Parliament passes motion to mark March 25 as Genocide Day

The House tonight unanimously adopted a resolution to observe March 25 as Genocide Day, marking the brutality carried out by Pakistani Army on the unarmed Bengalis on the black night of March 25, 1971.

Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal lawmaker Shirin Akter from Feni-1 placed the motion in the House which was adopted by voice votes and amid thumping of desks.

In the notice, Shirin proposed taking necessary initiatives to gain international recognition to one of the brutal genocides in the world history committed by the Pakistani occupation forces.

A total of 54 MPs including Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Opposition Leader Raushan Ershad took part in the six hour long discussion.

The government will now have to take steps to observe March 25 as Genocide Day as well as to take measures to gain international recognition of the day.

Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee and others different other organisations have been demanding for long to declare March 26 as genocide day.

While placing the motion in parliament, Shirin Akter said that coward Pakistani army had carried out worst genocide by attacking unarmed sleeping Bangalees in the name of ‘Operation search light’.

Taking part in the discussion, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said recognition of March 25 is crucial as Pakistan government in recent times repeatedly tried to deny the atrocities, which its army unleashed on the innocent people of Bangladesh.

"Pakistani Army carried out history's most barbaric genocide on Bangali people as their leader Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman proclaimed Bangladesh's independence to free the nation from Pakistani subjugation," she said.

Pakistani Army adopted the scorched earth policy during War of Liberation in Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina said, adding, no street, ally, university, police line, village and town were spared from their cruelty.

She also blasted Pakistani author Zunaid Ahmed for publishing a book under the supervision of the Inter Service Intelligence (ISI) distorting the history of Bangladesh's War of Liberation.

The prime minister said the Pakistani rulers could not forget the pain of their defeat in 1971. They thought that Bangladesh as an independent country would be a failed and fragile state.

“But, Bangladesh now has emerged as a role model of development drawing the attention of the global community as a developed and peace-loving nation. So, Pakistan now has launched a new approach to distort the history,” she said.