Martyred Intellectuals Day: Indian Air Force remembers 'dramatic end' to Liberation War

Indian Air Force remembered the ‘dramatic’ end to the war in the East in 1971 on December 14, observed as the Martyred Intellectuals Day in Bangladesh. The day is marked every year to commemorate the death of intellectuals in Bangladesh who lost their lives to Pakistani forces and their collaborators during the Liberation War 1971, particularly between March 25 and December 14, 49 years ago. In a Twitter post, the Indian Air Force shared the images from the time and informed that MiGs, as well as Hunters, struck the Government House in Dhaka and disrupted a meeting that was being chaired by the Governor, East Pakistan, who resigned then and there. 

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Bangladeshi intellectuals brutally killed

On this day in 1971, Bangladesh’s well-known academicians, doctors, engineers, journalists, artists, teachers along with other renowned personalities were not only dragged out of their homes but were reportedly blindfolded to take to unknown places followed by torture and murder. As per UNB report, the bodies all intellectuals were later dumped at Rayerbazar, Mirpur and some other fields in the capital. 

The Pakistani forces and its collaborators had sensed their imminent defeat in 1971 and thus committed the mass murders that reportedly aimed to annihilate the Bangladeshi intelligence and cripple it intellectually. Since then, to commemorate the tragic deaths, the Bangladeshi government has chalked out a range of programs for the December 14 tragedy.

On December 13, Bangladesh President Md Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina paid their deep respects and tributes to the ‘best sons’ of the nation. In a separate message on the eve of the day, both Bangladesh President and PM called for the nation to unite and being imbued with the ideology of the intellectuals that lost their lives along with the spirit of the Liberation War to build a non-communal “Sonar Bangla”. 

Hamid also noted, in his message that the intellectuals are the main conscience of the nation and they had played a significant role with writing and spirit to mobilise public opinion in favour of the Liberation War. However, the Bangladeshi PM added that it was ‘unfortunate’ that the occupation forces and its local collaborators had brutally killed the intellectuals and other litterateurs just on the eve of the victory. 

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