The government has finalized a primary list of martyred intellectuals containing names of 1,222 professionals who were murdered by the Pakistan occupation army and its local collaborators during the War of Liberation in 1971.
The list, which is the first of its kind in independent Bangladesh, is likely to be announced shortly, according to decisions by a government formed panel.
The 11-member verification and selection committee formed by the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs came up with the decision after the first meeting of the committee held at the ministry conference room on Sunday.
The primary list will include names from “Bangladesh,” a documentary publication of the government in 1972, and from the commemorative stamps issued by Bangladesh Post Office at different times.
“We have taken a total of 1,070 names from lists available to the ministry and another 152 from postal stamps issued in the name of martyred intellectuals at different times. The combined list, which we approved in the meeting, contained 1,222 people,” said Liberation War Affairs Minister A K M Mozammel Haque.
“However, listing of names will continue as many applications are pending with the ministry and many more may come in future,” he added.
“We have discussed the definition of ‘martyred intellectuals’ and drafted an outline in this regard. The committee will finalize the definition in its next meeting,” said the minister, adding that new names will be added in the future considering the definition as baseline and following necessary scrutiny.
The committee has already considered available definitions cited in the Bangla Academy and in Banglapedia for the term.
According to committee members, the next meeting is likely to be held in January.
A K M Mozammel Haque said they are expecting to complete the list within a year when Bangladesh will celebrate 50 years of independence.
Procedure
The government formed a panel which will collect all government and private research publications and articles to finalize the list.
“We will take support from researchers who have worked in districts and in upazila levels,” said Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee President Shahriar Kabir, also a member of the committee.
According to him, intellectuals killed between March 25, 1971, and January 31, 1972, will be considered for the list.
Another committee member Nasir Uddin Yousuf Bachchu, eminent cultural personality and film director, said the committee will collect information using students and youth members as volunteers.
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“We will add some names next March. There were many individuals residing in villages who contributed to the Liberation War. We want to recognize their names as well,” he said.
Bacchu, a veteran freedom fighter and winner of Ekushey Padak, also said advertisements will be published in newspapers seeking names while letters will be served to deputy commissioners of districts to collect and scrutinize the information of potential candidates.
Available definitions
As of now, there is no official definition for martyred intellectuals in Bangladesh.
Shaheed Buddhijibi Koshgrantha, a biographical publication on martyred intellectuals published by the Bangla Academy, defines writers, scientists, artists, singers, teachers from primary schools to universities, researchers, journalists, lawyers, physicians, engineers, architects, sculptors, government and non-government staff, people involved in film making and theatre, and social and cultural activists as intellectuals.
Numbers
Although there is yet to be an official list, Banglapedia says a total of 1,111 intellectuals were killed across 19 districts in Bangladesh during the Liberation War.
On the other hand, the documentary “Bangladesh” by ASM Shamsul Arefin quoted a 1972 government publication as saying that 1,109 intellectuals -- teachers of 21 universities, 637 primary schools, 270 secondary schools, and 59 colleges, 50 physicians, 41 lawyers, 13 journalists and 16 music composers, filmmakers and cultural personalities -- were killed during Operation Searchlight, launched by the Pakistan occupation army on March 25, 1971.
According to Shaheed Buddhijibi Koshgrantha, reprinted in 1994, the number of intellectuals executed was 232. However, the publications claimed that the list is neither complete nor comprehensive.
Events of 1971
The Martyred Intellectuals Day is a dark day in the history of Bangladesh. On the eve of the end of the bloody, nine-month-long war for independence, the Pakistan occupation army and its local collaborators -- al-Badr, al-Shams and Razakars -- targeted some of the brightest minds of Bangladesh in a plan to destroy the future of the nation.
Intellectuals were abducted from their homes and slaughtered in the killing fields at Rayer Bazar and other parts of the country. Most of the bodies that were found were blindfolded and had handcuff marks, as well as gunshot and bayonet wounds in the chest and head, according to news reports and history texts.
Among the victims of the brutality, only a few could be identified as many of the bodies were too decomposed.