Remembrance Day

On the evening of 25th March, the martial law regime launched Operation Searchlight and attacked the Dhaka University and the Old Dhaka area killing civilians indiscriminately. The killings went on throughout the next day. Boarders of the non-Muslim students hostel of Dhaka University namely the Jagannath Hall were massacred. The Hindu inhabited neighbourhoods like Shankharibazar and Tantibazar in Old Dhaka were destroyed and its residents massacred.

After the midnight of 26th the Pakistan Army attacked the Ramna Kali temple complex situated in the middle of the Dhaka Race Course ground. They massacred more than hundred residents, mostly priests and devotees of the temple and the adjoining Ma Anandamoyee Ashram. Following the killings, the Pakistan Army destroyed the 120 feet high iconic Ramna Kali temple. Throughout the 27th, the Pakistan Army destroyed many more temples and Hindu religious structures and complexes in Dhaka and across the province. In Dhaka, the Shiva temple near Medical College was destroyed. In Sylhet District, the famous Nimbarka Ashram was attacked and destroyed.

If it was not clear on the first two days who the targets of the Pakistan Army were, on 27th March it became evident that the Bengali Hindus as a group were the primary targets of the army’s genocidal campaign. In view of this, 27th March was adopted as the Bengali Hindu Genocide Remembrance Day at a press conference in Kolkata, on the eve of the 50th anniversary of the destruction of the Ramna Kali temple. In 2022, the Bengali Hindu Genocide Remembrance Day was commemorated at Kolkata and New York.