Engineer M. Hossain
“We name people Jews or Gypsies, or distinguish them by colors or dress, and apply them to members of groups.” Dr. Gregory H. Stanton articulated the given instance to explain “symbolization,” which is one stage of genocide. This stage is concerned with providing names or symbols to the members of a particular group to commit genocide against them.
Adolf Hitler represented a significant threat to Polish intellectuals during World War II through the intelligenzaktion Pommern, a Nazi operation focused on eliminating intellectuals. This mirrors the 1971 Liquidation operation by the Pakistani Army, supported by local groups like Razakar, Al-Badr, and Al-Shams. Similar events occurred in Armenia in 1915 and Cambodia in the 1970s. In all these genocides, many academics, politicians, poets, writers, teachers, doctors, and journalists were specifically targeted and killed.
Raphael Lemkin coined the term “genocide” for the first time in 1944, which has been derived from the Greek term genes (i.e., race, tribe, or nation) and the Latin term code (i.e., killing). The 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide defines genocide as committing any of the acts such as ‘killing members of the group’; ‘causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group’; ‘deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part’; ‘imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group’; and ‘forcibly transferring children of the group to another group’ with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.
Although the term genocide is a relatively recent creation, its practice has a long and documented history. The incidents of genocide since the enforcement of the 1948 Genocide Convention include Australian “Stolen Generations” (1910 – 1970s), First Sudanese Civil War (1955 – 1972), Brazilian Indian Genocide (1957 – 1968), Tibet (1959 – 1966), Rwanda (1962 – 1963), Zanzibar Revolution (1964), Indonesia (1965 -1967), Nigerian-Biafran War (1967 – 1970), Aché Indians (1968 – 1978), Guatemala (1968 – 1996), Bangladesh (1971), Uganda (1971 – 1979), Burundi (1972), Cambodia (1975 – 1979), Second Sudanese Civil War (1983 – 2005), Sri Lanka (1983 – 2009), Khojaly Massacre (1992), Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992 – 1995), Rwanda (1994), North Korea (Mid 1990s – present), Darfur (2003- present), Mass Atrocities in Libya (2011), Yemen (2011), Syria (2011), Gaza (2023- Present).
The killings of intellectuals by the perpetrators usually happen during the beginning of every genocide. It is also termed as eliticide or elitocide, which refers to ‘the killing of the leadership, the educated, and the clergy of a group’. Among all the given instances, there are a few genocides in which it is evident that the intellectuals were primarily considered a “national group” and, after that, killed by the perpetrators to destroy the same.
On 24 April 1915, about 250 Armenian intellectuals were arrested and killed within 72 hours during the Armenian genocide. In total, around 2,345 Armenian intellectuals were arrested and died in Constantinople. 24 April is now commemorated annually as the day of remembrance for the Armenian genocide.
During World War II, a plan known as Intelligenzaktion Pommern was devised to eliminate Polish intellectuals and elites, including teachers, doctors, priests, and community leaders. The Germans, led by Adolf Hitler, viewed these individuals as threats to their efforts to occupy Europe. They feared these intellectuals might inspire the Polish population to resist the new German authorities. As a result, more than 100,000 Polish intellectuals and elites were murdered by 1940.
Following this, under the operation known as AB-Aktion, the Nazi campaign intensified, leading to further disappearances and killings of intellectuals and upper-class Poles. More than 7,000 Polish teachers, priests, and community leaders were arrested and subsequently executed in various locations, including the Palmiry Forest. It is important to note that both plans were implemented to dismantle the leadership among the Polish people systematically.
The Cambodian genocide was the systematic killing of Cambodian citizens by the Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot, from 1975 to 1979. This resulted in the deaths of 1.5 to 2 million people, nearly 25% of the population at the time. It is a prominent example of state-sponsored genocide.
The genocide in Bangladesh, particularly the targeting of intellectuals, was one of the most significant atrocities by the Pakistani Army. On 25 March 1971, Operation Searchlight was launched to disarm Bengali military personnel and to arrest, kill, and detain professionals and students. The first attack on intellectuals occurred that night, claiming the lives of university professors, doctors, and political activists. On 14 December 1971, many more Bengali intellectuals were murdered. Following these events, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman declared Bangladesh’s independence on 26 March 1971, shortly before being arrested by Pakistani authorities.
The Liberation War occurred from 26 March 1971 to 16 December 1971. During this period, the Pakistani Army and their local collaborators committed severe atrocities against the Bengali civilian population, but their actions could not quell the quest for independence. In February, Yahya Khan declared, “Kill three million of them, and the rest will eat out of our hands,” which is viewed as a call for genocide.
It has been confirmed that approximately three million Bangalees lost their lives, nearly 300,000 women were subjected to sexual violence, and close to 10 million people sought refuge in India due to the widespread violence. Additionally, millions were internally displaced, and significant damage was inflicted on properties in what was then East Pakistan. Despite these profound challenges, we achieved a significant milestone on 16 December 1971, as we secured independence.
The killers used to abduct the targeted victims from their respective houses in Gestapo style and carry them blindfolded to particular torture cells at Mirpur, Mohammadpur, Nakhalpara, Rajarbagh, Physical Training Centre (Mohammadpur), and other locations in different sections of the city. They mostly took advantage of the curfew in the town and kidnapped the victims. The victims were physically tortured and brutally killed, primarily by indiscriminate bayonet charges. The main spots of execution in Dhaka city were Alokdi, Kalapani, Rainkhola, the backyard of Bangla College, Harirampur graveyard, Shialbari in Mirpur, the eastern end of Mohammadpur thana, and Rayerbazar. In the marshy land at Rayerbazar and at Mirpur, a vast number of dead bodies were found scattered in the ditches, plains, and heaps of bricks. The dead bodies, eyes covered and hands tied on the back, were found bruised all over, bullet shots on the chest, head, or back, and bayonet injuries all over the body.
According to Genocide researcher R.J. Rummel, in 1971, the self-appointed President of Pakistan and Commander-in-Chief of the Army, General Agha Mohammed Yahya Khan, and his top generals devised a systematic military, economic, and political strategy for East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). Their plan included the targeted assassination of the Bengali intellectual, cultural, and political elite. They also intended to indiscriminately kill hundreds of thousands of Hindus and force the remainder to flee to India.
In December 1972, the Bangladesh government released an incomplete list of 1,111 Bengali intellectuals killed during the war, including 991 academics, 13 journalists, 49 physicians, 42 lawyers, and 16 writers from 19 districts. A revised list was approved on 13 December 2020, recognizing 1,222 martyred intellectuals. Estimates indicate that about 80% of the Bengali intellectuals in Dhaka were exterminated. Rabindranath Trivedi noted that many remains are still unlocated, highlighting the systematic targeting of these individuals to weaken the Bengali nation. Researchers believe the actual number of martyred intellectuals may be higher, as many teachers and progressive thinkers could have been killed in remote areas by Pakistani forces. Accurately determining the death toll remains challenging as time passes.
It is worth noting that the definition of ‘martyred intellectuals’ was finalized on 10 February 2021. According to the definition, those Bengali writers, philosophers, scientists, painters, teachers, researchers, journalists, lawyers, doctors, engineers, architects, sculptors, government and private employees, politicians, social workers, cultural workers, people associated with film, drama, and music who made essential contributions to the emergence of Bangladesh through intellectual activities and as a result were martyred by the occupying Pakistani forces or their collaborators or disappeared forever during that period are martyred intellectuals.
Matiur Rahman Nizami, a Jamaat leader, provides insights into the formation of the Al-Badr force in his writings. On 14 November 1971, he published a sub-editorial titled “Badr Day: Pakistan and Al-Badr” in the daily Sangram. He said: “For the past two years, a youth caravan from Pakistan has initiated commemorating this historic Badr Day celebration through the Pakistan Islamic Students Songho, which is part of the Islamic revival movement. We must say it is our great fortune that, with the collaboration of the Pakistani Army, the youth in this country who are inclined towards Islam have formed the Al-Badr force, keeping in mind the memory of the Battle of Badr. In that battle, the number of Muslim fighters was 313. Drawing on this memory, they, too, have decided to form units, each consisting of 313 young individuals. We believe that the day is not far when the young men of Al-Badr will stand alongside our armed forces and defeat the Hindu Army, eradicate the existence of Hindustan, and raise the victorious flag of Islam all over the world. And on that day, the unfulfilled desire of the hearts of the Muslims of the world will be fulfilled.”
The responsibility for the killings of intellectuals in Bangladesh primarily falls on the Al-Badr organization, a fanatical religious group that served as a paramilitary force for the Pakistan Army in 1971. Lawrence Lifschultz, in his book “Bangladesh: The Unfinished Revolution,” highlights that Al-Badr was responsible for some of the worst atrocities during the war, mainly targeting nationalist intellectuals. In his book titled “Bangladesh: The Unfinished Revolution,” Lawrence Lifschultz describes the Al-Badr organization as a fanatical religious group that operated as a paramilitary arm of the Pakistan Army during the 1971 war. He notes that Al-Badr was responsible for some of the most horrific killings, mainly targeting nationalist intellectuals.
Similarly, a report titled “Butchery by Al-Badr,” which was circulated in the “Patriot” newspaper in New Delhi on 23 December 1971, states: “When the Pakistanis were overpowered, they left the killing to the fascist Al-Badr, the armed wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami. This fascist organization has already murdered about 200 leading intellectuals, doctors, professors, and scientists.”
In a report titled “Save Them from the Infamous Al-Badr Force,” published by the Daily Purbadesh on 18 December 1971, it was stated, “The infamous Al-Badr Force, formed by the extremists of the fascist Jamaat-e-Islami, has created a reign of terror among intellectuals in Dhaka over the past few days. Reports indicate that for the last week, these groups of public enemies have been capturing professors, journalists, doctors, and others, detaining them at their headquarters in Mohammadpur.”
On 19 December, Dainik Bangla published a report titled “The Most Heinous Massacre of the Century Committed by the Al-Badr Barbaric Paramilitary Force.” The article described how, amid the joy and excitement of independence, a tragic shadow fell over Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, on Saturday. The tears of sorrow overshadowed the celebration of liberation. The report stated that one of the most heinous massacres of the century took place in Dhaka and throughout Bangladesh, which has been ongoing since last February and reached its peak just before independence.
On 21 December 1971, the Hindustan Times reported that ten senior Pakistani army officers were responsible for organizing the recent murders of many individuals, particularly intellectuals, in Dhaka. Mr. John Stonehouse, a British Labour MP, shared this information in an interview with the Press Trust of India (PTI) on 20 December in New Delhi. While Mr. Stonehouse did not disclose the names of the officers, he mentioned that they held ranks, including Major General, Brigadier, Colonel, and Captain. During his visit to Dhaka on 19 December, he learned the identities of these officers who orchestrated the murders, along with members of ‘Al-Badar,’ an extremist Muslim group that committed these heinous acts just before the surrender of Pakistani forces in Dhaka.
Another report of the Hindustan Times, published on 24 December 1971, states that ‘The Bangladesh authorities have recovered a list of nearly 5,000 people in Dhaka City alone from the occupation forces. These persons were to be annihilated. The list included practically every single intellectual in the city.
Furthermore, in an interview with the Press Trust of India (PTI) in New Delhi on 20 December 1971, British Labour MP John Stonehouse revealed that during his visit to Dhaka the previous day, he received the names of the Pakistani army officers who organized the murders, along with members of Al-Badr, who carried out these heinous crimes against intellectuals just before the surrender of Pakistani forces in Dhaka.
The Pakistani military orchestrated a genocide during the war, targeting Bengali intellectuals with the help of local allies. They underestimated the strength of the Bengali nation, and as revenge for their defeat in the Liberation War, they sought satisfaction through the killing of key intellectuals. Their goal was to erase the intellectual landscape of Bangladesh.
The loss caused by these killings is immeasurable. The intellectuals were distinguished figures in their fields, and their deaths deprived the newly independent Bangladesh of vital intellectual resources. This genocide was designed to prevent the nation from emerging as an educated society, leaving a lasting vacuum in its intellectual wealth.
During the Liberation War, Jamaat-e-Islami and its collaborators committed atrocities while perpetrating false propaganda to protect Islam and Pakistan, resulting in genocide and the murder of intellectuals. This radical group remains loyal to its ideals and continues to pursue the dream of transforming Bangladesh into a radical, communal state, seeking revenge for its past defeats. During the Liberation War, Jamaat-e-Islami and its collaborators engaged in serious offenses while disseminating misleading propaganda to defend Islam and Pakistan. This period saw acts of genocide and the systematic targeting of intellectuals. The organization remains steadfast in its ideals and continues to pursue the ambition of transforming Bangladesh into a radical and communal state, driven by a desire for retribution for its historical setbacks.
Engineer M. Hossain, Fellow of the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh,
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