The 'Genocide Day' is today. On the black night of March 25 nearly five decades ago, Pakistani occupation forces launched brutal genocide codenamed 'Operation Searchlight' on the unarmed Bengalees, reports BSS.
This time the government and political, social and cultural organizations including the ruling Awami League have suspended all programmes in the wake of the deadly coronavirus outbreak.
President M Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina issued separate messages on the eve of the 'Genocide Day'.
In his message, the President said the brutal genocide 'Operation Searchlight' carried out by Pakistani occupation forces on March 25 is a barbaric and tragic incident in the history of the Bangalee nation.
He recalled with profound respect the martyrs of 1971 Liberation War.
The President said Pakistani occupation forces unleashed the brutal genocide simultaneously in Dhaka and all over the country including Dhaka University campus, Rajarbagh Police Lines, Pilkhana EPR (Now BGB), Jashore, Rajshahi, Rangpur, Saidpur, Cumilla, Sylhet and Chattogram.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, in her message, said March 25 is the most dreadful day in the life of the Bangalee Nation.
On this day in 1971, she said, one of the most horrific and brutal genocide of the world history took place in Bangladesh.
She paid her deep homage to the greatest Bangalee of all times, Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the four national leaders, martyred freedom fighters of the Liberation War and those dishonored women whose supreme sacrifices have given the nation an independent Bangladesh.
She extended her sympathy to the wounded freedom fighters and the members of martyr's families. The Bangalee Nation under the leadership of Bangabandhu fought against the oppression and deprivation of the Pakistani rulers for 23 long years, she said.
She said calling for independence at the then Racecourse Ground on 7 March 1971 Bangabandhu declared 'The struggle this time is the struggle for our emancipation; the struggle this time is the struggle for independence, Joi Bangla.'
Yahya Khan, the president of Pakistan, began to waste time in the name of negotiations and assembled troops in East Bengal. On 25 March, Yahya Khan went to Pakistan secretly giving the order of genocide in the name of Operation Search Light, she added.
Sheikh Hasina said the observance of 25 March as 'Genocide Day' will be regarded as nation's memorial of eternal respect and testimony to the martyrs of the Liberation War.
"Let us get united with the spirit of the great War of Liberation and build a hunger-poverty free happy-prosperous Golden Bangladesh as dreamt by the Father of the Nation," she said. She wished all the programmes of Genocide Day a grand success.
National dailies will publish special supplements and television channels will air special programmes highlighting the significance of the day. On the black night of March 25, 1971, the Pakistani military junta carried out mass killing in Dhaka as part of their blueprint to thwart the Awami League's assumption of office following the victory in the elections held in 1970.
© 2025 - All Rights with The Financial Express
