Today, November 13, is Hatia Genocide Day of Ulipur Upazila of Kurigram. On this day of the Great War of Liberation in 1971, the common people in Hatia Union of Upazila were the victims of the biggest massacre in the northern region by the Pakistani army.
The main place of Hatia massacre is about 8 km from Ulipur upazila headquarters. Dagar Kuti village in Hatia Union towards the east. Just 32 days before the country's independence, Pakistani invaders indiscriminately killed 697 innocent people in the Kuti village of Bahini Dagar. That day was Saturday 23rd Ramadan 1971.
On that night, based on the information that freedom fighters was stationed in Anantapur village, the Pakistani Bahini and its henchmen took an armed position there. In the morning people ate Sehri, some slept, some were preparing to sleep, some were preparing for their morning prayer. Just then, suddenly raining bullets and mortar shells started from all around. Fasting and sleeping people wake up and start running around. Before the people of Bagua Anantapur, Ramkhana, Nayadara, Mandal Hat, Nilakantha, Dagar Kuti villages and other villages knew anything, the Pakistani Bahini and their local comrades, Razakar, Al-Badr, Al-Sams Bahini set fire to the houses and houses of the village. At the same time, they started looting and torture. In an instant, the villages turned into piles of destruction.
In such a situation, the innocent people of the area fled to the paddy fields and bushes in an attempt to save their lives but failed in their efforts to save their lives.
They even jumped into the Brahmaputra River to save their lives. However, they were not saved in the end. The screams of helpless old men and children echoed through the air.
The Pakistani Bahini, with the help of the local Razakars, captured the men and women of the area and lined them up in Dagar huts and shot them dead. To ensure death, the mutilated corpses were stabbed with bayonets and set on fire. The next day, the local residents collected the mutilated bodies of 697 innocent villagers and gave them a mass grave.
This mass grave and monument were destroyed by the erosion of the Brahmaputra river. The relocated Dagar Kuti Slaughter Ground Memorial now stands with sad memories in the Hatia Union Parishad grounds.
Later, another monument was constructed on the western side of the new Anantapur Bazar in memory of the martyrs. Even though the history of this murder, which is the worst in the history of freedom war, does not get much importance at the national level, it is remembered by the people of Ulipur.