It was 9 in the morning on May 19, 1971, when Pakistani occupation troops, guided by their Bangla-speaking cohorts, approached a local government office at Pikerdanga union on the outskirts of Gopalganj town. Their target was visibly specific – two junior revenue department officials.
They dragged the tax officer and assistant tax officer from the local Land Office, inhumanely tortured them and subsequently shot them dead.
Tahshildar Abu Motaleb Mian and Assistant Tahshildar Mir Abul Kashem had put in all their efforts to mobilize the people in the neighbourhood for the liberation of Bangladesh after the March 25 massacre by the Pakistani army.
BSS reports 48 years after their martyrdom, the grave of these two patriots were rediscovered to officially honour them by installing plaques and acknowledging their supreme sacrifice for the country.
''Two of our colleagues embraced martyrdom for the country 48 years ago. Today we honour them,'' Gopalganj Deputy Commissioner (DC) Mokhlesur Rahman Sarkar said while unveiling the plaques on June 21.
Along with other local government officials of the district, residents and public representatives, the DC also prayed for the martyrs and said if the grave of any other unidentified freedom fighters were found in the district, authorities would work to preserve them as well.
DC Mokhlesur said he came to know about the sacrifices of Motaleb Miah and Abul Quashem at a revenue conference, which prompted the district administration to take the initiative to preserve their graves.
Elderly people in the neighbourhood recalled that Motaleb Miah used to live at the tax office building along with his pregnant wife and a two-year-old son while Abul Quashem used to live along with his wife and eight kids at a rented house in the village.
Freedom fighter Ayub Ali Khan, a resident of Pikerdanga, said Motaleb Miah and Abul Kashem devoted them in organizing the Liberation War by mobilizing local youths through small group meetings, which soon earned the wrath of the anti-liberation elements and local razakars.
''Almost every day these two government officials used to hold meetings with youths at different yards of local households . . . two infamous razakars of neighbouring Shuktail Kuthi Bari came to know about their activities through their agents in Pikerdanga,'' Ayub Ali said.
Ayub recalled that the razakars in turn reached the information to the Pakistani troops, who by boat crossed the Madhumati River and entered Pikerdanga where they also killed several innocent people on their way to the Tahshil office.
On their way back as well, the Pakistani troops fired indiscriminately, leaving many dead and wounded, and torched households and destroyed a Hindu temple near the tax office.
After the brutal murder of Motaleb Miah, his wife Momtaz Begum left Paikerdanga for Gopalganj sadar along with her son Sajjad Parvej and later gave birth to their daughter during the war.
Kashem’s wife Rehana Begum went to Faridpur with the help of the locals where she educated her children Mir Abul Quayum, late Nazma Soheli, Mir Abul Kaisar, Nazneen Sohely, Mir Abul Kayes, Ivy Ahmed, and Shaila Shameem.
Motaleb Miah's name was officially enlisted in the freedom fighter's gazette by the Ministry of the Liberation War Affairs but unfortunately the name of Mir Abul Quashem is yet to be enlisted as a martyred freedom fighter.
Quashem's family urged Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for her intervention to immediately enlist his name as a martyred freedom fighter.