During the 1971 war, Savar Cantonment (then Ansar Camp) and the then-newly founded Jahangirnagar University were some of the first targets of military swoop outside the capital following Operation Searchlight of 25 March. In December of that year, Savar was the last obstacle before the freedom fighters (led by Kader Siddiqui and others) entered the capital and the Pakistan army conceded defeat. Days before the end of the war, teenager Golam Dastagirr Titu was killed in a direct encounter between the Pakistani army and the freedom fighters. The compatriots buried him near the main gate of the Central Cattle Breading & Dairy Farm, Savar. The Bangladeshi army constructed a memorial monument in his honour.