12-15-2004, 02:05 PM
Martyred intellectuals - Edit
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Thirty three years ago this day a great tragedy befell this nation. We suffered a bereavement that was the most intense a nation can endure for in a single event some of the finest sons and daughters of this soil were inhumanly slaughtered. It was simply not part of a scorched earth policy adopted by the local collaborators of the occupation forces. It was much more than that. It was a cool and calculated policy of annihilation, of a policy carefully orchestrated to rob the nation of its thinking individual. It was not without significance that the occupation forces began its well-coordinated genocidal campaign with the assault on Dhaka University on the dark night of March 26, and which ended with the massacre of intellectuals at Rayerbazar on December 14. Academicians, doctors, journalists, artistes and others were picked up from their homes in the darkness of the night, blindfolded and brutally killed. To deny a nation access to its intellectuals is the surest way of incapacitating that nation for a long time to come. What is heart-rending is that this organised mayhem was carried out on the very eve of a victory, of earning a freedom which had required tremendous sacrifice and every step was drenched in the blood of martyrs - men, women and children from all walks of life.
Unlike many of their compatriots, these intellectuals were not killed in a battle but were taken away from their home and brought to the slaughter ground. It was revealed later that the martyred intellectuals were tortured to death in the most barbaric manner, which reminds us of Nazi concentration camps. Even after being killed their bodies were dishonoured and lay dumped in a pit for days. They were the most distinguished members of society and most were the leading lights of their respective professions. But it is not only for their intellectual attainment and professional elements that we honour these illustrious sons of the soil each year. They are the lasting fount of patriotic impulses. The principles and idealism, which they defended at the cost of their life, remain an abiding inspiration for the country.
Today on the thirtythird anniversary of their martyrdom we pay our deepest homage to these heroes. It is an irony that a country which has produced the heroes of December 14 should be conspicuously listed as corrupt and criminalised. It all shows that we have today an even stronger reason not only to pay homage to but also emulate as closely as possible these fallen warriors.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Thirty three years ago this day a great tragedy befell this nation. We suffered a bereavement that was the most intense a nation can endure for in a single event some of the finest sons and daughters of this soil were inhumanly slaughtered. It was simply not part of a scorched earth policy adopted by the local collaborators of the occupation forces. It was much more than that. It was a cool and calculated policy of annihilation, of a policy carefully orchestrated to rob the nation of its thinking individual. It was not without significance that the occupation forces began its well-coordinated genocidal campaign with the assault on Dhaka University on the dark night of March 26, and which ended with the massacre of intellectuals at Rayerbazar on December 14. Academicians, doctors, journalists, artistes and others were picked up from their homes in the darkness of the night, blindfolded and brutally killed. To deny a nation access to its intellectuals is the surest way of incapacitating that nation for a long time to come. What is heart-rending is that this organised mayhem was carried out on the very eve of a victory, of earning a freedom which had required tremendous sacrifice and every step was drenched in the blood of martyrs - men, women and children from all walks of life.
Unlike many of their compatriots, these intellectuals were not killed in a battle but were taken away from their home and brought to the slaughter ground. It was revealed later that the martyred intellectuals were tortured to death in the most barbaric manner, which reminds us of Nazi concentration camps. Even after being killed their bodies were dishonoured and lay dumped in a pit for days. They were the most distinguished members of society and most were the leading lights of their respective professions. But it is not only for their intellectual attainment and professional elements that we honour these illustrious sons of the soil each year. They are the lasting fount of patriotic impulses. The principles and idealism, which they defended at the cost of their life, remain an abiding inspiration for the country.
Today on the thirtythird anniversary of their martyrdom we pay our deepest homage to these heroes. It is an irony that a country which has produced the heroes of December 14 should be conspicuously listed as corrupt and criminalised. It all shows that we have today an even stronger reason not only to pay homage to but also emulate as closely as possible these fallen warriors.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->