Both the president and the prime minister have placed wreaths at the altar of the memorial and stood there in solemn silence for a while.
A team of the armed forces offered armed salute as the bugle played a sombre tune.
The Awami League led by the prime minister then paid their homage to the martyred intellectuals.
Different political parties, social and cultural organisations and peoples from all walks of life paid their homage to the martyrs at the Rayer Bazar Monument on Friday morning.
Members of the martyrs’ families and the freedom fighters will also pay respect to the victims of the massacre.
They were systematically rounded up from their homes in the middle of the night, taken to torture cells throughout the city, brutalised for hours, and finally assembled on various killing fields and executed en masse.
The bodies of the slain intellectuals were found with marks of tortures in the capital’s Mirpur and Rayer Bazar where the monuments have been built to immortalise them.
This year, the observation of the Martyred Intellectuals Day assumes a special significance as Bangladesh is celebrating the birth centenary of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and set to celebrate the golden jubilee of independence.
The state-run Bangladesh Television, Bangladesh Betar and other private TV channels will broadcast special programmes commemorating the day. Discussions will also be organised along with cultural events.