Major (Rtd.) Suranjan Das is a Freedom Fighter originally from the village Ghumghumia located in Nabiganj under Habiganj district. He was a student of the second year at the University of Chittagong when the liberation war started. He witnessed the misbehaves and oppression of non-Bengali Bihari & Pakistani people. He came home from Chittagong on 2nd of March and met Anudepayon Bhattacharya who was the house tutor of Jagannath Hall of Dhaka University. He had an exceptional academic background, first class first from the physics department. He came to meet his relatives and well-wishers at the village as he was about to leave for the USA for higher studies near the end of that month. Anudepayon was martyred at the night of 25th March just like the thousands of other innocent, unarmed people by the Pakistani army.

Suranjan left Habiganj and went to Sylhet at the same day when the genocide started there, 25th of March. When the curfew was lessened a bit, he had no other way to return home except using his bare feet. He walked his way home and saw an uncountable number of dead bodies lying on both sides of the road.

A few days later, there was an airstrike on Holdarpur, a village adjacent to Suranjan’s own. Suranjan knew this is it, he has to join the liberation force now! Afterward, he along with his friend Sukumar Das crossed the border to get training from eco-one training camp located at Meghalaya and joined liberation forces in the Shela sub-sector under sector 5.

In the meantime, the ruthless, merciless Pakistani army attacked their houses, burnt those down and killed any relative who was around. Suranjan’s brother and his old aunt were killed brutally. 5 more innocent people were killed too.

The agony of losing his close ones when he was away, the “enough for a lifetime” experience of the liberation war, reflected in Suranjan’s words. He also described the breathtaking operation where he rescued several girls from the grasp of the Pakistanis as a freedom fighter.

Later on, Suranjan Das joined Bangladesh Army and took early retirement. Now he lives permanently in Canada now. This veteran fighter and army personnel explained the genocide carried out by the Pakistani army from a military point of view as well.

    Witness Info
  • Name: Major (Rtd.) Suranjan Das.
  • Age: 67
  • Address: Canada
  • Interview Date: 16th January 2018