Hili: 1971 war town echoes with fresh pain after Pahalgam terror attack

Hili: Just 24 kilometres from Balurghat, the quiet border town of Hili in South Dinajpur still bears the scars of the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War. Once a crucial corridor in the fight for Bangladesh’s Independence, Hili witnessed fierce gunfights, refugee trails and immense human suffering.

Now, over five decades later, those memories have resurfaced with the tragic killing of 26 Indian civilians in Kashmir, allegedly at the hands of Pakistan-backed militants. For Hili’s residents, the incident is more than a news item — it reopens an old wound.

“We know what war feels like. We don’t want it again,” said Kanchan Mallick, 72, a retired primary school teacher who carried wounded refugees on his shoulders as an 18-year-old. “How many more innocent lives will be taken before terrorism ends?”

Mallick recalls hiding in paddy fields during shelling, struggling through food shortages, and watching civilians suffer. “Protest is necessary, but war brings only destruction. We’ve lived through it,” he said.

At a small tea stall near the Hili border outpost, locals still gather daily — not just for tea but to share stories of war: of sheltering strangers, feeding orphaned children and finding corpses in the fields.

Hasan Ali, 84, a retired factory worker from Hili’s Ujal area, was among those who fled during the war. “We saw Pakistani soldiers kill children by smashing them to the ground. The entire town was deserted. We walked miles to Balurghat or Kamarpara to survive,” he said. “When we returned a month later, there were only ruins. We don’t want those memories to return.”

Yet when militants kill innocent tourists in Kashmir, emotions run high. “Let there be a strong response — and there is one,” Ali said, referring to India’s recently launched Operation Sindoor. “The government is taking down terror camps. That’s the way — not open war but a firm hand. Pakistan should have done it themselves if they were serious.”

For the people of Hili, the demand is not vengeance but justice. “Every innocent life lost to terrorism should be answered for,” said Amulya Ratan Biswas, a local businessman whose family donated land for Hili College. “We want accountability.”

As memories of war collide with present-day violence, old wounds bleed anew. But amidst the pain, a quiet voice rises — not crying for war, but for justice.

“We have forgiven, but not forgotten,” said Shyamal Karmakar, a resident of Hili, his eyes brimming with tears. “We wouldn’t want another full scale war. But we won’t stop asking for justice.”