The Carter Academy

TCA observed Genocide Day for first time March 25, 2017

Genocide in the international eyes:

Refugees stream across the River Ganges Delta at Kushtia, fleeing the violence in East Pakistan during the ongoing West Pakistani military campaign called Operation Searchlight. (AP Photo/Michel Laurent) () Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/genocide-us-cant-remember-bangladesh-cant-forget-180961490/#ZbRcvoGydKsy6vpU.99 Give the gift of Smithsonian magazine for only $12! http://bit.ly/1cGUiGv Follow us: @SmithsonianMag on Twitter — Refugees stream across the River Ganges Delta at Kushtia, fleeing the violence in East Pakistan during the ongoing West Pakistani military campaign called Operation Searchlight. (AP Photo/Michel Laurent). http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/genocide-us-cant-remember-bangladesh-cant-forget-180961490/#ZbRcvoGydKsy6vpU.99

“Our government has failed to denounce the suppression of democracy. Our government has failed to denounce atrocities… Our government has evidenced what many will consider moral bankruptcy.” – Archer Blood, American diplomat, April 6, 1971.

Blood wrote this dispatch two weeks into the bloody massacre that would lead to the birth of Bangladesh. Unlike the Rwandan genocide, or the Holocaust, or the killing that followed the breakup of Yugoslavia, the genocide in Bangladesh that ended 46 years ago this week has largely slipped out of public awareness—even though the upper estimate for the death toll is 3 million.

The Carter Academy (TCA) on Saturday (March 25) observed the ‘Genocide Day’ for the first time in a befitting manner as elsewhere across the country raising a strong demand for having the day recognized as an international day. Marking the day, TCA arranged a discussion meeting at the academy auditorium, commemorating the cowardly attack on Bangalees and mass killing in Dhaka by the Pakistani occupation forces on March 25 in 1971.

The programme started with a recitation from the holy Quran by the class IX student Faysal Mahmud. Professor Md. Ismail Topader, Principal of the academy presided over the program while Senior Teacher Makhan Chandra Biswas acted as the anchor. One minute silence was observed to show respect to the memories of the martyrs of the War of Independence in 1971, particularly the victims of March 25, in the beginning of the event. In his speech Professor Ismail highlighted the massacre of thousands of innocent and unarmed Bangalees in the black night of March 25, 1971, by the Pakistani occupation forces. Vice Principal Mohammad Nazrul Islam, Coordinator Ibrahim Ali Molla, class X student Faria Momo, and Saykat Debnath spoke highlighting the significance and background of the day at the programme. Senior faculty, administration members, Adjutant, and students were present.

This year, the “Genocide Day” was observed a day before the Independence Day and National Day to be celebrated on Sunday (March 26). On March 11, 2017, Parliament unanimously adopted a resolution to observe March 25 as the Genocide Day. The Cabinet Division issued a gazette notification on March 21 in this regard.

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Mohammad Nazrul Islam, Vice Principal, TCA