Dhaka, Mar. 25: Bangladesh’s newly-elected Prime Minister Tarique Rahman Wednesday paid respects to the martyrs of the March 25 genocide carried out by Pakistan in 1971 against unarmed civilians in Bangladesh under Operation Searchlight.

Observing the day as the Genocide Day, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chief, Rahman underlined the “value and significance of independence to the present and future generations,” encouraging them to develop their knowledge about what he called as a “pre-planned massacre.”

The war in 1971 broke after a sudden crackdown at midnight on March 25, 1971 in the erstwhile East Pakistan by the Pakistani troops. It ended on December 16.

The same year Pakistan conceded defeat and unconditionally surrendered in Dhaka to the allied forces comprising the freedom fighters and the Indian soldiers. Officially three million people were killed during the nine-month long war.

Over a post on X, Rahman wrote: “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 forces carried out one of the most heinous genocides in history against the unarmed people of Bangladesh in the name of ‘Operation Searchlight”.

Rahman further wrote: “Let us all strive to honour the sacrifices of the martyrs by establishing in the state and society the spirit of the great Liberation War – equality, human dignity and social justice. Let us work together to build a just, developed, prosperous, self-reliant and democratic Bangladesh.”

Rahman also extended his prayers for forgiveness and peace of the victims of the atrocities, as well as wished success to every programme organised to observe the day across Bangladesh.-Agencies