Awami League (AL) General Secretary Obaidul Quader urged on Friday the pro-liberation political parties to intensify the demand for declaring the March 25 as the International Genocide Day, report agencies.
"On the night of March 25 in 1971, the Pakistani military force carried out massacre on Bangalees. All the political parties, which are pro-liberation ones and bear the spirit of Liberation War, must get united to accelerate the demand for recognising the March 25 as the International Genocide Day," he said.
To realise the demand, he said, all the pro-liberation political parties should be united under the leadership of AL President and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Dhaka south and north units of Awami League jointly organised the meeting at the AL's Bangabandhu Avenue central office, marking the Genocide Day.
Speaking at the meeting, Quader said with her courage, Sheikh Hasina brought the war criminals to justice while the recognition of the International Mother Language Day was achieved under her leadership.
He said it is possible for Sheikh Hasina to realise the demand of recognising the March 25 as the International Genocide Day.
No political party except the AL is yet to raise voice to realise the demand for recognition of the day from the United Nations, he added.
Quader, also the road transport and bridges minister, said no government, except the AL one, talks about this day.
"We have to get attention to the United Nations. We have to work with the agenda in the UN. We have to continue it. Many of the killings of the history have not been recognised as international genocide," he said.
Meanwhile the ruling Awami League (AL) has again urged the international community to recognise the brutal massacres by the Pakistani army on unarmed civilians in 1971 as 'genocide'.
The 'appeal for justice' was made in a post, shared from AL verified account on Facebook, accompanied by a video provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
"Bengalees wanted to be heard, to be recognised as equal to the West Pakistani rulers. Instead, they were killed mercilessly in their sleep," the post said.
"On 25th March, Yahya Khan's sidekick Tikka Khan mobilised death squads to initiate 'Operation Searchlight'. They killed 7000 Bengalis in a single night. From that day until the end of the Liberation War 1971, Pakistani soldiers raped more than 200,000 women and killed more than 3.0 million people," reads the post.
This massive genocide displaced 30-40 million Bengales and more than 10 million people took refuge in India.
The Hamoodur Rahman Commission's report is the most critical piece of evidence of the 1971 Bangladesh Genocide.
This report found the Pakistani military deployed in East Pakistan guilty of widespread atrocities, serious acts of human rights violations, other abuses of power, it said.
