Bangladesh PM Tarique Rahman has paid tributes to the martyrs of ‘Genocide Day’ that is observed on March 25, commemorating the unspeakable atrocities and murders committed by the Pakistani occupying forces against the native Bengalis in 1971.
In an official statement posted on X, Rahman described March 25, 1971, as one of the darkest days in Bangladesh’s history. It was the day when Pakistani occupation forces launched Operation Searchlight, carrying out a planned massacre against unarmed civilians, students, teachers, and intellectuals in Dhaka University, Pilkhana, Rajarbagh Police Lines, and other sites in the darkness of night.
March 25, 1971 is observed as Genocide Day. On the occasion of Genocide Day, 1 pay my deepest respect to all the martyrs.
— Tarique Rahman (@trahmanbnp) March 24, 2026
In the history of freedom-loving Bangladesh, 25 March 1971 remains one of the most disgraceful and brutal days. On that dark night, the Pakistani occupation… pic.twitter.com/ENyyvnz8Tw
“However, on the night of 25 March, the 8th East Bengal Regiment in Chattogram formally initiated armed resistance against the genocide by declaring ‘We Revolt’. Through this resistance to genocide, the long nine-month armed Liberation War began, Rahman wrote.
The brutal genocide that the Pakistani forces carried out against the Bengali people of East Pakistan, as Bangladesh was called then, triggered the nine-month Bangladesh Liberation War, which ended with independence in December 1971. Rahman urged citizens to instil the spirit of equality, human dignity, and social justice in the new generation while building a democratic and prosperous Bangladesh. He prayed for eternal peace for the souls of the martyrs.
Bangladesh officially recognises March 25 as Genocide Day to honour the victims of the atrocities, which are estimated to have claimed millions of lives, most of them civilians.
“Let us work together to build a just, developed, prosperous, self-reliant and democratic Bangladesh”, Rahman posted.
