Bangladesh
Martyred Intellectuals Day Nation observes Martyred Intellectuals' Day with due respect
Own Correspondent, Dhaka, 15 December 2021: The nation observed the Martyred Intellectuals' Day paying glowing tributes to the intellectuals who were brutally murdered by the Pakistani occupation forces and their local collaborators at the fag-end of the country's Liberation War in 1971.
Sensing a humiliating defeat, the retreating Pakistani occupation forcesand their local collaborators- Rajakars, Al- Badrs and Al-Shams– dragged off the frontline Bengali intellectuals and worthy professionals from their houses on December 14 and assassinated them with the intention of crippling the newborn nation intellectually.
Marking the day, on Tuesday hundreds of people from all walks of life converged at the Martyred Intellectuals' Mausoleum in Mirpur and the Rayer Bazar killing ground (Boddhobhumi) to pay their homage to the worthy sons of the soil.
The programmes of the day included raising of black flag and hoisting of the national flag half mast, placing of wreaths at the martyred intellectuals memorials and graveyards, discussions, lighting of candles in memory of the martyrs, morning marches, painting, general knowledge and hand writing competitions and milad and doa mahfils seeking eternal peace of the departed souls of the martyrs.
Deep homage was paid on behalf of President M Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to the martyred intellectuals of 1971 at Mirpur killing ground.
Earlier, national flag was hoisted half mast and black flag was raised on the campus. Later, a special munajat was offered at the central mosque of the university seeking eternal peace of the departed souls of the most enlightened sons of the soil.
The Pakistani troops and their Bengali-speaking collaborators belonging to Razakar or other auxiliary forces killed a number of intelligentsia throughout the nine-month long Liberation War.
Most of the December 14 victims were picked up from their residences blindfolded and killed between December 10 and 14 in 1971.
