The nation recalls today the horrors of one of the worst genocides in modern history carried out by the occupation army troops of Pakistan against the unarmed population of the then East Pakistan on the ominous night of March 25, 1971.
The crackdown on unarmed Bangalis on the night of March 25 led to the nine-month War of Independence that ended with the emergence of free Bangladesh.
Tanks of the occupation army rolled out of Dhaka cantonment and a sleeping unsuspecting city woke up to the rattle of heavy weapons’ fire.
Pakistan army occupation troops attacked student dormitories of Dhaka
University, the then East Pakistan Rifles (now Border Guard Bangladesh) headquarters at Peelkhana and Rajarbagh Police Lines as part of the Pakistani military’s
‘Operation Search Light,’ killing several thousand unarmed Bangalis on that ominous night.
Just before the operation, the Pakistani rulers arrested Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the undisputed leader of the Bangalis, later the founding president of Bangladesh, at his Dhanmondi residence in Dhaka.
The nine-month war that followed culminated in the surrender of the occupation army on December 16, 1971 and the emergence of the sovereign Bangladesh.
Different political and socio-cultural organisations and educational institutions have taken elaborate programmes to mark the day in the city and elsewhere in the country.
Discussions, candlelight rallies and cultural programmes and laying of wreaths would be the highlights of the day.
Shahbagh protestors would take out a torch light processions in the city and elsewhere in the country on at 7 PM today to recall the black night of crack down by Pakistani occupation army on the unarmed Bangalis.
Shahbagh protest organisers called upon all educational institutions to hold discussions today on the nation’s struggle for independence.
The protesters would hold cultural programmes and take out a silent procession from the Shahbagh Crossing which would pass by the Central Shaheed Minar before ending at Jagannath Hall martyrs’ graves on Dhaka University campus.
They would light candles there in memory of those who laid their lives on the night of March 25 and later during war of independence.
Dhaka University and Jagannath Hall authorities have taken separate programmes to mark the day.
The Bangladesh Police would mark the night by honouring the policemen, who fought valiantly against the occupation army’s surprise attacks and died in action in the first hours of the Liberation War.
The nation celebrates the 43rd Independence and National Day tomorrow. (Source)
No comments:
Post a Comment