Dhaka, Dec. 14 -- The nation is observing Martyred Intellectuals Day today (Sunday), commemorating the intellectuals who were systematically killed by the Pakistan occupation forces and their local collaborators in the final days of the Liberation War in 1971.

On this day in 1971, eminent academicians, physicians, engineers, journalists, artists, teachers and other leading figures of the country were forcibly taken from their homes, blindfolded, and carried to undisclosed locations, where they were brutally tortured and murdered.

Their bodies were later discovered at Rayerbazar, Mirpur and several other killing fields in the capital.

Anticipating their inevitable defeat, the Pakistani forces, along with collaborators such as Al-Badr, A...