News Desk :
Bangladesh observed a one-minute symbolic blackout at 9pm on National Genocide Day on Friday as it is pushing for global recognition of the atrocities committed by the Pakistan Army.
The Pakistan Army swooped down on unarmed Bengalis on the night of Mar 25 in a brutal attempt to crush their struggle for freedom.
Codenamed ‘Operation Searchlight’, it carried out genocide in the early hours of that night in Dhaka. At least 7,000 Bengali were killed only in Dhaka.
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman declared independence before being arrested by the Pakistani forces the same night.
Bengalis retaliated with spectacular resistance and fought for nine months of Liberation War to snatch the victory on Dec 16 when occupying Pakistani forces surrendered to the allied forces backed by India.
Besides the blackout, several organisations lit candles to remember the dark night.
The lights on the streets and buildings of Dhaka University were turned off during the commemoration. The lights of Government Titumir College in Mohakhali were also switched off. At Agargaon, the government offices plunged into darkness, reports bdnews24.com.
A government statement said the whole of Bangladesh would go dark for one minute on Friday night in memory of those killed in the massacre of Mar 25, 1971.
It also instructed the authorities not to illuminate government, semi-government, autonomous and private buildings and installations.
Bangladesh has been demanding that the United Nations declare the day as the World Genocide Day as a mark of protest against the genocides carried out around the globe.
The United Nations, however, in September 2015, recognised Dec 9 as International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and the Prevention of this Crime.
Dec 9 is the anniversary of the adoption of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide or the ‘Genocide Convention’.
Bangladesh’s Parliament in 2017 passed a motion declaring Mar 25 as the National Genocide Day.
This year the day has come with added significance after US-based organisations Genocide Watch and Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention recently recognised the brutal slaughter of Bangladeshis by the Pakistani occupation forces in 1971 as genocide.
