Shill edited the present volume as a rich collection of memories and evaluations of Akhteruzzaman Elias by his friends and relatives, some renowned literary figures of the Bangla language, as well as some occasional thoughts by Elias himself.
Pakistani genocide against Bengalis in 1971: As we ponder the significance of March 25, it is critical to ask ourselves whether the oppressive nature of the state has changed. Are practices such as extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, custodial deaths, and the systematic persecution of religious and ethnic minorities, as well as the structural killing of labourers,
The month of March, 1971. The Ramna Race Course maidan was thronging with people coming from across the country. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the paramount leader of 75 million people, in the immemorially large mass gathering called for independence. In a historic speech, he roared: “The struggle this time is a struggle for our emancipation, the struggle this time is a struggle for independence.” The speech is one of the shining examples of what the Cambridge University historian Jacob F. Field called,