They were teachers who shaped young minds, doctors who healed the sick, writers who gave voice to a people, and scientists who dreamed of a brighter future. During the Liberation War of 1971, they were taken from their homes, not only for what they had done, but also for what they represented.
What unfolded in 1971 was genocide. The Pakistani Army and their local collaborators did not merely fight a war; they attempted to amputate a nation. Killing soldiers may weaken an army, but killing intellectuals cripples a nation. Their intent was chillingly clear: a Bangladesh without teachers, without doctors, without writers, without scientists — a Bangladesh left empty even if independence was won.
Since 1971, successive governments have repeatedly pledged to compile a complete list of martyred intellectuals. Yet each promise has ended in failure, with the most recent attempt also falling by the wayside.
The Ministry of Liberation War Affairs has stalled its effort to compile a comprehensive list of martyred intellectuals — an initiative launched in 2020 to address the absence of a complete record. The work was originally scheduled for completion by December 16 of last year.
Since its inception, the ministry has issued four gazettes naming 560 intellectuals, based on recommendations from a national committee and its sub-committee. However, progress has come to a standstill, as both committees have remained inactive since March and July of last year.
One committee member, requesting anonymity, remarked: "Since then, there has been complete silence. I fear this initiative may never see the light of day again."
Ishrat Chowdhury, secretary of the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs, acknowledged that the process of preparing a comprehensive list of martyred intellectuals has stalled.
She explained that they have already published gazettes containing the names currently in their possession.
When asked if the initiative had ended, she said: "At the moment, there is no such work going on. That doesn't mean we won't do it; it just means we are not doing it right now."
She added that the committees formed to oversee the task are no longer active. "Since there is no initiative, the committees are not functioning," she noted.
THE UNANSWERED QUESTION
Even after 54 years of the country's independence, in the absence of a proper and comprehensive list, it is still unclear how many intellectuals embraced martyrdom.
A committee member said that the names of martyred intellectuals can be found in the Shaheed Buddhijibi Koshgrantha, the 1972 government documentary Bangladesh, Banglapedia, and on postal stamps.
Shaheed Buddhijibi Koshgrantha listed 328 martyred intellectuals, but noted that the list was not complete.
The documentary Bangladesh stated that 1,109 intellectuals were martyred.
Banglapedia estimated that 1,111 intellectuals were killed — including 991 academics, 49 physicians, 42 lawyers, 13 journalists, nine litterateurs and artists, five engineers, and two others.
Many researchers, however, believe the total number of martyred intellectuals could be much higher. Members of the Buddhijibi Nidhan Tathyanusandhan Committee, set up in 1972, had made a primary list of 20,000 intellectuals who were killed.
THE 2020 INITIATIVE
On November 19, 2020, the then government formed an 11-member committee comprising freedom fighters, researchers, and officials to finally assemble a complete list.
The committee's first meeting in December 2020 approved 1,222 names for the primary list. Of them, 1,070 were names the ministry already had, and 152 were obtained from postal stamps issued in the names of martyred intellectuals at various times.
Littérateurs, philosophers, scientists, artists, teachers, researchers, journalists, lawyers, physicians, engineers, architects, sculptors, government and non-government employees, politicians, social workers, cultural activists, musicians, and people involved in film-making, theatre, and the arts who were killed by Pakistani forces or went missing between March 25, 1971, and January 31, 1972, are being defined as martyred intellectuals, several committee members said.
Following the committee's recommendation, the government published the names of 191 martyred intellectuals in May 2021; 143 in May 2022; 108 in February last year; and another 118 in March last year.
Mohiuddin Alamgir is a senior reporter at The Daily Star.
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