Archive · 9 Oct 2026
A Boy’s Journalist Father Goes Missing During the 1971 War
Dhiman is a boy living with his parents in Calcutta in 1971.
His father, Bijoy, works as a newspaper reporter.
One evening, Bijoy says he will travel with another reporter after the Border Security Forces invite members of the press.
The journalists are not told where they will go.
Bijoy leaves early the next morning and comes home late at night.
He tells Dhiman and his mother that he has been to East Pakistan, where a war is taking place.
The passage explains that the conflict began after Pakistan’s leaders did not hand over power following an election.
It also describes the army’s crackdown, called Operation Searchlight.
The excerpt does not say that Bijoy disappears; it ends with him returning home.
On April 16, 1971, Dhiman is at home in a rented flat in Calcutta with his mother, Priti.
His father, Bijoy Lahiri, a junior reporter, says he will travel with senior correspondent Ujjal after an invitation from the Border Security Forces.
The journalists are told to meet at the Calcutta Press Club and prepare to be taken to an undisclosed location.
Bijoy leaves before dawn and returns near midnight, telling his family he has been to East Pakistan.
The excerpt describes the conflict following the Pakistan government’s refusal to transfer power after the 1970 election and the army’s Operation Searchlight.
- Who
- Dhiman, his mother Priti, and his father Bijoy Lahiri, a junior reporter.
- What
- Bijoy travels with senior correspondent Ujjal to East Pakistan and returns to tell his family about the trip.
- When
- April 16, 1971; Bijoy leaves before dawn the following morning and returns near midnight.
- Where
- The family’s rented flat in Entally, central Calcutta; Bijoy says he has been to East Pakistan.
- Why
- The Border Security Forces invited members of the press to travel to an undisclosed location; Bijoy hoped the experience might help him advance at work.
- Date
- April 16, 1971
- Family home
- A rented two-bedroom flat in Entally, central Calcutta
- Dhiman’s father
- Bijoy Lahiri, a junior reporter at Amrita Bazar Patrika
- Senior correspondent
- Ujjal, who invited Bijoy to accompany him
- Invitation
- The Border Security Forces invited the national press corps to the Calcutta Press Club
- Destination
- Not disclosed to the journalists in advance; Bijoy later says he went to East Pakistan
- Conflict described
- The Bangladesh Liberation War, following the Pakistan army’s Operation Searchlight