Day to pay homage to martyred intellectuals returns in Bangladesh

Bangladesh will again pay tribute on Saturday to the sharpest of its minds who were killed indiscriminately on Dec 14, 1971 by the Pakistani forces and their local collaborators during the Liberation War.

Sensing a crushing defeat in the war just two days before their surrender, the Pakistani occupation army and its cohorts killed many university teachers, doctors, artists, writers, journalists and other prominent Bengalis in a desperate act of vengeance.

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.

President Md Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will lead the nation to pay tribute to the martyred intellectuals by placing wreaths on the memorial at Mirpur after 7am.

Members of the martyrs’ families and the freedom fighters will also pay respect to the victims of the massacre.

The monuments will be open for all to pay homage at 8:30am. Different political parties, and social and cultural organisations, along with the people, will place floral wreaths at the monuments.

The Sector Commanders’ Forum will organise a human-chain programme outside the Martyred Intellectuals Memorial to demand international recognition of the genocide committed during the war.

Bangladesh has hanged some after trying them in the International Crimes Tribunal for their crimes against humanity during the war.

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.

In a message marking the day, Hamid said Bangladesh suffered an irreparable loss due to the killings of the intellectuals.

He called upon all to be imbued with the ideology of the martyred intellectuals and build a non-communal society based on spirit of the Liberation War.

In her message, Hasina noted that the killers of the martyred intellectuals have been brought to justice.

“Those who wanted to save the heinous war criminals will also be brought to justice one day,” she said.

She said the nation will be freed from the stigma with implementation of all verdicts of war crime cases.

The prime minister called upon the people to stand united against the “conspiracies” of the killers of 1971.

She is scheduled to speak at the Awami League’s discussion at the Krishibid Institution at 3pm.