TODAY marks the 35th anniversary of the Martyred Intellectuals Day, when paramilitaries loyal to the Pakistan army occupation rounded up professors, litterateurs, artists, journalists, doctors, engineers, and other intellectuals in the dead of night, and tortured them to death, in the waning days of the Liberation War, literally 48 hours before the Pakistan army surrendered unconditionally in Dhaka.

marks the 35th anniversary of the Martyred Intellectuals Day, when paramilitaries loyal to the Pakistan army occupation rounded up professors, litterateurs, artists, journalists, doctors, engineers, and other intellectuals in the dead of night, and tortured them to death, in the waning days of the Liberation War, literally 48 hours before the Pakistan army surrendered unconditionally in Dhaka.

In a sense it is fitting that the day comes just two days before Victory Day because it tempers the celebrations of December 16 with sober reflection on both the price that we paid as a nation to achieve victory and also of the effects those turbulent nine months had on the nation that was forged out of that blood-drenched furnace.

Independence day is a common enough celebration in post-colonial countries. It is less common for independence day to celebrate a military victory since not too many countries achieved their independence through force of arms or revolution, but this is also not unheard of.

However, to my knowledge, the Martyred Intellectuals Day is unique. Countries all around the world honour their war dead and their martyrs and their military veterans, but no one else has a day like this.

It is in the unique features of this day that we can perhaps locate the uniqueness of our liberation struggle and the country that was born out of it.

In some ways the killing of the intellectuals on December 14 was only the culmination of a long-standing policy on the part of the occupation army and its local paramilitaries to target the intellectuals who they believed were the brains and the heart and soul behind the struggle for liberation and independence.

However, the killings of December 14 were far more sinister than the equally repugnant killings of intellectuals that had preceded them.

The December 14 killings were done literally hours before the unconditional surrender of the Pakistan army, and by this time it was clear that the war was over and that nothing could stop Bangladesh from coming into existence as a sovereign nation.

Thus the December 14 killings can be seen as one last dark and depraved act to try to cripple the new-born country -- an act that was born of nothing more than spite and malice and hatred.

For me the killings have always been a good synecdoche for the brutality of the war itself. This stomach-churning act of brutality crystallizes for me what the liberation war was all about.

On the one side, it was a nation fighting for independence and self-determination and the right to live in peace and dignity as a free people.

On the other side, we were opposed by the worst of the worst, soldiers and paramilitaries fighting to maintain their domination over a people they had subjugated and oppressed for a quarter of a century, and willing to go to any lengths of brutality in order to achieve their ends.

I will never countenance any notion that the war of liberation was not the noblest of causes. For those nine months we fought not just for ourselves but for the oppressed of all the world we were on the side of the angels, and no matter what happens to us as a free nation we will always have those glorious nine months to be proud of.

The killings of December 14 are the strongest possible reminder of this truth.

To what extent is December 14 relevant today, 34 years after the fact, when we have a whole new set of troubles to deal with as a free nation?

December 14 remains relevant to hit home to the faint of heart and the unsure that the war was indeed good and necessary. The thought that we could mutually co-exist with the Pakistanis and their local allies is rendered absurd when we look at the acts of savagery that occurred during the war, epitomized by the December 14 massacre.

The events of December 14 are also relevant as we look at the country we have built since then.

I would argue that the reason that Bangladesh has never developed into a country that can truly hold its head up high is that we have never really truly honoured the sacrifice of those who laid down their lives for this country, especially the martyrs of December 14.

Ak shagor rokter binimoye,
Banglar shadinota anlo jara,
Amra tomader bhulbo na . . .

We sing the words but the sad truth is that we do forget them, we have forgotten them.

December 14 is a reminder of our collective failure as a nation to avenge the deaths of those who died so that this country could be born and of our failure to build a country worthy of their memory.

It is when we think of the sacrifices that were made to bring Bangladesh into being that the true enormity of what we have not done hits us.

No nation can grow and prosper if it does not honour its mothers and fathers, if it does not honour itself -- and Bangladesh does not.

To this day no case has ever been brought against those who were guilty of those heinous crimes on that dark day 34 years ago.

Those who were instrumental in carrying out the massacre walk free among us and some of them have even reached to the pinnacle of public life.

What kind of country tolerates this kind of abomination?

What kind of country rehabilitates the worst kinds of traitors and turns them into public figures?

What kind of country allows those with blood on their hands -- those who opposed the very liberation of the country with every ounce of their being -- to roam the corridors of power?

December 14 rightly reminds us all of the shame and dishonour that we accept as Bangladeshis every day we walk this earth, and of the shame that permeates our beloved motherland.

Today the lessons of December 14 are even more important than ever for us as a nation.

Today we stand at a crossroads. The country is being torn apart by terrorists who openly identify themselves as the spiritual heirs of the murderous Razakars of 1971, who threaten dire retribution if December 14 and December 16 are retained as national days instead of August 14.

It is important to remember December 14 as we steel ourselves for the battle ahead. December 14 reminds us of what the stakes are. It reminds us of who we are fighting and what we are fighting for.

Like 1971, this is a fight between the light and the dark and we should never forget it. There is a direct line between those dark nights and those dark deeds and what is happening in the country today.

In this life, there are some acts that can never be forgiven.

The killings of December 14 are such acts.

We should never forget and we should never forgive. To do so would be to dishonour the memory of those who died that night and to dishonour the very foundation of this nation.

Likewise, we can never close our eyes to or turn our backs on what is happening in Bangladesh today. Today we are paying the price for having gone so long not truly honouring the martyrs of December 14.

I believe that not honouring them has led directly to what we are facing now. The terrorists today and the Razakars of 1971 are two sides of the same coin.

It is not too late to unite to rid the country of the terrorists.

But if we are to succeed in our present fight against the terrorists, we have to first acknowledge that we need to truly honour the martyred intellectuals.

We cannot win the fight against the terrorists unless we create a society that truly honours the martyred intellectuals.

Zafar Sobhan is Assistant Editor of The Daily Star.