Martyred Intellectuals Day today:Daily Sun

Martyred Intellectuals’ Memorialsun photo The nation mourns the irreparable loss of its brains on Martyred Intellectuals Day today, commemorating the brutal and heinous killings of the best and brightest sons of the soil. The day will be observed with high hope that the country will be freed from the stigma by executing the verdicts against the killers of the intellectuals. On this day on December
14 in 1971, Pakistan forces and their local collaborators perpetrated the heinous killing just two days before the nation saw the sun of much-awaited independence after a nine-month war. The last year’s Martyred Intellectuals Day was special for the nation as it witnessed the hanging of war criminal Quader Mollah under a court verdict that awarded him death penalty for committing crimes against humanity during the country’s liberation war in 1971. Sensing their immediate defeat as the war was drawing to a close, Pakistani forces and their local collaborators —- Razakar, Al-Badr and Al-Shams —-drew up a plan to annihilate the intelligentsia to cripple the emerging nation. They picked up educationists, writers, journalists, physicians and cultural activists from their houses on December 14, 1971, took them blind-folded to the killing grounds and killed them in one of the history’s most infamous intellectual pogroms. On the eve of the day, President Abdul Hamid, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Leader of the Opposition Raushan Ershad issued separate messages paying rich tributes to the martyred intellectuals and recalling their contribution in earning independence of the country. The martyred intellectuals include , whose bodies could be identified, are Munier Chowdhury, Dr Alim Chowdhury, Muniruzzaman, Dr Fazle Rabbi, Sirajuddin Hossain, Shahidullah Kaiser, Gobinda Chandra Dev, Jyotirmoy Guha Thakurta, Santosh Bhattacharya, Mofazzal Haider Chowdhury, Khandaker Abu Taleb, Nizamuddin Ahmed, SA Mannan (Ladu Bhai), ANM Golam Mustafa, Syed Nazmul Haq and Selina Parvin. In his message, President Abdul Hamid paid profound respect to the best sons of the country. He called upon the people of the country to come forward to build a knowledge-based happy and prosperous country being imbubed with the spirit of liberation war. The President said the intellectuals of the country had worked as the conscience of the nation in advancing the liberation war towards the successful end. But it is unfortunate for the nation that the Pak forces had brutally killed the intellectuals, including academics, physicians, litterateurs, journalists, artists and other professionals at the peak hours of the victory, he added. “The main target of the occupation forces and their collaborators was to make the nation intellectually crippled,” the President added. Paying a respect to the best sons of the soil, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina her message said, ‘Martyred Intellectuals’ Day’ is a painful event in the history of the liberation struggle of the Bangalee nation. She said when the country was nearing final victory under the leadership of the greatest Bangalee of all time, Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the greatest sons were killed on December 14 by Pak occupation forces and their local auxiliary forces Razakars, Al-Badars and Al-Shams. “The anti-liberation forces wanted to deprive the nation of its best intellectual wealth by killing them. The nation lost its best sons in the massacre perpetrated by them,” she added. Prof. Mofazzal Haidar Chowdhury, Prof. Munir Chowdhury, Prof. Anwar Pasha, Prof. Shahidullah Kaisar, Prof. Gias Uddin, Dr. Fazle Rabbi, Abdul Alim Chowdhury, Siraj Uddin Hossain, Selina Parveen and Dr. Jyotirmoy Guha Thakurata were among those who were killed by Pak occupation forces and their collaborators. She said, “I pay deep respect to their memory and express profound sympathy to the bereaved members of their families.” The premier also said the anti-liberation forces killed Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and most of his family members on August 15 in 1975. They introduced fundamentalism and communalism in the country, she said, adding that they ruled the country from 2001 to 2006. “We have brought the war criminals and the killers of the martyred intellectuals under trial and court has already started delivering verdict on the war criminals and the verdicts must be executed,” she said. Those who have tried to save the infamous killers will be brought to book someday, she said, adding that the souls of the martyred intellectuals will get peace if the killers are punished. The premier called upon the people to come forward to thwart conspiracies of the anti-liberation forces and build “Sonar Bangla” as dreamt by Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Newspapers will publish special supplements while radio and television channels will air special programmes marking the day. The day’s programmes will begin with the hoisting of the national flag at half-mast and black flags atop public and private buildings in the morning. Alongside the official programmes, different political and socio-cultural organisations will observe the day in a befitting manner. The programmes include placing wreaths at Martyred Intellectuals Memorial at Mirpur and Rayer Bazar Martyred Intellectuals Graveyard, discussion, human chain and cultural programmes. The ruling party will hoist half-mast the national and black flag at its offices across the country. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will place wreaths at Martyred Intellectuals Memorial at Mirpur and at the portrait of Bangabandhu at Bangabndhu Bhaban at 8:10am and 8:40am respectively. She will also address a discussion at Agricultural Institution auditorium in the capital at 3:00pm on the occasion.