Kendrapara December 16(Ashis Senapati) : As the nation now celebrates 49th anniversary of Vijay Diwas on 16 December to commemorate the victory of Indian soldiers over Pakistan in Bangladesh liberation War of 1971 for the liberation of Bangladesh from Pakistan forty-nine years ago, a war hero of Kendrapada district who selflessly put his life on the line to fight against the Pakistani army recalls heroic fight .
70 year old war veteran Duryodhana Mohanty of the nondescript riverside Barunadiha village under Rajkanika block is among the few lucky soldiers to be still alive to share their tribulations. He gamely dives into the past while vividly describing the horrible war scenes.
Having been part of the war , he recounts how the Indian army and Mukti Bahini fought with Pakistanis and destroyed many tanks and killed many Pakistanis.
“We crossed the border from Agratala to reach East Pakistan on 1st December 1971. I was in the battlefront at Habiganj , Laskarpur , Ajmiriganj , Tongi junction and Dhaka as a soldier of the 14th Battalion Brigade of The Guards “, “, recalled the war veteran Duryodhana Mohanty while sitting on the roof of his house in village Barunadiha.
It’s a life experience for the old veteran that is as sharp in his mind today as it was in front of his face recently.
“We fought against Pakistani soldiers from Habiganj to Dhaka for more than two weeks . The seventeen-day war caused thousands of casualties on both sides . Around eight soldiers of our regiment were martyred including Kashinath Sahoo a soldier from Odisha whereas we killed many Pakistani soldiers . Many Pakistani soldiers fled towards Dacca after we defeated them , added the war veteran.
On December 16, the chief of the Pakistani forces, General Amir Abdullah Khan Niazi, along with 93,000 troops, surrendered to the allied forces consisting of Indian Army and Mukti Bahini, led by General Jagjit Singh Aurora of India in the Ramna Race Course in Dhaka after their defeat in the war. It was a proud moment for us. We celebrated the victory by dancing with Mukti Bahni on the streets of Dhaka. I have a dream to visit Dhaka in 2021 on the occasion of the golden jubilee of the victory of the Bangladesh liberation war to pay tribute to the martyrs , said Mohanty while showing his war medals.
“I joined in Indian army in 1970 at the age of 20. During my 32 year long service I served the Indian army in Mizoram, Assam, Tripura, Kanpur, Kashmir , Pune . I also participated in Operation Meghdoot of Indian Armed Forces’ operation to seize control of the Siachen Glacier in Kashmir in 1984. After my retirement in 2002 , I settled in my village . I also worked as the Sarapanch of our Gram Panchayat for two terms from 2007 to 2017 and did many developmental works. I am now drawing a monthly pension of Rs 41000 per month “, said Mohanty.
War veteran Duryodhan Mohanty lives with his wife and other family members. His eldest son Amit is working as a soldier in Indian Army and younger son Arjit works in the Odisha police.
49 years after the Bangladesh war , the numbers of war veterans can be counted on fingers. Among the thousands of people who lost their lives in the great war who fought bravely on foreign land . Sadly , their names have been lost in the realm of obscurity, said Mahesh Kar the president of the district unit of ex-servicemen ‘s association.