President Mohammed Shahabuddin and Chief Adviser Dr Muhammad Yunus paid floral tributes to the nation’s martyred intellectuals at the Martyred Intellectuals Memorial in Mirpur on Sunday, marking Martyred Intellectuals Day.

The President placed a wreath at the memorial at 7:00 am and stood in solemn silence for a while. At around 7:30 am, the Chief Adviser also paid his respects by placing floral wreaths and observing silence.

At the time, a smartly turned-out contingent of the armed forces rendered a guard of honour as a mournful tune was played on the bugle.

Later, at the memorial premises, the Chief Adviser exchanged greetings with family members of the martyred intellectuals, war-wounded freedom fighters, the Chief Justice and members of the Advisory Council.

In a message marking the day, President Mohammed Shahabuddin said intellectuals are among the key architects of a nation’s development and progress. He noted that through the practice of free thought, creative pursuits, innovation and the promotion of democratic values, intellectuals play a vital role in building a knowledge-based and prosperous nation.

He said that is why, on the brink of defeat, the occupying forces carried out brutal killings across Dhaka and other parts of the country just before surrender, with the vile objective of crippling the nation intellectually. Renowned academics, writers, physicians, scientists, philosophers, engineers, lawyers, journalists, artists and political thinkers were abducted and murdered mercilessly. The nation, he added, still bears the deep wound of losing its finest sons at the dawn of independence.

In his message, Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus said that on the eve of victory, the occupying forces and their collaborators brutally abducted and killed patriotic academics, journalists, writers, physicians, scientists, lawyers, artists, engineers, philosophers and political thinkers. Through this planned massacre, anti-liberation forces sought to turn a nation on the threshold of independence into an intellectually bankrupt and failed state.

He said the martyred intellectuals had dreamed of building a democratic, developed and prosperous Bangladesh.

December 14 marks a day of unbearable grief for the nation, recalling the tragic loss of its finest intellectuals at the dawn of victory — one of the most harrowing chapters in the history of Bangladesh’s War of Independence.