Martyred Intellectuals' Day

Published : 14 Dec 2020, 11:55

Abu Raihan Al- Birunee

“My favorite definition of an intellectual: Someone who has been educated beyond his/her intelligence.”

- Arthur C. Clarke

 

As we are now 49 years to this exact date, 14th of December, 1971 – It’s inevitable that the word ‘Intellectual’ comes to our mind, with a heavy heart. The context as well as the feeling of the loss considering our situations since that fateful day is simply inconsolable. A simple question comes to our minds every 14th December, what could have happened had those martyred intellectuals been alive?

Defeat in the Liberation War in 1971 of the heinous West Pakistan rulers and their military junta became inevitable by then. They surely knew it. They knew it was all over for them. They could only reduce their damage by avenging against those brilliant minds who had all the abilities to guide a new state to stand tall with its head high. With newfound freedom being free from our tormentors. Almost five decades from that day, it’s more than safe to say that the military junta of West Pakistan along with some of the collaborators certainly knew the damage they had been doing to us would shatter our backbone.

Dr. G. C. Dev, Dr. Munier Choudhury, Dr. Anwar Pasha, Dr. Mohammed Fazle Rabbee - and this list goes on. So does our irrecoverable loss. What the West Pakistan rulers and their military junta did was to break our backbone. A new state was born without many significant minds who were deservedly expected to lead the entire nation since its beginning. Not only we lost plenty of our greatest minds, but we also lost a huge part of the proper guidance that was necessary for us.

As almost five decades have passed since that tragic day, our mourns have only grown louder. Their absence is now felt even more deeply. Because of the vacuum that we are witnessing for a long time. Their tragic and irrecoverable deaths coupled with the subsequent fifty years history of us only prolonged our sighs. On this ‘Martyred Intellectuals' Day,’ all we can hope is someday, maybe someday, we will no longer mourn and sigh with our heavy hearts that we continue to do now.

 

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