President Mohammed Shahabuddin and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina have paid profound tributes to the martyred intellectuals by placing wreaths at the Martyred Intellectuals Memorial at Mirpur on the occasion of Martyred Intellectuals Day.
They placed wreaths on Thursday morning to pay homage to the great heroes, who sacrificed their lives for the country and the nation.
After placing the wreaths, they stood in solemn silence for some time as a mark of respect to the memories of the illustrious sons of the soil.
On this day 52 years ago, just two days ahead of the country’s final victory for independence the Pakistani occupation forces in collusion with their local collaborators -- Al-Badr, Razakar and Al-Shams -- killed country’s most distinguished intellectuals in a bid to cripple the newly emerging Bangladesh intellectually.
As many as 200 illustrious sons of the soil, including professors, journalists, doctors, artistes, engineers and writers, were abducted from their respective residences blindfolded and made them hostage during December 10 to 14 in 1971.
They were taken blindfolded to torture cells at Mirpur, Mohammadpur, Nakhalpara, Rajarbagh and other spots in different city parts.
Subsequently, they were put to death en masse at different killing grounds, most notably Rayerbazar and Mirpur.
Those who were exposed to the killers’ wrath on December 14, 1971 included Dr Alim Chowdhury and Dr Fazle Rabbi, Journalists Shahidullah Kaisar, Sirajuddin Hossain, Nizamuddin Ahmed, SA Mannan and Selina Parveen and litterateur Munier Choudhury.
Since then, the day is being observed as the Martyred Intellectuals Day.