, Dec. 6 -- Lalmonirhat district is observing Freedom Day on Saturday as the district was freed from Pakistani occupation on this day in 1971.

On this day 54 years ago, Pakistan army troops fled Lalmonirhat amid a coordinated three-pronged assault by Mukti Bahini fighters.

Residents recall that Pakistani forces first entered Lalmonirhat by road on March 3, 1971 and after the occupation, the army, aided by Bihari collaborators as well as members of Razakar, Al-Badr and Al-Shams forces, carried out widespread killings, arson attacks and looting across the district.

The numerous mass graves scattered across Lalmonirhat still bear testimony to those atrocities.

Freedom fighter Nizam Uddin said Pakistani troops arrived in Lalmonirhat by he...