Genocide Day: Letter for int'l recognition by this month
Bangladesh will write to the United Nations this month, seeking recognition of March 25 as Genocide Day, said Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Huq yesterday.
“The foreign minister informed the cabinet last Monday that a letter is ready. He also mentioned the names of the officers who will carry the letter [to the UN]...It will be given within this month,” the minister said at a briefing held at Press Information Department (PID) Conference Hall to declare the programme schedule for Genocide Day.
Diplomats will drum up support in favour of the proposal before placing it to the UN, he added.
On March 11, the Jatiya Sangsad passed a resolution to observe March 25 as Genocide Day. The cabinet on Monday approved the resolution, completing all formalities to recognise the brutal genocide committed on this day in 1971.
From now on, Bangladesh will observe March 25 as Genocide Day, the day when the Pakistan army unleashed its war machine against the population of the then East Pakistan.
Since 2015, the UN has been observing December 9 as the International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and of Prevention of this Crime.
Now Bangladesh will try to persuade the UN into changing the day to March 25 and recognise it as International Genocide Day, Mozammel Huq said.
To observe the first-ever Genocide Day, the ministry has planned several programmes to be organised in the capital and across the country.
It has not been possible to plan elaborate programmes to mark the day due to time shortage. “However, it will remain as a milestone for Bangladesh and the world history as well,” the minister said.
On the day, a photography exhibition and discussion will be arranged at Suhrawardy Udyan. Alongside, cultural and discussion programmes will be held at district and upazila levels.
MA Hannan, secretary of the liberation war affairs ministry, and officials of PID and the Prime Minister's Office were present at the briefing.