Dhaka, March 25 : As Bangladesh observes Genocide Day on Wednesday, former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina paid tribute to the millions of people killed during the 1971 brutal crackdown by Pakistani forces.

Recalling it as the most horrific night in the life of the Bangladeshi people, Hasina said on March 25, 1971, the Pakistani military launched "Operation Searchlight", beginning a systematic campaign to exterminate the Bangladeshi Bengalis.

"Within nine months, the death toll of this brutal genocide rose to over 3 million. Since such extreme brutality had no precedent in Bengali history, an exact Bengali term for 'genocide' has never truly emerged; the commonly used word 'genocide' is applied to convey its meaning," read a statement issued by the former PM, which was posted by Awami League on its social media platform X.

"On this dark night, I remember the great leader of the Bengali liberation struggle, the Father of the Nation, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who was arrested that very night by the occupying Pakistani forces. I pay my respects to the countless martyrs whose sacred blood has stained this soil," she added.

Hasina stated that to ensure that the "atrocities and barbarity" committed by the occupying Pakistani forces are recognised both nationally and internationally, the Awami League government during its tenure made a historic declaration on March 11, 2017, in the national Parliament, marking March 25 as 'Genocide Day'.

"We have sought to inform the world about the heavy price of our independence and to strengthen the global demand for justice for this genocide," said the former PM.

Hasina stressed that despite domestic and international "conspiracies and pressure", the former Awami League government ensured that several identified perpetrators of crimes against humanity face exemplary punishment through due legal process.

"This was not an act of vengeance," she said, "but a necessary step toward justice, the rule of law, and ending the culture of impunity."

Slamming the former Muhammad Yunus-led interim government, Hasina said, "During the tenure of the Yunus government, this trial process was halted, and convicted war criminals were released. A death-row war criminal was even made a member of the National Parliament, thereby dishonouring the sacrifice of millions of martyrs."

"In continuation of this trend, there are ongoing efforts to deliberately undermine the sacred memory of the martyrs and to rehabilitate collaborators of the perpetrators and defeated forces in various ways. This is not only a distortion of history but also an attack on the spirit of the freedom fight," she added.

Emphasising the unity shown during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, the former PM said that any attempt to rehabilitate the killers and reintroduce Pakistani ideology in the country must be resisted through national solidarity.

/IANS