The film Shilalipi, directed by Shameem Akhtar, is a fictionalised version of the life story of Shahid Selina Parveen, a writer, poet, and magazine editor who was picked up, tortured, and killed by collaborators of the occupying Pakistani army during the war of 1971.

Fifty-three years is a long time—long enough for memories to fray, for many details to be lost, and for even those that endure to begin to fade.

During the tumultuous days of the July Uprising in 2024, a name that surfaced repeatedly was that of Shamsuzzoha, an exceptional teacher and academician from the Department of Chemistry at Rajshahi University.

Despite the widely-held non-agreement regarding the definition of such an overused but not-so-old word called ‘intellectual’, it is not difficult, I think, to map the overall role of the intellectuals in the society in any given context.

During the Vietnam War, Noam Chomsky was critical of the role of intellectuals, identifying them as subservient to power while the US was abusing human rights in the war.

“Knock! Knock!! Knock!!! Sir, please come outside, we need to talk.”

The role of intellectuals in society has been extensively examined from  both western and southern experiences, often categorising them based on their application of knowledge.

Over fifty years ago, during the final days of the 1971 war, a significant number of intellectuals—professors, doctors, journalists, and others—were brutally murdered just before the fall of Dhaka, when the Pakistani-occupied forces and their collaborators were on the verge of surrendering.