The Martyred Intellectuals Day was observed throughout the country yesterday. It was a special day for the nation. On the day the entire nation got the opportunity to pay respect to the best sons of the soil who were killed by the Pakistani occupation forces and their collaborators at the fag end of the country’s Liberation War in 1971. Marking the day, people from all walks of life placed wreaths at the Martyred Intellectuals Memorial in the city’s Rayerbazar and Mirpur. According to history of our Liberation War, on the night of December 14, 200 illustrious sons, including educationists, journalists, litterateurs, writers, physicians, scientists, lawyers, artists, philosophers and political thinkers were picked up in the capital by the Pakistani occupation forces with the help of their local collaborators - Razakar, Al-Badr and Al-Shams.

They were taken to the torture cells in Mirpur, Mohammadpur, Nakhalpara, Rajarbagh and other locations in different parts of the city and later executed en masse at different killing grounds, most notably Rayerbazar and Mirpur. They intentionally did it to cripple the emerging nation. Every drop of the martyred intellectuals' blood makes our resolve stronger, thus this rich history makes us take pride. But we have been appalled by a shocking revelation of this newspaper yesterday. As per the disclosure, the supreme sacrifice of many more intellectuals have remained unrecognised and unheard in the rest of the country for more than five decades.

However, it is better late than never; the incumbent government should be brave enough to make an updated list of these bright sons of the soil by making a countrywide survey in this regard which will undoubtedly enrich our history by manifold.

Source: Sun Editorial