The Genocide at Chuknagar: A History of the 1971 War
May 20th. It wasn’t just a date. It was a marker for one of the worst single-day massacres of the 1971 war. A genocide , they called it. Pakistan against thousands of Hindu and Muslim civilians. Most of them were Hindus, trying to run toward India. They were fleeing from Chuknagar village, down in the Khulna district, in what we call Bangladesh now.
It happened Thursday, May 20, 1971. Around ten in the morning.
In the open fields of Chuknagar, thousands of people had gathered. Marginalized, poor Hindu villagers. Some were cooking food. Mothers were nursing babies. They were planning. They were moving toward the border, trying to cross into India to just survive. They split up, moving in different directions.
They had stopped there after long, dark journeys. Preparations were starting for the crossing. Then the news hit the army camps in Jessore and Satkhira. Military forces moved in. Rifles and ammunition followed.
Moments later. Horrific bloodshed. Screams. The area was engulfed. Over ten thousand people were killed. Bangladeshi historians later talked about the cries. They said it turned Chuknagar into a living hell.
Within four or five hours, that massive slaughter happened. On the banks of the Bhadra River. It was one of the largest genocides in Asian history, crammed into a ridiculously short time. The river still holds the memory of that brutality.
This whole massacre along the Bhadra River. It’s mostly unknown internationally. That’s how Pakistan managed to dodge accountability in the global noise.
Kazi Saiful Islam is 76 now. He lives in Bangladesh. But when that genocide ripped through, he was just a student. His dad was the police superintendent in Jessore.
He tells News18 about it.
“When things went completely out of control and the Pakistan Army moved in during late April, my father moved the family to Chuknagar,” he said. “We stayed there for a month. We could see refugees running to India. Resting on the Bhadra River. Cooking meals before they kept moving.”
He wasn't there on the day itself. He says he wouldn’t have survived if he had.
“But I heard the gunshots,” he recalls. “The next morning, I walked to the riverbank. Endless corpses. Scattered across the shore. Floating in the water. I just walked away.”
Shafikul Islam. He’s a researcher. He spent decades digging into this. Bringing it out into the light. He also saw the aftermath.
He said he heard people whispering that the water turned red with blood. On May 21—the day after—he saw it. Ponds filled with dead bodies. The water was deep red.
The scale of it. That’s what you get from living it. Not just the research.
“For almost fifteen days after May 20,” he said. “Dead bodies—mostly our Hindu brothers and sisters—kept floating with the tides. The smell spread everywhere. Families had to move. We had to leave. We only came back when the stench finally went away.”
Chuknagar was chosen for a reason. Location mattered. The river routes were key. And there was this massive pile-up of refugees there.
In May ’71, as the Pakistani military operations ramped up, people from southwestern Bengal were fleeing. From Jessore, Khulna, Satkhira, Narail, Bagerhat. They came through Chuknagar. It became this huge junction point on the way to India.
Chuknagar was a commercial spot too. The market, the port, all centered around the Bhadra. It was a focal point for trade and movement. Thousands gathered there, mostly unarmed civilians.
The army wasn’t just fighting. They were targeting places where crowds had gathered. Places where they thought freedom fighters could find shelter or escape routes. There was a bigger goal, too. To spread terror. To wipe out populations. To crush the morale of anyone trying to run.
Those people in Chuknagar? They were just ordinary folks. Women. Children. Farmers. Laborers. Traders. They were trying to survive. Cooking. Resting. Getting ready for whatever came next that night.
And that’s when the Army, helped by collaborators—Razakars, Al-Badr—they started the massacre.
It wasn't just a military move. It was pure horror. Brutality. Human catastrophe. Chuknagar became one of the darkest killing fields in history because it was a critical choke point for escape.
Most of the dead were Hindu Bangladeshis. But Muslims were also killed there.
Even now, the Bhadra River is haunted. It remembers those lives violently stopped. Chuknagar needs to be remembered. It belongs in the history books.
Written by Gree News Team — Senior Editorial Board
Gree News Team covers international news and global affairs at Gree News. Our collective of senior editors is dedicated to providing independent, accurate, and responsible journalism for a global audience.
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