We are proud of the martyred intellectuals of 1971. We, the citizens of Bangladesh, love Bangladesh very much. This independent country of ours did not come by chance, we got Bangladesh after 9 long months of the war. Intellectuals are among the many important personalities we have lost in our country during this war. Let us leave the great intellectuals with the children of this generation and introduce them to who they are.
If first called what is an intellectual? What is their job? The answer, however, is that an intellectual is a person who engages in complex thinking, research, and influence on society, proposes solutions to problems, and gains recognition as a popular figure. These problems can be social, cultural, or political. They solve all these problems through their creativity. Intellectuals are the moral thinking of their time. So their moral duty is to observe the social and political situation, and to speak freely to their respective societies according to their consciousness.
Now, why were they killed in 1971? The answer is that the Pakistani forces did this to weaken the West Pakistanis and make them helpless. At the end of the War of Independence in December 1971, when the Pakistani forces realized that it was not possible for them to win the war, they killed intellectuals to weaken and cripple the newly formed country culturally, socially, and educationally.
Towards the end of the war, the invading forces realized that their rate was certain, then on 14 December they started killing intellectuals. Educationist-991, John, Journalist-13 Physician-49, Lawyer-42.
The War Crimes Facts Finding Committee has been working tirelessly since December 14, 1990 to find a slaughterhouse in Bangladesh during the War of Independence. A total of 942 slaughterhouses have been identified across Bangladesh. In most of the districts, the slaughterhouses of the liberation war are either in the areas covered by railways or roads and highways.
The whole plane that killed this intellectual was Major General Rao Farman Ali. The notorious Al-Badr forces, formed by the Jamaat-e-Islami, were behind his co-operation in the preparation of the list and the execution of the killings. After December, a personal diary of Ashrafuzzaman Khan was recovered from his house in Nakhalpara, with two pages containing the names of about 20 intellectuals and their quarter numbers at the university. According to the testimony of Mofizuddin, the driver of his car, the mutilated bodies of several intellectuals whom he shot with his own hands were found at Beel in Rayer Bazar and Shialbari in Mirpur. The main killers in Chittagong were Fazlul Quader Chowdhury and his two sons Salauddin Quader Chowdhury and Gias Quader Chowdhury.
How they were killed:
On the night of December 14, 1971, 200 East Pakistani intellectuals, including professors, journalists, doctors, artists, engineers, and writers, were gathered in Dhaka. Torture cells were taken blindfolded in Mirpur, Mohammadpur, Nakhalpara, Rajarbagh, and other parts of the city. They were later publicly executed between Rayerbazar and Mirpur.
Martyred intellectual memorial
The Ministry of Housing and Public Works and the Bangladesh Architects Institute jointly organized a national architectural competition for the design of the “Baddhabhoomi Memorial”. Where the body is found in the memorial Rayer original brick 17.68 cm thick, 0.91 m high, and 11582 m long curved brick wall. Wall itself, demonstrating the depth of sorrow and sadness, the side of which is broken.
How did we get this Martyred Intellectuals Day?
he first Prime Minister of Bangladesh Tajuddin Ahmed declared this day as ‘Martyred Intellectuals Day’. We will always have respect for these intellectuals. We will respect our language.
