Ketnar Bil massacre

Ketnar Bil is an open land in Barisal District where paddy and jute are cultivated. In Bengali, a bil is a stagnant water body formed out of river movement, usually a horse shoe lake. Bils accumulate sediments over the years and are gradually converted into arable land. In 1971, Ketnar Bil fell under the Gaurnadi police station of the then Sadar sub-division of the undivided Barisal district.^[1] Now the area falls under Agailjhara Upazila of Barisal District.^[2]

The "bil" is located to the north of Rangta village under Rajahir Union in between the Hindu inhabited villages of Bakal and Kodaldhowa. The village of Bakal was originally known as Bakai, however due to illegibility of the dot of 'i', the Pakistani Army pronounced and subsequently spelt it as Bakal.^[1] On 25 April, the Pakistani Army arrived in Gournadi through the Dhaka - Barisal Highway. In Gournadi, eight Pakistani soldiers were killed by the freedom fighters. The enraged Pakistani Army contingent began to fire indiscriminately. More than 200 villagers were killed.^[2] They set fire to the harbour and hundreds of houses adjacent to it. In early May, the Pakistani Army set up a permanent camp at the Gaurnadi College.^[2]

Around 250 soldiers and 50 local collaborators began to stay at the camp. They set up bunkers at the bridges in Batajor, Bhurghata, Mahilara, Ashokkathi, and Kasba in Gaurnadi police station area. They established control up to Bhurghata in the north, Shikarpur (Wazirpur police station) in the south, Paisarhat (Agailajhara police station) in the west, and Muladi to the east. The local collaborators and Peace Committee member acted as accomplices to the acts of killing, loot and rape by the Pakistani Army.^[2]