Nation recalls illustrious sons and daughters

Bangladesh is observing Martyred Intellectuals Day today (Wednesday) to honour the intellectuals brutally killed by the Pakistani occupation forces and their local collaborators in 1971.

As part of it, President M Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina paid tributes to the martyred intellectuals in the morning.

The president and then the prime minister placed wreaths at the Martyred Intellectuals Memorial at Mirpur in the capital.

They stood there in solemn silence for a while as a mark of profound respect to the memories of the illustrious sons and daughters of the soil.

The government has chalked out elaborate programmes to commemorate the 14 December tragedy.

Apart from the family members of the martyred and freedom fighters, the general people also placed wreaths at Martyred Intellectuals Memorial in the morning.

To mark the day, various cultural organisations have arranged several cultural programmes and paid floral tributes to the brightest minds killed by the Pakistani forces and their collaborators during the Liberation War.

Bangladesh Television and private television channels are also airing special programmes highlighting the significance of the day.

On 14 December, 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.

Among the martyred intellectuals were professor Munier Chowdhury, Alim Chowdhury, professor Muniruzzaman, Fazle Rabbi, journalist Sirajuddin Hossain, Shahidullah Kaiser, professor GC Dev, JC Guhathakurta, professor Santosh Bhattacharya, Mofazzal Haider Chowdhury, journalists Khandaker Abu Taleb, Nizamuddin Ahmed, SA Mannan (LaduBhai), ANM Golam Mustafa, Syed Nazmul Haq and Selina Parvin.