Chitalia village, located about eight kilometres from Pirojpur Sadar, witnessed a somber and tense midnight burial on Saturday as relatives laid freedom fighter Manik Pashari to rest in the family graveyard. The burial took place under the watchful presence of police personnel amid an atmosphere of fear and panic that had gripped the area following disputes over a guard of honour and his status as a witness in the Sayedee case.
When a correspondent visited the ancestral home of Manik Pashari in Pirojpur Sadar upazila, the premises were entirely deserted, with an eerie silence hanging over the neighbourhood. Nearby resides his 48-year-old sister, Hena, who initially hesitated to speak about the tragic events surrounding her brother's demise. Overcome by grief, she eventually recounted the harrowing threats directed at the family. She revealed that they were warned the body would be burned or withheld, family members would be barred from entering their own home, and children in the area would be terrorised and restricted from going outside.
According to family accounts, Manik Pashari had been staying at his son-in-law’s residence in Tungipara, Gopalganj, since August 5 of the previous year. After battling illness for two months, he passed away around 10:00 am on Saturday. The situation in Pirojpur escalated rapidly when arrangements were being made for his return and subsequent burial, drawing severe tension from certain local factions due to his past involvement as a witness in a high-profile legal case.
Further down the lane, the home of Pashari’s other sister, 60-year-old Rina, reflected the same deep-seated fear. She recalled that the situation deteriorated to such an alarming extent that she was too terrified to step outside her house for fear of her life and safety. The family's inability to accord a peaceful, public farewell to a veteran who fought for the country’s independence has highlighted underlying community fractures and tensions.
While law enforcement personnel were deployed to maintain order during the unusual midnight interment, the psychological toll on the surviving relatives remains immense. The incident has drawn widespread attention to the fragile security dynamics and the plight of families facing hostility over historical political sensitivities, leaving the local community in a state of uneasy quiet.
