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Published : 15 Dec 2025, 07:01 PM
It was not Al-Badr and Al-Shams but people from "neighbouring country" who carried out the Dec 14 killings of intellectuals in 1971, a BNP leader in Narayanganj has claimed.
On Monday, Abu Al Eusuf Khan Tipu, member secretary of BNP’s Narayanganj Metropolitan chapter, said history would be “distorted” if a particular party was held responsible for the killings.
Addressing the Jamaat-e-Islami, the BNP leader said: “I believe that Islamic parties, whom different leftist organisations and left-leaning journalists have historically targeted, are still being targeted in their discourse, and history marks you as perpetrators of the intellectual killings.
“Why do you not correct this? Why do you not make a clear statement? You speak against Tarique Rahman and the BNP whenever you step onto a stage, but you cannot substantiate anything. Therefore, by political Islamic parties, I mean exactly whom they understand clearly.”
He made the remarks at a discussion held at the conference room of the deputy commissioner’s office on Sunday, marking the Martyred Intellectuals Day, observed across Bangladesh on Dec 14.
He said, “To present history accurately, you should make demands to the government. For future generations, in the history of Bangladesh, you will remain marked as the killers of the martyred intellectuals. Therefore, history should be written correctly, clearly recording who committed the killings.”
The BNP leader’s speech has sparked criticism and debates on social media.
On Sunday, Jamaat-e-Islami Secretary General Mia Golam Porwar claimed that the killing of intellectuals was “part of the blueprint of the Indian Army and intelligence agencies”.
He said leftist, Kolkata-based intellectuals and pro-Indian people have long been implicating Jamaat-e-Islami in the killings.
Jamaat and the National Citizen Party (NCP) were among the parties who took part in the Narayanganj discussion.
Referring to a special newspaper coverage on intellectuals’ killings that blamed Al-Badr and Al-Shams, Tipu regretted Jamaat’s lack of action in correcting the history.
“People from a neighbouring country had killed our intellectuals by targeting the war that had broken out between East Pakistan and West Pakistan,” Tipu said.
Nobody present at the discussion instantly opposed Tipu.
But NCP leader Abdullah Al Amin later said he was surprised by the speech.
Tipu on Monday defended his statement given at the discussion, saying it was his personal opinion and did not represent his party’s position on the issue.
