Fifty-three years after Bangladesh's independence, countless stories remain untold. Part 2 of this 12-part series tells the story of the fearsome Basu Bahini of Kishoreganj.
In the wide waters of the Kishoreganj haor, where the tall grasses stand like watchmen, an unlikely guerrilla force rose during Bangladesh's Liberation War under the leadership of Abdul Motalib Basu, once the feared "Bhorsa Dakat". His band, later known as the Basu Bahini, began with his own followers and grew to more than 300 fighters across nine upazilas in three districts.
Some of their stories are documented in Jahangir Alam Jahan's Kishoreganj Jelar Muktijuddher Itihas, and in the memories of those who lived beside them. In May this year, this reporter travelled through five upazilas in Kishoreganj and Habiganj and spoke to at least 25 fighters and villagers who once sought shelter under their protection.
Before the war, Basu had been a notorious robber, jailed in Kishoreganj in several murder cases. When students and youths broke open the prison at the end of March, he returned to Gurui village in Nikli and rallied his men and any local willing to fight.
After the Pakistani army captured Bajitpur on April 18, 1971, Sangram Committee member Prof Yakub Mia summoned Basu to his home in Chhaychira.
Bahini member Abdul Wahab, 77, told The Daily Star that Prof Yakub initially hesitated to trust a former dacoit, but confidence grew. The first camp was set up at the Gurui Union Parishad with 45 fighters.
In May, the Basu Bahini trained for two weeks at Ujlabar camp in Belabo, Narsingdi, then based themselves in a house in Hilchia near Gurui. They opened their operations by killing two notorious collaborators in the haor, according to the book.
From there, actions unfolded in quick succession: the June 25 attack on Bajitpur Police Station; the July 20 operation on Nikli Thana; the battles at Sealdah crematorium on July 25 and Manikkali Duilja Bridge on July 30; and the National Bank operation in Bajitpur.
Before dawn on June 25, hundreds of Basu Bahini fighters surrounded the Bajitpur Police Station, where Pakistani forces and Razakars took shelter.
Abdul Hekim, 82, a member of the Basu Bahini, recalled, "A seven-hour battle raged until the Razakars and police ran out of ammunition and fled through a tunnel to the OC's house, where they were captured." Crowds then stormed the market, seized the captives, and beat them to death.
Around the same time, Basu's men blew up the railway bridge between Gachihata and Manikkhali in Katiadi to disrupt Pakistani movements.
In mid-July, Basu's men escorted the wife and children of war-time acting President Syed Nazrul Islam from Nikli towards India. Razakars ambushed them at Ratari Haor in Sunamganj, but eight Razakars were killed in a counter attack and one was captured, said Wahab.
On September 6, disoriented by the Bahini's repeated strikes, Pakistani soldiers and Razakars entered Gurui by launch, looting and burning homes. After villagers alerted the Hilchia camp, 20–25 fighters ambushed them, killing five soldiers, said Yusuf Ali, another member of the Bahini.
"When our fighters ran out of ammunition and withdrew, the army torched homes and massacred at least 25 villagers in Gurui Bazar. As they retreated by launch, 40–50 of our men attacked again, killing 15–16 Pakistani soldiers and Razakars. After that, Gurui, Hilchia, and nearby villages became liberated areas," Yusuf said.
Other Basu Bahini battles included the Bagamara Bridge operation; attacks at Nikli and Madan thanas; attacks on Pakistani trawlers at Chhatirchar; the Sararchar train operation; the killing of Razakars in Ashtagram; and the eventual liberation of Kishoreganj town.
Their most decisive fight came at Nikli Thana, where 30 Pakistani soldiers died and four freedom fighters were martyred. Pakistani troops, police, and Al-Badr men had strengthened the thana and the adjacent Razakar base at Nikli Gorachand High School. On October 14, Razakars surrounded a reconnaissance team; when the Bahini intervened, the Razakars withdrew.
"Basu then planned a full assault with four companies. They encircled the station on October 15–16 and from October 17 began attacking identified positions,"Freedom fighter Wahab said.
On October 19, with the Pakistanis exhausted and several freedom fighters dead, the Bahini launched a final assault. The Pakistani troops fled toward Sunamganj, leaving more than 30 bodies behind.
By early December, as Pakistani forces retreated from Kishoreganj to Mymensingh, the Basu Bahini attacked their stronghold at Kaliachapra Sugar Mill on December 11. Razakars ambushed them near the WAPDA office, killing several fighters.
Rafique Master, 73, who fought alongside the Bahini, said they surrounded Kishoreganj town with other regional fighters and battled for four days from December 12. Several freedom fighters and more than 50 Razakars were killed. "The Razakars and Al-Badr surrendered on December 17," he said.
The Basu Bahini surrendered their weapons to the Kishoreganj subdistrict administration on January 26, 1972.
SAKINA BEGUM: COOK TO SPY
Among them was Sakhina Begum. She spoke with The Daily Star just two weeks before she died in June 2025 at the age of 93. She began as a cook in the Hilchia camp and then became a spy for the freedom fighters. Detained twice by the Pakistan army and Razakars, but she escaped both times.
"After my nephew, freedom fighter Matiur Rahman, was killed at Nikli, I took a vow to fight. When three Razakars were captured in Bajitpur, I brought them to Hilchia camp and hacked all three to death," she said.
She said she later killed two more Razakars with the same dagger, now kept at the Liberation War Museum.
THE BASU FAMILY
Despite 25 criminal cases, Basu received general amnesty for his wartime role. He joined the Awami League in 1972, but a faction rejected him. Later that year, members of that faction shot him and drowned his body in the Ghorautra River.
He left behind his wife, two sons, and a daughter. Today, his ailing wife and daughter live in a small tin house in Gurui; all family property was seized after his death. When this reporter visited in May, his wife lay on the floor on a torn kantha. His daughter, Rahima Khatun, 58, widowed within three years of marriage, works as a domestic help in her village while also caring for her mother.
Basu's son Nazrul, 60, used the freedom fighter's allowance to build his own tin house. The mother and daughter said they do not receive any monthly allowance either.
Researcher Sukhen Dutta, who has spent 11 years studying the Basu Bahini, said: "The Liberation War transformed a notorious robber into a man wholly devoted to his motherland. The contribution of the Basu Bahini in the haor battles deserves to be written in golden letters."
