youths. 100% of them undergone training in guerrilla warfare through various training establishments of India. It was indeed a war of whole Nation. So we found people in Gono Bahini from all walks of life.
4 Sector was mostly composed of Sector troops. It has mostly Ex-EPR personnels, and regular Army personnels from all arms and services. Ansars, Mujahid and a very few number of Police personnel. The Sector had 6 Sub-Sectors. To start with Major Chitta Ranjan Datta (now Colonel) and myself (the Capt. A. Rab) were only two Officers in the Sector. Later on in the month of June, Capt. Haque (now Major), FLt/Lt Qader and Capt. Anam (now Major) joined us.
Pak army started butchering in Sylhet since 26 March '71. There was only one battalion of Punjab Regiment (31 Punjab in Sylhet. The battalion was scattered in whole of district during the time of crack down but immediately after it they closed up to Sylhet town itself. In the first week of April we surrounded the Sylhet town from east, south and west. One company of Bengal Regiment under the command of Capt Aziz was there covering the Surma bridge in the south. About a company strength of EPR entered the town from the east. First week of April was a most critical time far Pak troops in Sylhet. If we had strength at that time then Sylhet town could have been captured very easily on 5th or 6th April '71. Enemy re-enforcement started pouring in by C-130 plane from 6th April onward.
By 8th April enemy brought about one battalion troops form Dacca and started advancing towards the outside of the town. EPR who were in the town could not stand on their way. Bengal Regiment Company resisted there on the Surma bridge for sometime and fought very bravely. During the last week of April we gave a very hard fight in Sherpur on Sylhet. -Moulvi Bazar Road. In the east one Border Security Force battalion along with our Mukti Bahini took a very strong defensive position in area Golapgonj on Sylhet Sutarkandi Road. This defence we lost to the enemy in the second half of April '71.
The flow of refugee started pouring in across the border with the increase of inhuman torture inside. The brutal Pak Forces played havoc in those areas from where Mukti Bahini gave them resistance. The reign of terror was prevailing everywhere in Sylhet. Everyday thousands of people began to cross over India from all possible vantage points. Host country India was out with all their resources to face that great influx of Refugees everyday. Over-night they constructed camps and established Refugee Reception centres. By the end of July '71 they accommodated only in Kachar District more than two lakh refugees with newly constructed huts. But still the miseries of refugees everywhere knew no bounds.
Soon after the resistance battles inside troops got so scattered that it took quite sometime to collect them. After the fall of Golapganj defence our troops fell back and finally took defence in Baragram BOP and Sutarkandi Check Post. Our strength was at that time hardly a company, consisting of Army persons, EPR and others. Luckily every body had a rifle with them plus few Light Machine Guns, 2" Mortars and one Medium Machine Gun Chinese.
