POBNEWS24, Dhaka, Dec 14, 2021 : Today, December 14 is the day of martyred intellectuals. On this day in 1971, the occupying Pakistani invaders and his accomplice Razakar Al-Badr, Al-Shams conspired to assassinate the best child intellectuals of Bengal.
Exactly two days after the assassination of the intellectuals, on 16 December, the barbaric Pakistani forces led by General Niazi surrendered and Bangladesh emerged as an independent country.
On the occasion of the day, a wreath will be laid at Mirpur Shaheed Buddhijibi Memorial at 8:05 am. Led by the Minister for Liberation War Affairs, the family members of the martyred intellectuals and the war wounded and present heroic freedom fighters will lay wreaths at the Buddhijibi Memorial at 8:22 am and at the Rayerbazar Massacre Memorial at 8:30 am. People from all walks of life will lay wreaths at the Intellectual Memorial from 8.30 am. Discussion meetings will be held at all district and upazila level of the country. Bangladesh Betar, Bangladesh Television and other private TV channels will broadcast special programs highlighting the significance of the day.
The Awami League’s program includes hoisting black flags at the party’s central office, Bangabandhu Bhaban and offices of organizations across the country as soon as the sun rises and hoisting national and party flags at half-mast. Wreath-laying at Mirpur Shaheed Buddhijibi Memorial at 8 am. Tribute was paid to the portrait of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at Bangabandhu Bhaban at 7.30 am and at Rayer Bazar Massacre at 9 am.
The selective killing of intellectuals among the three million martyrs in 1971 carries special significance. They were martyred as part of a far-reaching plan. Knowing that their defeat was imminent, the invading Pakistani forces planned to kill the intellectuals in order to make the Bengali nation incompetent.
Basanti Guhathakurta, wife of Shaheed Jyotirmoy Guhathakurta, a teacher at Dhaka University, wrote in one of her books: In 1971, they planned a war. Not war, only killing unarmed people. First they were killed at random, then in the city, in the villages, the rich, the businessmen, the intellectuals were killed and thrown into the river.
Many think that the ultimate catastrophe is imminent, the defeat is imminent – that’s when they implement the plan. Listed intellectuals were blindfolded and killed. This is how they tried to darken the future of independent Bangladesh.
The verdicts of many people involved in the killing of those war criminals and intellectuals in 1971 have been executed. Many have been sentenced to death for crimes against humanity. Jamaat’s Assistant Secretary General Abdul Quader Mollah has been executed in a case of murder against humanity. Another Jamaat leader said. Kamaruzzaman and Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid, one of the masterminds of the intellectual assassination, have been executed.
On 11 May 2016, Matiur Rahman Nizami, the leader of the Al-Badr forces and the Amir of Jamaat, who carried out the blueprint for the assassination of intellectuals during the war of liberation, was executed. However, the trial of Chowdhury Moinuddin and Ashrafuzzaman Khan, who were directly involved in the killing of intellectuals, could not be carried out as they were absconding. Chowdhury Moinuddin is a fugitive from the United Kingdom and Ashrafuzzaman Khan is a fugitive from the United States. They were sentenced to death on November 3, 2013 by the International Criminal Tribunal-2.
During the War of Liberation, with the help of Al-Badr, a native of Pakistan, prominent people of different professions including teachers, journalists, doctors and cultural activists were abducted from the campus of Dhaka University and from different places. They were later tortured to death in Rayerbazar and Mirpur. These two places are now reserved as slaughterhouses.
In the last days of the War of Liberation, between 10 and 14 December, al-Badr forces captured many more intellectuals, tortured them at the Al-Badr base at the Mohammadpur Physical Training Institute, and killed them at the Rayerbazar Massacre and Mirpur Cemetery.
Among the martyred intellectuals are, Professor Munir Chowdhury, Dr. Alim Chowdhury, Professor Muniruzzaman, Dr. Fazle Rabbi, Siraj Uddin Hossain, Shahidullah Kaiser, Professor GC Dev, Jyotirmoy Guha Thakurata, Professor Santosh Bhattacharya, Mofazzal Haider Chowdhury, Professor Gias Uddin, Professor Anwar Pasha, Professor Rashidul Hasan, Dr. Abul Khair, Dr. Murtaza, journalist Khandaker Abu Taher, Nizamuddin Ahmed, SA Mannan (Ladu Bhai), ANM Golam Mostafa, Syed Nazmul Haque, Selina Parveen and many more.
President on the occasion of the day. Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina have given separate messages expressing deep respect to the intellectuals.
