There are few days in our history as dark or as gruesome as March 25, 1971.
On this day 51 years ago, the Pakistani military apparatus with help from their local collaborators sieged the city, delivering death and destruction to sleeping Bangalis, with a view to strangle this nascent nation in the womb.
No one was spared from their carnage. The Pakistani military made it a deliberate choice to target students, teachers, and other people of importance to specifically halt our march towards independence. It was called Operation Searchlight -- a systematic process of killing and genocide that was designed in such a way that the terror and trauma caused by the night would silence the Bangladeshi populace for generations to come.
And while the operation failed in its primary goal, we still feel the trauma, and remember the blood spilled. There is no mistake about it, that such a planned-out operation against civilians that was conducted on such a large scale was nothing short of genocide. Our parliament declared as such in 2017, and although the day is yet to be recognized by the United Nations, statements from Genocide Watch and Lemkin Institute for Genocide prevention have assured us that we are in the right.
Although Pakistan has been making attempts to strengthen its ties with Bangladesh, we still need to get an official apology for them.
But what we can do as a nation is remember. Enemies both within the state and outside and moving vehemently in order to erase the blood of all those who have died. We are free today specifically because of all that blood spilled. We owe it to those who lost everything, not just on March 25, but throughout the Liberation War, to remember them.
