Dhaka: Bangladesh President M Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday paid their respect and rich tributes to the martyred intellectuals of the country on the occasion of ‘Martyred Intellectuals Day.
On ‘Martyred Intellectuals Day, the President and PM urged the people to come forward to build a non-communal, happy and prosperous ‘Sonar Bangla’.
President Hamid, in his message, said the intellectuals, as the conscience of the nation, had played a very significant role with their sharp writings and intellect-based spirit to create public opinion in favour of the Liberation War and also provided suggestions to the war-time Mujibnagar government in advancing the war towards its successful end.
However, it is unfortunate that the occupation forces and their local collaborators had brutally killed the country’s eminent intellectuals, including academicians, physicians, litterateurs, journalists and artists just on the eve of the victory, causing an irreparable loss to the nation, he added.
The President called on his people to be imbued with the ideology of the martyred intellectuals and build a non-communal society based on the spirit of the Liberation War.
In her message, PM Hasina said ‘Martyred Intellectual Day’ is a shameful chapter in the history of Bangladesh as the Pakistani occupation forces, anti-liberation forces and their local collaborators killed eminent intellectuals at the end of the Liberation War to turn the nation into a brain-empty state.
She said when the country was close to the final victory under the leadership of the greatest Bangalee of all times, Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the intellectuals were killed by the occupation forces and their local cohorts like Al-Badars, Al-Shams and Razakars.
The premier said Professor Mofazzal Haidar Chowdhury, Munier Choudhury, Anwar Pasha, Shahidullah Kaisar, Gias Uddin, Dr Fazle Rabbi, Abdul Alim Chowdhury, Siraj Uddin Hossain, Selina Parveen and Dr Joytirmay Guha Thakurada were among those who were killed by the Pakistan occupation forces and their collaborators.
Hasina also said the anti-liberation forces assassinated Bangabandhu and most of his family members on August 15, 1975, and through this heinous killing, the anti-liberation forces started the politics of killing, coup and conspiracy in the country.
The killers carried out repression and tortures on free thinkers, teachers, writers, journalists and politicians, she added.
The premier said the terrorist and militant groups also carried out a reign of terror in the country from 2001 to 2006. They also unleashed arson terrorism in the country to thwart the national election of January 5, 2014, and they are still hatching conspiracies, the PM pointed out.
“We have brought the killers of the martyred intellectuals under trial and have been executing the verdicts. No conspiracy can divert the nation from this process. Those who wanted to save the heinous war criminals will also be brought to justice one day,” she said.
The nation will forever remember the sacrifice of martyred intellectuals, she said while urging the people to stand united against the conspiracies of the killers of 1971, war criminals and Jamaat-clique for the continuation of the country’s development.
