Recognise March 25 as International Genocide Day, PM urges UN

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today urged all international communities including the United Nations to recognise March 25 as International Genocide Day.

"Internationally we want...March 25 to get recognition as International Genocide Day," she said.

The prime minister said this while delivering her introductory speech in the Awami League Parliamentary Board (ALPB) meeting at the Gono Bhaban.

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 "wounds (genocide)".

She noted how Pakistani occupational forces committed genocide on unarmed Bangalees.

"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 were martyred, three crore people became homeless.

"They torched homes and one crore people took shelter in India as refugees," she said.

"There was inhumane oppression on women after they were taken to army camps," she added.

The prime minister recalled how Father of the nation Bangabandhu 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.

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.