The families of freedom fighters and martyrs have demanded the global recognition of the Pakistan Army's brutal massacres of unarmed Bengalis in 1971 as 'genocide'. At the same time, they demanded that Pakistan punishes those responsible for the atrocity. They made the demands at a discussion on '1971’s Genocide and Pakistan's Barbarism'organized by Sampriti Bangladesh at the Jatiya Press Club on Friday. Read:AL appeals for global recognition of 1971 genocide Minister for Industries Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun said Pakistan has to apologize for the killings that took place during the Liberation War in 1971. “Today it is proved that there has been massacre, genocide, 3 million of our people have been martyred, innumerable mothers and sisters have been tortured.” “We will try to establish March 25 as the Genocide Day,” the minister added. Although, March 25 has been observed nationally as Genocide Day since 2017, the day has not yet been recognized globally, said Convener of Sampriti Bangladesh Pijush Bandyopadhyay. “The United States has recently acknowledged the persecution of the Rohingya, but no country has acknowledged the horrific massacre of March 25 in 1971 in Bangladesh,” he said. Meanwhile, speakers at the event said that there was an attempt to distort the history of the horrors of March 25 after August 15, which is still going on. And so, they are trying to spread the spirit of the liberation war from house to house, the events of the genocide of March 25 in 1971, to give the ‘history’ to the new generation. Read: One-min blackout to mark Genocide Day tonight Sampriti Bangladesh Member Secretary Dr Mamun Al Mahtab, Member of Parliament Aroma Dutta, Bir Pratik Lt. Col. Sajjad Ali Zahir (Retd.), Col. Taufiqur Rahman (Retd.) and martyred intellectual's son Noto Kishore Aditya also spoke at the discussion.

Prominent civil society members staged a protest in the capital on Monday, demanding speedy and exemplary punishment for the perpetrators of communal attacks in Bangladesh. The protest came in the wake of a series of attacks on the minority Hindus during Durga Puja celebrations.  Under the aegis of Sampriti Bangladesh, a citizens’ platform promoting secularism, a large crowd gathered at Central Shaheed Minar on Monday afternoon and placed a seven-point demand for maintaining religious harmony in the country. Read:Communal violence: Protesters stage demo at Shahbagh Holding placards and banners, the civil society activists demanded the necessary steps for the "complete eradication of fundamentalism" from the country. In fact, a total of 89 non-communal and pro-liberation organisations expressed solidarity with the protesters, Sampriti said.