Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday urged all international community including the United Nations to recognise March 25 as the International Genocide Day. “Internationally we want that …March 25 will get recognition as the International Genocide Day,” she said. The Prime Minister said this while delivering her introductory speech in the Awami League Parliamentary Board (ALPB) meeting at her official residence Ganabhaban. On the night of March 25 in 1971, the Pakistani military junta resorted to mass killings and arson in Dhaka to implement their blueprint to thwart Awami League assuming office following its victory in the 1970 election. The night also witnessed Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s proclamation of independence before he was arrested by the Pakistani troops and subsequently taken to West Pakistan. The Prime Minister said that Bangladesh had started its journey with this “wound (genocide).” Read more: Why hasn’t the UN recognised 1971 Bangladesh Genocide yet? She mentioned that Pakistani occupational forces had committed genocide over unarmed Bengalis. “They unleashed attacks on the people of Bangladesh in a horrific way and killed people for long nine months,” she said. In this connection, the Awami League chief said that some 30 lakh people embraced martyrdom, three crore people were forcibly became homeless. “They torched homes and one crore people took shelter in India as refugee,” she said. She said that there were dead bodies on the roads, bodies were eaten by jackals and dogs, and the people of the country saw that. “There was inhumane oppression on women, they were taken to the army camps,” she added. The Prime Minister said that Father of the nation had built a country ravaged by the war. “We also got the recognition as the least developed country during his three years and seven months tenure. It was unfortunate that the father of the nation was killed brutally.” She said that blood of the martyrs would never go in vain. “Our Independence that we got in exchange of millions of martyrs, we have attained the status of developing country, we want to build Bangladesh as a developed and prosperous country. It is our pledge to millions of martyrs and to our father of the nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman,” she vowed. Read more: Genocide Day to be observed on Saturday In the attack on March 25, 1971 dubbed 'Operation Searchlight', the Pakistani forces mercilessly killed Bangalee members of the East Pakistan Rifles and police, students, teachers and common people. They killed people indiscriminately, set houses on fire and looted business establishments, leaving a trail of destruction. The day is being observed as Genocide Day officially for the seventh time in the country since the parliament unanimously adopted a resolution on March 11, 2017.

More than 1,500 anti-war crimes campaigners in Bangladesh took to the streets to press home their demand for getting the recognition of March 25 as the international genocide day by the United Nations. Professionals, including university teachers, journalists, lawyers, writers, doctors, engineers among others, took part in as many as 34 different protest rallies simultaneously on Thursday evening on university campuses, in front of press clubs, and at the bases of shaheed Minars across the country. Also read: PM urges global leaders to take action to prevent recurrence of any future genocide Under the banner of One Bangladesh, a platform consisting of pro-liberation professionals, the protesters carried posters that read “UN should recognise March 25 as international genocide day”, “We demand an official apology from Pakistan”, and “Dear Pakistan, stop spreading smears against 1971 war crimes”. Wearing masks and maintaining health protocols amid the coronavirus pandemic, the demonstrators also lit candles commemorating 3 million martyrs and hundreds of thousands of women violated by Pakistani occupation forces during the nine-month Liberation War of Bangladesh in 1971. Read Mission in New Delhi observes Genocide Day