Hatiya in the Liberation War

Hatiya saw direct violence during the 1971 Liberation War. On 11 May 1971, the Pakistani army raided Hatiya town, burning houses and looting property; six people were shot dead at Afazia Bazar and two more at Uskhali Bazar in the same operation, part of a wider campaign of terror across occupied Noakhali.

Local Mukti Bahini fighters did not stay passive: on 14 August 1971 they attacked the Hatiya police station, and in the operation roughly 120 razakars (collaborator militia) and hostile police personnel surrendered — a significant local victory months before the war ended on 16 December 1971. As with much of coastal Bangladesh, the full record of Hatiya's freedom fighters and the events of those nine months is still being pieced together from local and family accounts.