It was December 11, 1971. A N M Golam Mostofa, Veteran journalist of the then daily Purba Desh was catering to family duties. The time was hectic for the family as Mostofa's nine-month-old son Anirban cried the whole night. Around 4 am in the morning, just after the Fajr prayer, Mostofa stepped outside to the porch of their Gopibagh house. Mostofa's father was sitting there counting the Tasbih while Mostofa continued to sooth his son. Anirban's mother was then caring Mostofa's daughter Urmi, and fell asleep when the family witnessed the most tragic incident of their lives. The Pakistan supporting group Al Badr surrounded their whole household and they asked for Golam Mostofa. Standing right in front of them, Mostofa asked what was this all about. They told him it was related to official work and he needed to go to Purba Desh's office immediately. Mostofa put down Anirban from his lap and left with them and that was the last he was seen by anyone. After five days, on 16 December, piles of dead bodies were found in Rayar Bazar, near a brick factory. After 45 years of independence, we know this area of Rayer Bazar as the Martyred Intellectuals Memorial, which stands to salute intellectuals such as Golam Mostofa, who gave up their lives for our country.

The blueprint of killing the cream of the crop of soon to be Bangladesh was nothing but a desperate attempt by the Pakistani Army. Though during the nine months of war they killed many intellectuals, this mass killing started from 11 December and even continued after December 16. The largest number of assassinations took place on December 14. On that day the Pakistani Army with the help of their local collaborators, most notably the alleged Islamist militia groups Al Badr and Al Shams rounded up over 200 intellectuals from East Pakistan including professors, journalists, doctors, artists, engineers, and writers.