1971 killing of Bengali intellectuals

Bengali intellectuals killing in 1971, the Pakistan Army and their local collaborators, most notably the extreme right wing Islamist militia group Al-Badr, engaged in the systematic execution of Bengali pro-liberation intellectuals during the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971, a war crime. Intellectuals were killed throughout the entire duration of the war. The largest number of executions took place on 25 March and 14 December 1971, as it became apparent that Bangladesh would become independent. 14 December is commemorated in Bangladesh as Martyred Intellectuals Day.

Quotes

• But first the Pakistani army had to carry out one final act of frustration and vengeance. With lists in hand, soldiers and paramilitary forces sought out hundreds of Bengali intellectuals that for one reason or another they had so far allowed to survive. Those they picked up in Dacca, Khulna, and Sylhet, among other places, they savagely tortured and murdered, some 250 in Dacca alone, perhaps 2,000 overall. Among the more gruesome mutilations, “The heart of a heart-specialist was taken out, the eyes of an eye-specialist were extracted, the fingers of a writer were chopped off and the throat of an artist was cut.”
  • R.J. Rummel, DEATH BY GOVERNMENT, by R.J. Rummel New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publishers, 1994