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Reflecting on the Martyred Intellectuals

Shamsher Chowdhury
WE are on the threshold of the 38th year of Martyred Intellectuals' Day. Those who sacrificed their lives were teachers, professionals, litterateurs and their likes of exceptional caliber. When I look back at that dreadful day, I am not only sad but also pensive. One of our failures as a nation has been our inability to duly assess and recognize the contributions made by such worthy sons of the soil. I am often gripped by this uncomfortable feeling that they perhaps died in vain.
Government after government came and went and all one comes across, is hectic activities in washing and cleaning of the memorials on the night before followed by a gathering of people at the site paying "homage" to the Martyrs on the day and thereafter all is forgotten until another year passes by.
They talk about bringing to justice those guilty of the hei-
nous crime committed in these gruesome murders and yet nothing happens other than the media publishing some gory pictures of the killing fields including the tragic accounts of how, when and where some of them were kidnapped and murdered. Each year it is all a one-day affair. Discussion meetings too are held on some of them recalling the life and times of those who sacrificed their lives. There is nothing wrong with it except for the fact that these have now tuned into empty rhetoric and meaningless rituals.
I keep asking myself as to what about the ideals and ideologies they lived for and died? There will always be devils in society but the question is have we been any better ourselves? Look at the state of the polluted environment in tire educational institutions right up to its highest seat, the universities. These have become veritable centres for obtaining degrees and no longer serve as the house of learning and education. Many of today's teachers are, pardon my
saying so, morally and ethically bankrupt. They even indulge in tampering with the laid down processes of admissions. A large section of them thrive on partisanpolitics, theworstofitskind.
Doctors are issuing fake certificates and have become instruments of money making more than coming to the aid of the sick, more so the poor and the disadvantaged. The spirit of service to humanity has taken a crude blow and the downward swing of their moral and ethical calling is indeed horrifying.
Our media has become highly commercial and its gurus of today are engaged in subtle balancing acts including tailoring news and views often in complete disregard of the truths and realities” on the ground. Admittedly, it has often risen to the occasion in molding public opinion during certain critical junctures facing the nation but thereafter the story has been one of convenience and serving the interests of its owners. I may be wrong to some extent but I am almost certain
there is considerable truth in what I have stated. It is not only worrying but also painful.
Those who died were people of conscience and commitment. They taught us how to be of service to fellow beings, they taught us compassion, tolerance, forgiveness and how to treat the unfortunate and the downtrodden alongside the unfortunate. They taught us to be free in our thoughts and action. They knew that it was better to be a failed matriculate than being a graduate through unfair means. Those who gave their lives on this fateful day were people whose ideals and ideology were a part and parcel of the foundation of our nation and nationhood.
Our best tributes to these intellectuals would be to build a society that represents the very ideals they lived for and died. What we needed most today is a Munier Chowdhury, a G.C. Dev, a Shaheedullah Kaiser, a Mufazzal Haider Chowdhury, a Dr. Shamsuzzoha and more of their kind that gave their lives.
Let us turn our tragedies into our strength. It is towards that objective that we should work with real earnest without loosing further time; that and that alone would be a befitting tribute and homage to these intellectuals who died some 37 years ago at the hands of those hyenas.
Admittedly all that can only be brought about through a conscious social movement, a task that is not only long drawn but also require participation of all sections of the civil society and intellectuals, who above all, are honest, morally above reproach, independent in their thought and action.
In the meantime, the government should come forward and do more than just observe the day year after year by going through some ritualistic exercises.
It should include the lives and times of some of the leading martyred intellectuals in the school curricula, for they were” a part and parcel of those valiant fighters of our liberation war”.
The print and the electronic media should come forward and highlight the achievements of these martyred intellectuals and do so, not just as a yearly event but throughout the year at reasonable intervals.
Today many of the living spouses of these intellectuals have not only grown old but also passing their days in solitude. Some of them are also reeling under spiraling prices. The government arid conscious members of the civil city should not only inquire about their mental and physical well-being but also provide succor by way of free basic medical services and help and make them feel that they too are an integral and important part of society. They should routinely be invited to all important national day functions at Bangabhaban and elsewhere.
Can't we try to pay back a bit of the heavy debt that we owe to those martyrs?
The writer Is a columnist.