The nation is observing the Martyred Intellectuals Day today to recall the intellectuals killed systematically by Pakistan occupation forces and their local collaborators at the very last time of the Liberation War in 1971.
All walks of people have poured in to pay tribute to the martyred intellectuals at the Mirpur Martyred Intellectuals Memorial in the capital in the early hours of Saturday (14 December).
On this day in 1971, the country’s renowned academicians, doctors, engineers, journalists, artists, teachers and other eminent personalities were brutally tortured and murdered to annihilate the country's intelligentsia and cripple emerging Bangladesh intellectually.
At first, they were dragged out of their homes, blindfolded and taken to unknown places to kill them .
Their bodies were later found at Rayerbazar, Mirpur and some other killing fields in the capital.
Aware of an impending defeat, Pakistani forces and its local allies, including Al-Badr, Al-Shams, and Razakar, carried out the ruthless mass killings with the intention of wiping out the nation's intelligentsia.
Among the martyred intellectuals are Prof Munier Chowdhury, Dr Alim Chowdhury, Prof Muniruzzaman, Dr Fazle Rabbi, Sirajuddin Hossain, Shahidullah Kaiser, Prof GC Dev, JC Guha Thakurta, Prof Santosh Bhattacharya, Mofazzal Haider Chowdhury, journalists Khandaker Abu Taleb, Nizamuddin Ahmed, SA Mannan (Ladu Bhai), ANM Golam Mustafa, Syed Nazmul Haq and Selina Parvin.
