December 14 in History
1971 – Bangladesh Liberation War: Over 200 of East Pakistan's intellectuals are executed by the Pakistan Army and their local allies
On this day in1971, the Pakistan Army and their local collaborators, most notably the extreme right-wing militia group Al-Badr, abducted over 200 Bengali intellectuals including professors, journalists, doctors, artists, engineers, and writers from their homes in Dhaka and executed them en masse later, most notably at Rayerbazar and Mirpur. The intellectuals were taken blindfolded to torture cells in Mirpur, Mohammadpur, Nakhalpara, Rajarbagh and other locations in different parts of the city. Notable novelist Shahidullah Kaiser and playwright Munier Choudhury were among the victims. In memory of the martyred intellectuals, 14 December is mourned in Bangladesh as Shaheed Buddhijibi Dibosh, or Day of the Martyred Intellectuals.
In what is described as 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 March 25 and December 14, 1971, two dates that bookend the conflict. The killings were undertaken with the goal of annihilating the intellectual class of what was then East Pakistan. On December 16, two days after the events of December 14, Bangladesh became independent through the surrender of Pakistani forces.
It is widely speculated that the killings of December 14 were orchestrated by Major General Rao Farman Ali. After the liberation of Bangladesh, a list of Bengali intellectuals (most of whom were executed on December 14) 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.
-Wikipedia
Photo Caption – Sculpture depicting the 1971 killing of intellectuals – Wikipedia
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