1971 killing of Bengali intellectuals | |
---|---|
Part of the 1971 Bangladesh genocide | |
Location | East Pakistan |
Date | 25 March, 14 – 16 December 1971 |
Target | Bengali intellectuals |
Attack type | Deportation, ethnic cleansing, mass murder |
Deaths | 1,111 [1] |
Perpetrators | Pakistan Army |
In 1971, the Pakistan Army and their local collaborators, most notably the extreme right wing militia group Al-Badr, engaged in the systematic execution of Bengali intellectuals during the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971. Bengali intellectuals were abducted, tortured and killed during the entire duration of the war as part of the 1971 Bangladesh genocide. However, the largest number of systematic executions took place on 25 March and 14 December 1971, two dates that bookend the conflict. 14 December is commemorated in Bangladesh as Martyred Intellectuals Day.
On 25 March 1971, Pakistan army launched an extermination campaign, codenamed Operation Searchlight, against the Bengali people in East Pakistan. [2] A number of professors, physicians and journalists were abducted from their homes by armed Pakistani soldiers and their local collaborators, and executed during this operation and its aftermath. [3] [4]
As the war neared its end and Pakistani surrender became apparent, the Pakistan Army made a final effort to eliminate the intelligentsia of the new nation of Bangladesh. [5] On 14 December 1971, over 200 Bengali intellectuals including professors, journalists, doctors, artists, engineers, and writers were abducted from their homes in Dhaka by the Al-Badr militia and the Pakistan Army. Notable novelist Shahidullah Kaiser and playwright Munier Choudhury were among the victims. They were taken blindfolded to torture cells in Mirpur, Mohammadpur, Nakhalpara, Rajarbagh and other locations in different parts of the city. Later they were executed en masse, most notably at Rayerbazar and Mirpur. In memory of the martyred intellectuals, 14 December is mourned in Bangladesh as Shaheed Buddhijibi Dibosh, or Day of the Martyred Intellectuals. [6]
It is widely speculated that the killings of 14 December were orchestrated by Major General Rao Farman Ali. After the liberation of Bangladesh a list of Bengali intellectuals (most of whom were executed on 14 December) was discovered in a page of his diary left behind at the Governor's House. The existence of such a list was confirmed by Ali himself although he denied the motive of genocide. The same was also confirmed by Altaf Gauhar, a former Pakistani bureaucrat. He mentioned an incident in which Gauhar asked Ali to remove a friend's name from the list and Ali did so in his presence. [7]
Many notable intellectuals who were killed from 25 March to 16 December 1971 in different parts of the country include:
On 3 November 2013, a Special Court in Dhaka has sentenced two former leaders of the al-Badr killing squad to death for war crimes committed in December 1971. Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin, 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 professors, 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 were part of a campaign intended to strip the newborn nation of its intellectuals. [43]
On 2 November 2014, International Crimes Tribunal, Bangladesh sentenced Mir Quasem Ali to death for war crimes which include the killings of intellectuals. It was proved in the tribunal that he was a key organiser of the Al-Badr, which planned and executed the killing of the intellectuals on 14 December 1971. [44] [45]
The number of intellectuals killed is estimated in Banglapedia [1] as follows:
The district wise break-up of the number of martyred academicians and lawyers published in 1972 [46] was as follows –
District and division | Academics | Lawyers | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Primary | Secondary | Higher secondary | ||
Dhaka | 37 | 8 | 10 | 6 |
Faridpur | 27 | 12 | 4 | 3 |
Tangail | 20 | 7 | 2 | |
Mymensingh | 46 | 28 | 1 | 2 |
Dhaka Division | 130 | 55 | 17 | 10 |
Chittagong | 39 | 16 | 7 | 1 |
Chittagong Hill Tracts | 9 | 4 | 1 | 1 |
Sylhet | 19 | 7 | 2 | |
Comilla | 45 | 33 | 1 | 4 |
Noakhali | 26 | 13 | 4 | 2 |
Chittagong Division | 138 | 73 | 13 | 10 |
Khulna | 48 | 15 | 2 | 2 |
Jessore | 55 | 31 | 5 | 4 |
Barisal | 50 | 21 | 4 | |
Patuakhali | 3 | 1 | ||
Kushtia | 28 | 13 | 4 | |
Khulna Division | 184 | 81 | 15 | 6 |
Rajshahi | 39 | 8 | 3 | 5 |
Rangpur | 41 | 22 | 9 | 4 |
Dinajpur | 50 | 10 | 1 | 2 |
Bogra | 14 | 12 | 2 | |
Pabna | 43 | 9 | 1 | 2 |
Rajshahi Division | 187 | 61 | 14 | 15 |
Bangladesh | 639 | 270 | 59 | 41 |
Martyred academicians (not affiliated to universities) = 968 | ||||
Martyred university teachers = 21 | ||||
Total martyred academicians = 989 |
Administrative districts and divisions mentioned here are as they were in 1972.
In a 2018 article Christian Gerlach rejected the claims of coordinated attempt to exterminate the Bengali intelligentsia by using statistical measures: "if one accepts the data published by the Bangladesh propaganda ministry, 4.2 per cent of all university professors were killed, along with 1.4 per cent of all college teachers, 0.6 per cent of all secondary and primary school teachers, and 0.6 per cent of all teaching personnel. On the basis of the aforementioned Ministry of Education data, 1.2 per cent of all teaching personnel were killed. This is hardly proof of an extermination campaign." [47]
Martyred Intellectuals Day is held annually to commemorate the victims. In Dhaka, hundreds of thousands of people walk to Mirpur to lay flowers at the Martyred Intellectuals Memorial. The president and the prime minister of Bangladesh and heads of all three wings of the Bangladesh armed forces pay homage at the memorial. [48]
The Bangla Academy is the official regulatory body of the Bengali language in Bangladesh. It is an autonomous institution funded by the Government of Bangladesh that fosters the Bengali language, literature and culture, works to develop and implement national language policy and conducts original research in Bengali. Established in 1955, it is located in the Burdwan House in Shahbagh, Dhaka, within the grounds of the University of Dhaka and Suhrawardy Udyan. The Bangla Academy hosts the annual Ekushey Book Fair.
Manikganj is a district in central Bangladesh and part of the Dhaka Division. Established in 1845, it was originally a subdivision of Faridpur District. In 1956, it was included in Dhaka District for administrative purposes. In 1984, Manikganj was declared a full district.
Martyred Intellectuals Memorial is a monument built in memory of the martyred intellectuals of the Bangladesh Liberation War. The memorial is located at Rayerbazar, Mohammadpur Thana in Dhaka. The memorial was designed by architect Farid U Ahmed and Jami Al Shafi. The initial proposal for a memorial at Rayer Bazar was brought forward by Projonmo 71, who also laid a temporary foundation stone in 1991.
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1971 (MCMLXXI) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1971st year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 971st year of the 2nd millennium, the 71st year of the 20th century, and the 2nd year of the 1970s decade.
The Independence Day of Bangladesh is celebrated on 26 March as a national holiday in Bangladesh. It commemorates the country's declaration of independence from Pakistan in the early hours of March 26, 1971.
1971 Dhaka University massacre refers to the massacre of students and faculty at the University of Dhaka in East Pakistan by the Pakistan Army, at the beginning of what would become the Bangladesh Liberation War. In March 1971, the Pakistan Army Eastern Wing Commander Tikka Khan launched Operation Searchlight on the orders of dictator Yahya Khan to crush the Bengali nationalist movement. As part of the operation, the army launched an assault on the university campus. It is the deadliest university attack in history.
Mohammed Fazle Rabbee was a renowned cardiologist and a published medical researcher. He was the joint professor of Cardiology and Internal Medicine at Dhaka Medical College and Hospital. He was noted for his progressive thinking and unconventional beliefs for a modern Bengali society. He was murdered in the intellectual killing during the 1971 genocide in Bangladesh by Pakistani army and its local collaborators, the Jamaat-affiliated Al-Badr militia.
Martyred Intellectuals Day is observed on 14 December in Bangladesh to commemorate the large number of Bangladeshi intellectuals killed by Pakistani forces and their collaborators during the Bangladesh Liberation War, particularly on 25 March and 14 December 1971. The killings were undertaken with the goal of annihilating the intellectual class of what was then East Pakistan. Two days after the events of 14 December on 16 December, Bangladesh became independent through the surrender of Pakistani forces.
Ashrafuz Zaman Khan is a Pakistani Bengali American who is one of the convicted masterminds of 1971 killing of Bengali intellectuals. In 1971, he was a member of the Central Committee of the Islami Chhatra Sangha. After liberation he went to Pakistan and worked for Radio Pakistan. Later, he moved to New York and presently heads the Queens branch of Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA). He was sentenced to death in absentia by the International War Crimes Tribunal for killing 18 Bengali intellectuals during the last days of the 1971 Liberation War of Bangladesh.
Syed Nazmul Haque, born in the district of Khulna, was a martyred Bengali journalist.
ANM Faizul Mahi, born in the district of Feni, was a Bengali educationist.
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ANM Golam Mostafa, was a martyred Bengali journalist.
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