Organic intellectuals emerge from within specific social groups and organise the history and ideology of those groups, give them political expression, and build the moral foundations of resistance and collective movements. This is why, in almost every genocide, organic intellectuals are targeted in particular.

The report The Events in East Pakistan 1971, published by the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) in 1972, states that “when the initial crackdown to suppress the Bengalis failed, the Pakistani forces concentrated their attention on certain specific groups, including members of the Awami League, students and intellectuals, and adherents of Hinduism” (p. 31).
Evidence of the preparation of army-approved lists to identify pro-independence intellectuals is found in the diary of Major General Rao Farman Ali, one of the leading Pakistani military officers stationed in Dhaka at the time (Muntasir Mamun, 1999).

Moreover, West Pakistani journalist Anthony Mascarenhas, in his book The Rape of Bangladesh, writes that the army already had prepared lists of individuals to be killed (p. 93).

It is difficult to determine the exact number of intellectuals killed in this manner between 11 and 14 December, in the final days of the Liberation War. Some estimate the number at around two thousand, while others suggest several hundred. In March 2024, however, the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs published the names of 560 martyred intellectuals and stated that a final list would be released at a later date.