14 December, Martyred Intellectuals Day

December 14 is Martyred Intellectuals Day. This is a day of deep sorrow in the life of the Bengali nation. At the end of the Great War of Independence in 1971, the Pakistani aggressors were forced to surrender in different parts of the country.

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Once the Pakistanis realize their inevitable defeat, they plan to cripple Bangladesh forever. They conspired to kill the best children in Bangladesh. They captured and brutally killed talented people of different classes and professions.

14 December Martyred Intellectuals Day

Allies of the Pakistanis are Razakars, Al-Badr, Al-Shams forces, Prepares a list of our intellectuals. They then handed over the list to the Pakistani army. The Pakistani army and its allies then searched for the intellectuals and took them away from their homes. Then they took the intellectuals to different places and killed them ruthlessly. Some intellectuals and their family members were killed at home.

Pakistan and its allies could not accept that Bangladesh, as an independent-sovereign state, would stand tall in the world assembly. That is why they wanted to list the best children of the Bengalis and kill them, to make the new state empty of talent.

Under the leadership of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the undisputed leader of the Bengalis and father of the nation, the Bengali nation was revived with the mantra of independence through political and cultural awakening. The independence of Bangladesh was achieved through 9 months of bloody liberation war in the course of many sacrifices and long struggles.

Poets, writers, journalists, teachers, engineers, doctors, painters, musicians, filmmakers and other intellectuals of this country have made immense contribution in every field of freedom struggle. The role of the leaders and workers of the Awami League under the leadership of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as well as the intellectuals of this country was also important for awakening the unarmed Bengalis in the spirit of liberation war.

শহীদ গোবিন্দ চন্দ্র দেব [ Govinda Chandra Dev [ G. C. Dev ] ]

But they could not finish us off by killing our best children. Rather we are enlivened by the great memory of their sacrifice. We are committed to repaying their debts by building a unique country and nation.

On this day, we respectfully remember every martyred intellectual. I express my gratitude to them.

#Shaheed_buddhijibi_dibas
# 14 December

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14 December, the Martyred Intellectuals’ day. The day we lost the best children of the soil. The most grieved day of the Bangali nation. On this day in 1971, when the final victory of the War of Liberation was sure to happen, at that very moment the attacking Pakistani forces and their collaborators – the Razakars, Al Badr, Al-Shams forces abducted the best and most talented intellectuals of the nation – all the academics, researchers, physicians, engineers, journalists, poets and writers were kidnapped, blindfolded in the dark of night and then were killed brutally.

Martyred intellectual Serajuddin Hossain [ শহীদ বুদ্ধিজীবী সিরাজুদ্দীন হোসেন ]

The anti-liberation forces realized that their defeat is inescapable. If these best intelligentsias of the soil are left alive, they won’t be able to survive in this country. The country will turn into prosperity and glory from the ruins of the war. So, they master-planned this conspiracy to make the nation talentless and crippled, by killing the most intelligent personals in the most heinous way possible.

This massacre of 14th December 1971 was the heinous most barbaric one, which had stunned the peace-loving people all around the world. The Pakistani forces and their local collaborators left the dead bodies of those intellectuals at many places of Dhaka including Mirpur, Rayer Bazar etc after killing them brutally.

Right after achieving the victory on 16th December 1971, the close relatives of the martyred intellectuals discovered the melted and mishandled bodies at the Mirpur and Rayer Bazar graveyard. The dead bodies carried signs of torture. They were blindfolded and their hands were tied at the back. Some of them had more than one bullet shot. Some were killed with sharp weapons. Most of the bodies were too distorted that the relatives failed to recognize their beloved ones.

Martyred intellectual Shahidullah Kaiser [ শহীদ বুদ্ধিজীবী শহীদুল্লা কায়সার ]

From the nationally published Martyred Intellectuals Day collection on 1972, news published on various publications and from the write up of international journalist Nicholas Tomalin at the international news magazine “News Week”, the number of martyred intellectuals totalled at 1070.

During the post-liberation war, the report of the Investigation Committee for the intellectuals formed on 29th December of 1971 said, Rao Forman Ali had planned to kill 20,000 intellectuals of the country. But the massacre was not possible to be carried out according to that master plan. Because the plan of Rao Forman Ali was to kill the intellectuals by inviting them all to the government house.

Chief of that Intellectual Investigation Committee Johir Rayhan said they have sorted out all the democratic-minded intellectuals and attacked them flawlessly.

Convener to that commission was the filmmaker Johir Rayhan, who himself had been missing since 30th January 1972.

The first Prime Minister to the temporary government to Bangladesh Tazuddin Ahmed decided to create an investigation commission on 31st December 1971. But his decision was not carried out later.

Martyred intellectual Anwar Pasha [ শহীদ বুদ্ধিজীবী আনোয়ার পাশা ]

According to a document published by the Intellectuals’ Massacre Investigation Commission, the culprits who were active in this heinous act were Brigadier Raza, Brigadier Aslam, Captain Tareq, Colonel Taz, Colonel Taher of Pakistan Army and VC Professor Syed Sajjad Hossain, Dr. Mohor Ali, ABM Khalek Mojumder, Ashrafuzzaman Chowdhury and Moinuddin of Al Badr. All of them were led by Major General Rao Forman Ali.

A description of the list of killed by the local collaborators to the attacking forces, the Al Badr, from among the best intellectuals of this land was found from the case filed at Ramna Police Station from the statement of Farida Banu. She mentioned in the statement of the case that, his brother Giasuddin Ahmed was the senior lecturer of the department of history at Dhaka University and was the house tutor to Mosin Hall.

On 14th December the killers searched for him at his residence adjacent to the hall and then to the hall. They found him in front of the hall. They folded his eyes with the hand wiper of the guard of the hall, Abdur Rahman. Afterwards, they took him by a microbus of EPRTC. He never came back.

Killers have gone to the other house tutors too. At that period the ex-Director General of Bangla Academy was a student of that hall. He witnessed the whole incident. Later they came to know, other than Giasuddin Ahmed from among the teachers of Dhaka University, the Al Badr took Dr. Mohammad Murtoza, Dr. Abul Khayer, Professor Rashidul Hasan, Professor Anwar Pasha, Professor Sirajul Haque and Dr. Santosh Bhattacharya and many others.

Son of the martyred intellectual Professor Sirajul Haque, Enamul Haque identified two of the abductors. They were Chowdhury Moinuddin and Ashrafuzzaman. Both of them were then students of the university. Among them, Ashrafuzzaman was working as a journalist at the Observer. After the country is liberated, Farida Banu left the residence at the university and took a rented apartment at Azimpur.

On 4th January 1972, she with her relatives found the melted corpses of many intellectuals including Dr. Murtoza, Dr. Abul Khayer and Dr. Santosh Bhattyacharya.

On 5th January, she found her brother, Giasuddin Ahmed’s melted dead body near the current Martyred Intellectuals’ Monument. She recognized him by the lungi and the clothing he was wearing. The alleged criminals under the intellectuals massacre case, Chowdhury Moinuddin is living in London and Ashrafuzzaman in New York.

Every year the nation observes this day with congruous honor and respect commemorating the intellectuals. This year too, govt has taken many programs in the schedule to observe this day. And various political, social and cultural organizations also have taken different programs.

Plan of Massacre [ Martyred Intellectuals Day ] :

Major General Rao Forman Ali was the mastermind behind the plan for cleansing the intellectuals on behalf of Pakistan forces. Initially, they wanted to kill all the intellectuals on the single operation of ‘Operation Searchlight’, on the dark killing night of 25th March. The Pakistan armies were looking for the intellectuals and were killing them during the operation. Many of the teachers of Dhaka University were killed on the night of 25th March. But, the greater part of the planned killing took place just a few days before the war ended.

During the war, the Pakistan army and their trained semi-militant force the Al Badr and Al Shams had created a list, where they included all the freedom-loving intellectuals. It is assumed that Major General Rao Forman Ali was the mastermind behind this cleansing. Because after the independence, his own handwritten diary was discovered from the ruins of Bangabhaban, where a list of many killed and living intellectuals were found. Besides, the information secretary during Ayub’s regime, Altaf Gowhor told in an interview that, in the list of intellectuals the name of his own friend poet Sanaul Haque was present too.

At the request of Altaf Gowhor, Rao Forman Ali deleted the name of Sanaul Haque from amongst the list in the diary. Also, a note on his diary tells he managed the vehicles for the Al Badr forces. Also, two American citizen’s named Height and Dospeak were found in his diary as well. Besides their names, CIA and DGIS were written. Height was in the army’s detective force since 1953 and Dospeak was an agent of the CIA. For this reason, it is suspected that the CIA was behind the whole plan.

The Killing [ Martyred Intellectuals Day ] :

From December 8, a curfew was ruled again in Dhaka city. Preparation to cleanse the intellectuals was started on December 10. Evidently, the vital part of the plan took place on the 14th of December. Pakistan army and their collaborators captured and abducted the professors, journalists, artists, engineers, writers and other marked intellectuals from their residences. About 200 of the intellectuals were abducted from their home on that day. Blindfolded, they were taken to torture homes at Mirpur, Mohammadpur, Nakhalpara, Razarbag and many other places. And tortures put on them were nightmarish. Later they were brutally killed and left out at the mass graveyards at Rayerbag and Mirpur.

People involved [ Martyred Intellectuals Day ] :

Major General Rao Forman Ali was the mastermind behind the mass cleansing operation on behalf of Pakistan’s army junta. And in making the list and killing according to the plan, assisted the notorious Al Badr militia force a sub-group created by the Jamaat-e-Islami. In this killing of the intellectuals, the main killers were the Chowdhury Moinuddin (operation-in-charge) and Ashrafuzzaman (main butcher) of Al Badr force. After 16th December the personal diary of Ashrafuzzaman Khan was discovered from his Nakhalpara residence, in which 20 of the intellectuals were listed in two pages along with their quarter numbers in the university.

According to the given testimony by his driver Mofizuddin, a number of dead bodies of intellectuals’ were found melted, whom he witnessed to be shot by his own hand. And Chowdhury Moinuddin was a central committee member of Jamaat-e-Islami during 1971. He used to send the names of intellectuals to Rao Forman Ali and Brigadier Bashir Ahmed from the Observer Building. Also, there were ABM Khalek Mojumder (killer of Shahidullah Kaiser), Maulana Abdul Mannan (killer of Doctor Alim Chowdhury), Abdul Quader Mullah (killer of poet Meherunnessa) et al.

The verdict on the Killing [ Martyred Intellectuals Day ] :

On Nov 3, 2013, a Special Court in Dhaka has sentenced two former leaders of the al-Badr killing squad to death for war crimes committed during Bangladesh’s war of liberation in 1971. Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin, a Muslim leader based in London, and Ashrafuz Zaman Khan, based in the US, were sentenced in absentia after the court found that they were involved in the abduction and murders of 18 intellectuals – nine Dhaka University teachers, six journalists and three physicians – in December 1971. Prosecutors said the killings were carried out between 10 and 15 December, when Pakistan was losing the war in Bangladesh (then East Pakistan), and was part of a campaign intended to strip the newborn nation of its intellectuals.

Statistics of the Massacre [ Martyred Intellectuals Day ] :

The number of intellectuals killed is estimated in Banglapedia as follows –

Academics – 991
Journalist – 13
Physician – 49
Lawyer – 42
Others (litterateur, artist and engineer) – 16

HOW TO OBSERVE Martyred Intellectuals Day :

Government in Bangladesh commemorate the day by laying wreaths at the memorial site in Dhaka for the martyred intellectuals. Many people in the country also have a moment of silence or hold candlelight vigils. Even though this day is observed in Bangladesh, there are some ways for you to participate:

Study the history of Bangladesh and how it became an independent nation in 1971
Watch “1971” a documentary about the Bangladeshi Liberation War
Think about what it is like for family members of the martyred intellectuals do not have any closure after so many years
Share this solemn day of remembrance on social media with #MartyredIntellectualsDay

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14 December, Martyred Intellectuals Day