President, PM pay rich tributes to martyred intellectuals

On behalf of the head of the state, Military Secretary to the President Major General SM Salah Uddin Islam and on behalf of the prime minister, Military Secretary to the Prime Minister Major General Naquib Ahmed Chowdhury placed the wreaths at Martyred In

President M Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday paid tributes to the martyred intellectuals by placing wreaths at the Martyred Intellectuals Memorial at Mirpur on the occasion of the Martyred Intellectuals Day.

On behalf of the head of the state, Military Secretary to the President Major General SM Salah Uddin Islam placed wreath at the monument this morning to pay tributes to those who lost lives days before Bangladesh's final victory in the War of Liberation in 1971.

On behalf of the prime minister, Military Secretary to the Prime Minister Major General Naquib Ahmed Chowdhury placed the wreaths at the memorial at 7:05am.

The day is being observed on a limited scale due to Covid-19 situation.

In separate messages on the eve of the day, the president and the prime minister urged the people to come forward being imbued with the ideology of the martyred intellectuals and spirit of the Liberation War to build a non-communal, happy and prosperous 'Sonar Bangla'.

President Abdul 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, provide suggestions to the war-time Mujibnagar government in advancing the war towards its successful end.

But 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 upon all to be imbued with the ideology of the martyred intellectuals and build a non-communal society based on spirit of the Liberation War.

In her message, Prime Minister Sheikh 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 fag 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 occupation forces and their
collaborators.

Sheikh Hasina also said the anti-liberation forces assassinated Bangabandhu and most of his family members on August 15 in 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, she added.

"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 remember forever the sacrifice of martyred intellectuals, she said and called upon the people to be united against the conspiracies of the killers of 1971 and war criminals and Jamaat-clique for continuation of development.