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1971 killing of Bengali intellectuals

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1971 killing of Bengali intellectuals
Part of the 1971 Bangladesh genocide
A sculpture in Meherpur showing the execution of intellectuals by the Pakistan Army in 1971
LocationEast Pakistan
Date25 March, 14 – 16 December 1971
TargetBengali intellectuals
Attack type
Deaths1,111[1]
Perpetrators

Shanti Committee
Razakars
Al-Badr
Al-Shams
MotiveAnti-Bengali sentiment, destruction of Bengali Intelligentsia

In 1971, the Pakistan Army and their local collaborators, most notably the extreme right wing militia group Al-Badr, engaged in 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 25 March and 14 December 1971, two dates that bookend the conflict. 14 December is commemorated in Bangladesh as Martyred Intellectuals Day.

Black Night of 25 March

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See also: 1971 Dhaka University massacre

On 25 March 1971, the Pakistan army launched an extermination campaign, codenamed Operation Searchlight, against the Bengali people in East Pakistan.[2] A number of professors, physicians and journalists were abducted from their homes by armed Pakistani soldiers and their local collaborators, and executed during this operation and its aftermath.[3][4]

14 December executions

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Dead bodies of Bengali intellectuals found on 15 December 1971

As the war neared its end and Pakistani surrender became apparent, the Pakistan Army made a final effort to eliminate the intelligentsia of the new nation of Bangladesh.[5] On 14 December 1971, over 200 Bengali intellectuals including professors, journalists, doctors, artists, engineers, and writers were abducted from their homes in Dhaka by the Al-Badr militia and the Pakistan Army. Notable novelist Shahidullah Kaiser and playwright Munier Choudhury were among the victims. They were taken blindfolded to torture cells in Mirpur, Mohammadpur, Nakhalpara, Rajarbagh and other locations in different parts of the city. Later they were executed en masse, most notably at Rayerbazar and Mirpur. In memory of the martyred intellectuals, 14 December is mourned in Bangladesh as Shaheed Buddhijibi Dibosh, or Day of the Martyred Intellectuals.[6]

After the liberation of Bangladesh, a list of Bengali intellectuals was discovered in a page of Major General Rao Farman Ali's 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. He mentioned an incident in which Gauhar asked Ali to remove a friend's name from the list and Ali did so in his presence.[7]

Notable victims

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Many notable intellectuals who were killed from 25 March to 16 December 1971 in different parts of the country include:

Verdict on the killing

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On 3 November 2013, a Special Court in Dhaka has sentenced two former leaders of the al-Badr killing squad to death for war crimes committed in December 1971. Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin, based in London, and Ashrafuz Zaman Khan, based in the US, were sentenced in absentia after the court found that they were involved in the abduction and murders of 18 intellectuals – nine Dhaka University professors, six journalists and three physicians – in December 1971. Prosecutors said the killings were carried out between 10 and 15 December, when Pakistan was losing the war in Bangladesh (then East Pakistan), and were part of a campaign intended to strip the newborn nation of its intellectuals.[43]

On 2 November 2014, International Crimes Tribunal, Bangladesh sentenced Mir Quasem Ali to death for war crimes which include the killings of intellectuals. It was proved in the tribunal that he was a key organiser of the Al-Badr, which planned and executed the killing of the intellectuals on 14 December 1971.[44][45]

Statistics

[edit]

The number of intellectuals killed is estimated in Banglapedia[1] as follows:

  • Academics – 991
  • Journalists – 13
  • Physicians – 49
  • Lawyers – 42
  • Others (litterateurs, artists and engineers) – 16

The district wise break-up of the number of martyred academics and lawyers published in 1972[46] was as follows –

District and division Academics Lawyers
Primary Secondary Higher secondary
Dhaka 37 8 10 6
Faridpur 27 12 4 3
Tangail 20 7 2
Mymensingh 46 28 1 2
Dhaka Division 130 55 17 10
Chittagong 39 16 7 1
Chittagong Hill Tracts 9 4 1 1
Sylhet 19 7 2
Comilla 45 33 1 4
Noakhali 26 13 4 2
Chittagong Division 138 73 13 10
Khulna 48 15 2 2
Jessore 55 31 5 4
Barisal 50 21 4
Patuakhali 3 1
Kushtia 28 13 4
Khulna Division 184 81 15 6
Rajshahi 39 8 3 5
Rangpur 41 22 9 4
Dinajpur 50 10 1 2
Bogra 14 12 2
Pabna 43 9 1 2
Rajshahi Division 187 61 14 15
Bangladesh 639 270 59 41
Martyred academics (not affiliated to universities) = 968
Martyred university teachers = 21
Total martyred academics = 989

Administrative districts and divisions mentioned here are as they were in 1972.

Denial of genocidal intent

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In a 2018 article, Christian Gerlach rejected the claims of coordinated attempt to exterminate the Bengali intelligentsia by using statistical measures: "if one accepts the data published by the Bangladesh propaganda ministry, 4.2 per cent of all university professors were killed, along with 1.4 per cent of all college teachers, 0.6 per cent of all secondary and primary school teachers, and 0.6 per cent of all teaching personnel. On the basis of the aforementioned Ministry of Education data, 1.2 per cent of all teaching personnel were killed. This is hardly proof of an extermination campaign."[47]

Commemoration

[edit]
See also: Martyred Intellectuals Day and Martyred Intellectuals Memorial
Part of the east-south side of the Martyred Intellectuals Memorial

Martyred Intellectuals Day is held annually to commemorate the victims. In Dhaka, hundreds of thousands of people walk to Mirpur to lay flowers at the Martyred Intellectuals Memorial. The president and the prime minister of Bangladesh and heads of all three wings of the Bangladesh armed forces pay homage at the memorial.[48]

See also

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References

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  2. ^ Ganguly, Sumit (2002). Conflict Unending: India-Pakistan Tensions Since 1947. Columbia University Press. p. 60. ISBN 978-0-231-12369-3.
  3. ^ Annual Report: Dhaka University 1971–72, Dr. Mafijullah Kabir
  4. ^ "Telegram 978 From the Consulate General in Dacca to the Department of State, March 29, 1971, 1130Z" (PDF). US Department of State. Archived (PDF) from the original on 21 April 2020. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
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