Genocide Day today, countrywide one-minute blackout at 10:30pm
The nation is observing Genocide Day today, recalling the horrors of the genocide on March 25, 1971 committed by the Pakistani occupation army against the unarmed people of Bangladesh.
The interim government and political and socio-cultural organisations have taken different programmes to mark the day.
A symbolic one-minute blackout will be observed nationwide from 10:30pm to 10:31pm today to pay homage to the people who were killed in 鈥極peration Searchlight鈥� of Pakistani occupation forces in the dreadful night of March 25, 1971.
The establishment of emergency services and key point installations, however, will remain out of the purview of the programme, according to an official handout.
Marking the day, chief adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus on Monday remembered all the martyrs who laid down their lives, stressing that it was through their sacrifices that the country achieved its desired independence through a nine-month-long bloody War of Liberation.
The 鈥楴ew Bangladesh鈥� will emerge as a strong, peaceful and democratic country, he said, adding that this is their pledge on the Genocide Day.
In the July uprising, the nation was unshackled from the 鈥榯yranny of dictatorship鈥� through the valour of the students and the masses, Yunus said.
The interim government has undertaken elaborate programmes nationwide to observe Genocide Day.
On the occasion, discussions on the significance of the day will be held in the educational institutions, where freedom fighters and eminent citizens will speak on their memories of the genocide in 1971.
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party has taken a two-day programme, including a freedom fighters鈥� rally in front of the party鈥檚 Naya Paltan central office.
The Left Democratic Alliance will hold a candle-lighting programme at Shikha Chirantan in Suhrawardy Udyan in the capital at 7:00pm.
A seminar on Genocide and the Liberation War will be held at the Liberation War Museum at Agargaon in the city at 10:00am.聽
Exhibitions of rare photographs and screenings of documentaries will be organised in cities, including Dhaka.
The programs of the day will be broadcast on Bangladesh Television and Bangladesh Betar.
Newspapers will publish special supplements on the genocide committed by the Pakistani occupation army.
Special prayers will be held at mosques after Zuhr prayers and other places of worship according to their convenience for the martyrs killed in the night of March 25, 1971.
Any kind of illumination will remain restricted in all government, semi-government, autonomous and private buildings and establishments tonight.
Reminiscences and discussions on the genocide will be held in the presence of eminent personalities and freedom fighters in educational institutions including schools, colleges, and madrassahs.
Similar programmes will be organised at the district and upazila level and Bangladesh missions abroad.
Special prayers, seeking eternal peace for the souls of those killed on the fateful night, will be offered at mosques after Zuhr prayers and at other places of worship at their convenience.
The Jatiya Sangsad unanimously adopted a resolution to observe March 25 as 鈥楪enocide Day鈥� on March 11, 2017.
The Pakistani military launched its infamous 鈥極peration Searchlight鈥� on March 25, 1971, killing several thousand freedom-loving Bengalis that night alone.
As part of the crackdown, tanks rolled out of Dhaka cantonment, and a sleeping city woke up to the rattles of heavy weapon fires as Pakistani troops attacked Dhaka University halls, then East Pakistan Rifles (now Border Guard Bangladesh) headquarters, Rajarbagh Police Lines, and the Old Town of Dhaka killing several thousand unarmed Bengalis.
People tried to resist the occupation army by barricading streets, felling trees, and engaging in other activities while members of the East Pakistan Rifles and police put up a brave fight with outmoded 303 rifles against heavily armed Pakistani troops.
At midnight, occupational troops raided the residential quarters of Dhaka University teachers and the halls and butchered many teachers and students.
In simultaneous attacks that night, many people were killed and injured in the port city of Chattogram and at other places across the country.
The crackdown set off the nine-month War of Independence led by the Mujibnagar government in exile, which ended with the emergence of independent Bangladesh on December 16, 1971.
