers were gathered near Kamalamayi High School. Contemporary local accounts state that 131 Hindus were assembled there and fired upon, with 127 killed on the spot. The bodies were subsequently thrown into the water. Three men, Priyatosh Roy, Nabadwip Roy and Haridas Roy, survived despite being shot; all three were left permanently disabled.

The 127 figure also appears in the 2010 case brought by survivor Haridas Roy. He alleged that 128 people, including himself, were taken from Krishnapur in the early hours of September 18 and that 127 were shot dead.

Krishnapur was not an isolated killing. Local accounts place the combined death toll from the attacks on Krishnapur, Lalchandpur and Gokulnagar at 186 Hindus. The massacre was followed decades later by a criminal case, tribunal proceedings and the conviction of two local collaborators. Yet the question that remains is not only how many were killed, but whether their lives have ever been accorded the weight they deserve in Bangladesh's national memory.

Haridas's later testimony before the International Crimes Tribunal gives an even more disturbing picture of what happened inside the village.

He testified that attackers took him from his home and detained him with other Hindu men. Eventually, about 50 to 52 detainees were forced to stand in three lines. Haridas said Liakat Ali, Aminul Islam and a Pakistani soldier opened fire on them. He survived by lying among the people who had been shot. Later, he found 43 bodies at the location.

The massacre did not end at Krishnapur.

Haridas testified that after surviving the attack, he went towards neighbouring Chandipur, Krishnapur and found nine bodies there. He also described seeing 26 bodies near another house and hearing of further killings in Ganganagar. The tribunal's proceedings treated the attacks on these neighbouring Hindu settlements as part of the wider series of crimes committed by the same group.

Local accounts from 2026 put the combined number killed in Krishnapur, Lalchandpur and Gokulnagar at 186. They report 127 deaths in Krishnapur, 51 in Lalchandpur and eight in Gokulnagar. These figures should be distinguished from the narrower numbers appearing in the tribunal's individual charges and witness testimony.

The tribunal record provides another important detail about the motive alleged by the prosecution. In its adjudication of the Chandipur-Krishnapur charge, it stated that Liakat Ali, Aminul Islam and accompanying Razakar, Al-Badr and Pakistani army personnel looted houses and killed Hindu residents with the stated intent of destroying, in whole or in part, the Hindu religious group. Nine Hindu victims were specifically identified in that charge.

That judicial record is important because it moves the story beyond a general description of wartime violence. It records the participation of Pakistani occupation forces together with named local collaborators, identifies Hindu civilians among the victims and treats the conduct within the legal framework of genocide and crimes against humanity.

The case took decades to reach the courtroom.

On March 4, 2010, Haridas Roy filed a case in the Habiganj court against Liakat Ali and seven others, alleging that they had assisted Pakistani forces in surrounding Krishnapur and killing 127 villagers.

The case eventually reached Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal. Liakat Ali and Aminul Islam faced seven charges arising from attacks in Lakhai, Nasirnagar and Austagram. The prosecution alleged that the two men, supported by Pakistani soldiers, were responsible for killings and looting in Krishnapur on September 18. The tribunal proceedings were conducted in their absence because they could not be arrested.

On November 5, 2018, the tribunal convicted both men and sentenced them to death, finding the prosecution had proved all seven allegations.

Yet a judicial verdict did not settle the question of remembrance.

The villagers had already built a memorial at the massacre site in 2017. According to local reporting, the memorial cost Tk 34 lakh, with Tk 3 lakh contributed by the district council. Each year on September 18, residents gather there to lay wreaths, raise black flags, observe a minute of silence and remember those who were killed.

There is still another gap in the historical record. A 2025 local report stated that 45 of the 127 victims had been identified, but their names had not been included in the official list of recognised martyrs. When questioned about the omission, the local upazila executive officer said he was not aware of the matter and would look into it.

That issue remained relevant when Krishnapur was commemorated again in September 2026. Local freedom fighters and residents renewed their demand for state recognition of the victims and preservation of the history of the massacre. The upazila administration said the question of recognition would be investigated.

The history of Krishnapur therefore has several layers.

There was a remote Hindu village that became a refuge for families escaping the violence of 1971. There was the planning of an operation at a Pakistani military camp. There were Pakistani soldiers arriving by boat alongside Razakar and Al-Badr forces. There was looting, the burning of houses and the rounding up of Hindu villagers. There was a mass shooting in front of a school. There were survivors who carried their injuries for the rest of their lives. There were neighbouring villages where more civilians were killed. And eventually, there was a judicial process in which named collaborators were convicted for crimes committed during the attacks.

But there is also the quieter history that begins after the guns fell silent.

Families continued to remember their dead. Survivors continued to carry the memory. Villagers built their own memorial. Every September, they returned to the site. And more than five decades later, they were still asking that the names of the victims be formally recognised.

Krishnapur is therefore not only a story about what happened on one morning in 1971. It is also a story about what happens when a community survives a massacre but has to spend generations keeping its memory alive.

On September 18, 1971, 127 people were killed in Krishnapur according to the local historical record. The tribunal subsequently established criminal responsibility for specific killings and other crimes committed in Krishnapur and surrounding areas. The memorial stands where the killings took place. The survivors are fewer. The witnesses are disappearing.

The demand from Krishnapur is simple: that the people who died there should not disappear from the historical record with them.

(The writer is an author and columnist)