"Make Pakistan army look strong, make Muktis look weak and defeated."
The major's instructions to Jagannath Dey was simple. On his second day of captivity at the army headquarters in Barishal city's WAPDA area, the painter was shaken to his core.
Jagannath was already a renowned painter in Barishal city by the time these events rolled around. Even in 1971, the painter was doing well, living at his family's Bazar Road residence, working at his own studio, "Abany's Painting Studio".
His father and sister were also well known as painters.
As the Pakistan army arrived on April 25, the family was looking for a way out of the city.
But their only destination was their native village in Bikrampur, which was quite impossible to reach through the heavily surveilled waterways.
"Even in these difficult times, we had to stay home. We couldn't go to Bikrampur, so we were looking for a way to reach Kolkata," the now 72-year-old told this correspondent. "We even had the date and time finalised for the journey."
On August 7, members of the occupying force suddenly came to their house and asked for the siblings' whereabouts. Fortunately, they weren't home, and the military left begrudged, but not before kicking Jagannath's father so hard that he couldn't hear for a few days
On August 12, an army vehicle stopped near the house. Soldiers came out of it and slowly approached the family's door. They started kicking it, hard. "With no way out, my father had to open the door. The soldiers came inside and started searching for something. After a while, they asked about the whereabouts of my sister."
Hearing that girls were being picked up from all around the city, his sister had been sent to live with a relative a few days ago. Failing to find her or anything incriminating, the army personnel took Jagannath to their car and started beating him up.
Soon, they were on their way to the city's WAPDA area, where the Pakistan army set up their south regional headquarters. A few other locals were picked up along the way.
"When we reached the HQ, I saw many other captives there. Some of them were terrified to death," Jagannath recalled. "I stood in front of its officers' room and awaited death. When it was evening, a Baloch soldier recognised me."
"Why are you here, my friend?" he asked in astonishment. I recognised him too. A few days ago, I had made a portrait of his father," the painter said. The soldier told him, in Urdu, that he was going to do everything in his powers to arrange for Jagannath's release.
After many days' effort, he managed to access the major assigned at the army camp and made a plea. But the major was unmoved by his words.
"The Baloch then tried a different angle," Jagannath said. "He told the major that I was a good artist. "Artist?" the major asked. His interest had piqued."
"A few days passed after this. On August 13 early morning, I heard cries and sound of gunshots emanating from the area, and I thought this was it for me," he continued.
"But then my fortune changed. August 14 was Pakistan Day, and the major ordered me to paint a gate to celebrate that day. His instructions were simple: make them look strong and freedom fighters look weak and defeated."
Reluctant, Jagannath told them he doesn't have any colours or brushes with him. But this was not a problem for the occupying army. Within minutes, a sack full of brushes, colour, and other painting gear arrived.
"While people died around me, while women screamed in pain, I was painting a pro-Pakistan painting, all for the sake of survival," he reminisced.
The first draft of the painting featured a Pakistan army tank knocking out a huge contingent of the opposition.
"But this was completely against my fantasies, which saw the Mukti Bahini beating the Pakistan army. Suddenly, I landed upon an idea. Subtly, I drew a tiny Bangladeshi flag hoisted in the middle of the battlefield, in a way that no one would notice it looking from a distance," Jagannath said.
Playing with the grass on the filed, he eventually drew a painting that showed the Pakistan army metaphorically surround by a Bangladeshi flag. "I was satisfied with my work, and the major was too full-headed to notice it. He appreciated it and went to work on the Pakistan Day celebrations."
Although Jagannath wasn't released immediately, orders on that regard arrived soon. "The soldiers called me a rickshaw. Before I boarded it, one of them slapped me twice and asked the rickshaw to take me home."
"I limped back home. But it was all worth it. My parents couldn't believe I had come back alive. All of us broke into tears in this reunion," Jagannath finished his story.
The painting is now lost to time. During the final skirmish of the Pakistani army and the freedom fighters, the premises of the HQ were badly damaged, along with the gate.
But what remains is Jagannath's enduring trauma of the events. "To this day, I cannot visit the WAPDA area. As soon as I come near it, all the wailings of the prisoners come knocking in my ears," he said.
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