Martyred Intellectuals Day: When the Pakistan Army, sensing imminent defeat in 1971 war, massacred… – News9 LIVE

14 Dec 2022 12:43 PM GMT
Martyred intellectuals’ memorial plaque in Rajshahi University. (Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
New Delhi: Bangladesh is observing Martyred Intellectuals Day today, December 14, to honour the intellectuals brutally killed by the Pakistani occupation forces and their local collaborators in 1971. Every year, Martyred Intellectuals Day (Shaheed Buddhijibi Dibosh) is observed on December 14 in Bangladesh. It commemorates those intellectuals who were killed by Pakistani forces and their collaborators during the Bangladesh Liberation War, also known as Muktijuddho, particularly on March 25, and December 14, 1971. The Pakistani forces, sensing imminent defeat, and with the aim of annihilating the intellectual consciousness of East Pakistan (later Bangladesh), began to kill at will.
On December 14, 1971, many of the country’s renowned academicians, doctors, engineers, journalists, artists and teachers were dragged out of their homes across the country, blindfolded and taken to unknown places. They were brutally tortured and killed.
In 1971, East Pakistan raised its voice against West Pakistan and began to demand freedom based on language and culture. It led to the beginning of the Bangladesh Liberation War on March 26, 1971. India, in the later stages, became involved in the war, and the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 took place. Pakistan was defeated on December 16, 1971, and it led to the birth of a new nation, Bangladesh.
On December 14, the Pakistani forces and their local collaborators, namely the Shanti committee, Razakars, Al-Badr and Al-Shams, could see the writing on the wall. They could sniff imminent defeat in the air, and thus, decided to conduct one last heinous act in act. They abducted and killed front-line Bengali intellectuals and professionals in order to cripple the new nation intellectually. Renowned academics, teachers, intellectuals, doctors, engineers, journalists, and other eminent personalities were dragged out of their houses, blindfolded, and killed. Their bodies were dumped in Rayerbazar, Mirpur, and other killing grounds in Dhaka just two days ahead of the final victory of the war.
The war between Pakistan and Bangladesh went on for nine months, and the Pakistani Army, helped by local collaborators, executed an estimated 991 teachers, 13 journalists, 49 physicians, 42 lawyers, and 16 writers, artists and engineers.
The war officially ended on December 16 but is said that Pakistan soldiers or their collaborators or both carried out several murders. In one such incident, notable filmmaker Jahir Raihan was killed on January 30, 1972, in Mirpur.
Some of the prominent intellectuals who were killed are Prof Munier Chowdhury, Dr Alim Chowdhury, Prof Muniruzzaman, Dr Fazle Rabbi, Sirajuddin Hossain, Shahidullah Kaiser, Prof GC Dev, JC Guhathakurta, Prof Santosh Bhattacharya, Mofazzal Haider Chowdhury, journalists Khandaker Abu Taleb, Nizamuddin Ahmed, SA Mannan (LaduBhai), ANM Golam Mustafa, Syed Nazmul Haq, Selina Parvin and Humayun Kabir.

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