MPs for observing March 25 as Gonohatya Day

Parliament Correspondent: The ruling party parliament members demanded March 25 observe as the Gonohatya Dibas (Day of Genocide) commemorating the brutality carried out by Pakistani Army on the people of Bangladesh on the black night of March 25, 1971.

Leader of the House and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina made the demand while taking part in an unscheduled discussion in the parliament on Wednesday afternoon.

"We can observe the March 25 as Gonohatya Dibas as Pakistani Army carried out history's most barbaric genocide on Bengali people as their leader Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman proclaimed Bangladesh's independence to free the nation from Pakistani subjugation," she told the parliament.

Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed initiated the discussion on the issue on a point of order with Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury in the chair.

Tofail Ahmed said Pakistani author Zunaid Ahmed published a book titled “Creation of Bangladesh: Myths Exploded” under the supervision of the Inter Service Intelligence (ISI) distorting the history of Bangladesh's War of Liberation.

Bangladesh High Commission in Islamabad received a copy of the book recently sent by Pakistan ISPR, Tofail Ahmed said adding that the book held the Freedom Fighters responsible for the genocide carried out by the Pakistani army in 1971.

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, the premier said.

Bearing the brutality of the Pakistani Army in mind, the prime minister said Pakistani soldiers had not only killed people in Dhaka but also conducted barbaric repression on women across the country.

Concluding the debate, Speaker Shirin Sharmin said a notice, already submitted by a lawmaker in this regard, would be discussed to adopt a resolution declaring March 25 as the Gonohayta Dibas.

risingbd/DHAKA/Feb 15, 2017/Nripen/Amirul