On 14th December, Bangladesh observes Martyred Intellectuals Day (Shahid Buddhijibi Dibosh) to remember those intellectuals who were murdered by the Pakistani forces and their collaborators just before the end of the 1971 Liberation War.
Just as the war was reaching its inevitable conclusion with the joint Bangladesh and India forces racing for the capital Dhaka, Pakistani forces and their local collaborators like Al-Badr, Al-Shams and Rajakar went on a killing spree aimed at annihilating the country’s intellectuals and eliminating the future leaders of the new nation.
Hundreds of intellectuals and professionals including professors, journalists, doctors, artists, engineers, and writers were rounded up taken blindfolded to various locations in the Dhaka. They were later executed en masse, most notably at Rayerbazar and Mirpur.
The murdered included Govinda Chandra Dev (Philosopher, Professor at DU), Munier Chowdhury (Litterateur, Dramatist, Professor at DU), Mufazzal Haider Chaudhury (Litterateur, Professor at DU), Anwar Pasha (Litterateur, Professor at DU), Dr. Mohammed Fazle Rabbee (cardiologist), Dr. Alim Chowdhury (ophthalmologist), Shahidullah Kaisar (journalist), Nizamuddin Ahmed (Reporter), Selina Parvin (reporter), Altaf Mahmud (lyricist and musician), Dr. Hobibur Rahman (Professor of Mathematics, RU), Sukhranjan Somaddar (Professor of Sanskrit, RU), Mir Abdul Quaiyum (Professor of Psychology, RU), Dhirendranath Datta (politician), Ranadaprasad Saha (philanthropist), Lt. Col. Moazzem Hossain (ex-soldier), Mamun Mahmood (Police Officer) among others.
Virtual Bangladesh