The razakar, Al-Badr, Al Shams and similar groups, who collaborated with the Pakistani army, will always be remembered for their sinister role during 1971.

Choudhury offered a stark diagnosis of the present. Bangladesh, he said, is moving away from the spirit of the martyred intellectuals for two reasons: a shrinking practice of history and its growing distortion; and a widening distance from the dreams and consciousness of the Liberation War.

We must uphold intellectual freedom to honour their sacrifice.

As political tensions mounted in East Pakistan, her poetry underwent a decisive transformation.

I remember reading a memorable quote from one of the characters in Humayun Ahmed's novel Jochona O Jononir Golpo (2004). She says something along the lines of: "Muktijuddho touched every Bangladeshi soul.

Around 10:00pm on March 25, 1971, Dr Zikrul Haque had just sat down to eat when one of his sons suddenly announced that the military had surrounded their house in Nilphamari’s Saidpur. While panic spread through the family, Zikrul remained calm, as though prepared for what was to come.

When the Liberation War erupted, Raihan crossed into Kolkata—not to retreat, but to fight with his camera.

During the First World War, he served in the Royal British Army, fought in Iraq with the Bengal Infantry (Bengali Paltan), and later joined the 1919 Victory March in London, where he was awarded the prestigious Sword of Honour.

An incomplete list of Martyred Intellectuals

Abdul Muktadir was a gifted geologist and a deeply admired teacher at Dhaka University.

Since 1971, successive governments have repeatedly pledged to compile a complete list of martyred intellectuals.

In 1948, his historic demand in the Pakistan Constituent Assembly that Bangla be recognised alongside Urdu ignited the first spark of what would later become the Language Movement.

My last sighting of Munier Bhai was right in front of the English Department verandah.

During the Liberation War, his home became a refuge for freedom fighters.

When the Liberation War erupted in 1971, Dr Alim transformed his medical chamber into a place of refuge.

Dr Jyotirmoy Guhathakurta was among Dhaka University’s most distinguished educationists—an intellectual shaped by liberal, secular, and humanist ideals.

Dr Gobinda Chandra Deb was among the finest philosophers produced by Bengal, a thinker whose life was guided by profound humanism, ethical reason, and compassion.

He continued to provide secret medical care in the Hatirpool slums and other high-risk areas across Dhaka, where the injured could not afford visibility—or delay.

bul Hashem Mia was a scholar of Political Science and Law, having earned his degrees from Dhaka University.

Professor Giyasuddin Ahmad’s life was inseparable from the values he taught