মুক্তিযুদ্ধের স্থানীয় ইতিহাস: প্রসঙ্গ মহম্মদপুর
ড. সৈয়দ হাদিউজ্জামান
সহযোগী অধ্যাপক, ইসলামের ইতিহাস ও সংস্কৃতি বিভাগ, জাতীয় বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়

Abstract:  The Liberation War of Bangladesh is the most glorious chapter of the history of the Bengali nation. This war was the final result of long twenty-three years of exploitation and extortion by West Pakistan. In the War of Liberation, the whole geographical area of East Pakistan was strategically divided into eleven sectors with a sector commander for each of them. For better efficiency in military operations, each of the sectors were divided into a number of sub-sectors under a commander. Sector commanders and sub-sector commanders were specially supported by the commanders of local forces and their subordinate freedom fighters. After Bangabandhu’s historic address on 7 March, some patriotic young people of Muhammadpur in Magura joined the war immediately. Students, peasants, workers and political activists joined the movement with high spirit to liberate Bangladesh from the Pakistan army. Along with Mukti Bahini, some local forces such as Yaqub Bahini, Jamai Bahini, Jalal Bahini etc. were formed by individual efforts. These local forces stayed in their respective areas from the very beginning of the war to the end and made all efforts against the Pakistani forces and their local allies. They played a significant role in the war of Nohata, Binodpur, Joyrampur, Muhammadpur etc. But the contribution of these local forces has not been placed properly in the history of the liberation war even though they were the vital forces of battles in the field. The present paper is a humble attempt to highlight the contribution of local forces of Muhammadpur in the district of Magura in the Liberation War of Bangladesh.

Key Words: Muhammadpur, Local force, Liberation war, Local war.