President, Prime Minister pay tributes to martyred intellectuals

Dhaka (Dec 14, 2020): President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina paid rich tributes to the martyred intellectuals by placing wreaths at the Martyred Intellectuals Memorial at Mirpur this morning, marking the Martyred Intellectuals Day.

On behalf of the president, his, Military Secretary Major General SM SM Shamim-Uz-Zaman and on behalf of the premier, her Military Secretary Major General Naqib Ahmed Chowdhury placed the floral wreaths early in the morning to pay homage to the great heroes of the country.

This year, the day is being observed on a limited scale due to the fresh surge of the Covid-19 causes across the country.

Just two days ahead of the country’s final victory for independence on this day, the Pakistani occupation forces with the help of their local collaborators Razakar, Al-Badr and Al-Shams killed the most prominent intellectuals of the country in a bid to halt its emergence intellectually.  

Many illustrious sons of the soil, including professors, journalists, doctors, artistes, engineers and writers, were abducted from their respective houses and blindfolded during December 10 to 14 in 1971.

They were taken blindfolded to torture cells at Mirpur, Mohammadpur, Nakhalpara, Rajarbagh and other locations in different parts of the city.

Subsequently they were put to death en masse at different killing grounds, most notably Rayerbazar and Mirpur, in a bid to cripple the newly emerging Bangladesh intellectually.

Those who were exposed to the killers’ wrath on December 14, 1971 included Dr Alim Chowdhury and Dr Fazle Rabbi, Journalists Shahidullah Kaisar, Sirajuddin Hossain, Nizamuddin Ahmed, SA Mannan and Selina Parveen, and litterateur Munier Choudhury.

Since then, the day is being observed as the Martyred Intellectuals Day.