DHAKA, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) -- Bangladesh Wednesday observed Martyred Intellectuals Day in commemoration of the martyrdom of the members of the intelligentsia assassinated at fag end of the country's nine-month-long war for independence in 1971.
Bangladeshi President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday morning paid their tributes to the best sons of the soils by placing wreaths at the Martyred Intellectuals' Mausoleum in capital Dhaka's Rayerbazar area.
Ex-Prime Minister Khaleda Zia also paid her respect at the memorial, which was covered with floral wreaths placed by thousands of people from all strata of life and hundreds of political social and cultural organizations.
More than 200 intellectuals including professors, journalists, doctors, artistes, engineers, and writers were picked up in Dhaka on the night of Dec. 14 in 1971 by Al-Badr, an auxiliary force of the then Pakistani occupation army.
Just two days after the Dec. 14 carnage, Bangladesh on Dec. 16 became independent through the surrender of Pakistani occupation forces.
Since then, the day is being observed as the Martyred Intellectuals Day in Bangladesh.
Motiur Rahman Nizami, Abdul Quader Molla, Muhammad Kamaruzzaman, Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid and Mir Quasem Ali, leaders of opposition Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami party, which allegedly collaborated with the Pakistani forces in 1971 to prevent an independent Bangladesh, have already been executed for 1971 war crimes.
Apart from them, opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party leader Salaudin Quader Chowdhury was also executed for war crimes.
After returning to power in January 2009, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, daughter of Bangladesh's independence hero Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, established the first tribunal in March 2010 to try the war criminals.
Both BNP and Jamaat have dismissed the court as a government "show trial," saying it is a domestic set-up without the oversight or involvement of the United Nations.
The government of Hasina said about 3 million people were killed in the war.
