The nation yesterday [Thursday] observed the National Mourning Day paying rich tribute to Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on the 38th anniversary of his martyrdom with a fresh call to bring back his fugitive assassins and execute them.
President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina paid glowing tributes to Bangabandhu at Bangabandhu Memorial Museum at Dhanmondi Road No. 32 by placing wreaths at around 6:30 am.
President Abdul Hamid at first placed the wreath paying homage to Bangabandhu and he was followed by the PM while a smartly turned out contingent of the Armed Forces presented guard of honour.
After placing the wreaths, they stood in solemn silence there for some time as a mark of profound respect to the memories of the martyrs of the August 15 massacre. A munajat was also offered with recitations from the Holy Quran seeking the eternal peace of Bangabandhu and others.
Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury, Cabinet members, PM's advisers, Members of the Parliament, the chiefs of the three services, senior leaders of the ruling Awami League [AL] and 14-party alliance and senior government officials were present.
The PM, as the president of ruling party AL, placed a wreath at the portrait of Bangabandhu on behalf of her party. She also went to Bangabandhu Bhaban and put flowers on its stairs whereon the bullet-ridden body of her father was found after one of the most terrible political tragedies in the world history.
Besides, Hasina along with her family members visited the Banani Graveyard in the city yesterday morning and offered fateha at the graves of the martyrs, including Bangamata Fazilatunnesa Mujib, Sheikh Kamal, Sheikh Jamal, Sheikh Russell and the others.
After the PM, thousands of AL leaders, workers and supporters, and people from all walks of life wearing black badges also paid rich homage to the martyrs.
Later, the President and the Premier went to Bangabandhu's ancestral home at Tungipara in the district of Gopalganj and also placed wreaths at Bangabandhu's Mazar Complex marking the national mourning day at about 10:30 am.
They both stood in solemn silence for some time, offered fateha and joined the munajat seeking the eternal peace of the departed soul of Bangabandhu and other martyrs.
Flanked by the central leaders of AL, Sheikh Hasina as the AL president placed another wreath at the Bangabandhu mazar. The chiefs of the three services also saluted Father of the Nation at that time.
Both the President and the Premier later joined a milad mahfil arranged jointly by the Cabinet Division and Gopalganj district administration on the mazar premises seeking divine blessings to martyrs.
On this day in 1975, the country lost its great leader as a cabal of disgruntled junior army officers staged a carnage, assassinating the founder of the Bengali Nation and most of his family members and unseated his three-and-a-half-year-old elected government. Mujib's two daughters - Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana - escaped the death as they were in Germany at that time.
It was a national holiday yesterday. The national flag was hoisted at half-mast at all government, semi-government, autonomous offices, educational institutions and Bangladesh missions abroad in observance of the day.
Meanwhile, the front organisations of AL and other socio-cultural organisations arranged elaborate programmes marking the day yesterday. Besides, thousands of mourners from all strata thronged Bangabandhu Memorial Museum in the city's Dhanmondi and his mazar at Tungipara to pay their tributes by placing wreaths.
Other programmes of the day were including voluntary blood-donation, discussion meetings, photographic exhibitions and distributing foods among the destitutes.
Various government and non-government organisations, political parties, socio-cultural and sports organisations, educational institutions including Dhaka University and BUET have observed the day through separate daylong programs. An art competition of the children was held at Shishu Academy marking the day.
The capital and its adjacent areas yesterday vibrated with the historic speeches of Bangabandhu played on loudspeakers while black banners and posters covered different city roads including Rd-32 at Dhanmondi.
Bangladesh Television, Bangladesh Betar and private TV channels aired special programmes on the occasion of the day while newspapers and magazines published special supplements.
The AL today [Friday] will organize a discussion meeting at the city's Bangabandhu International Conference Centre at 2-30 pm. Party president and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will attend the discussion meeting as the chief guest while party's senior presidium member and deputy leader of the House Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury will chair it.
Apart from the capital, the National Mourning Day was also observed in other districts of the country including Chittagong, Rajshahi, Sylhet, Khulna, Barisal, Rangpur, Natore, Thakurgaon, Barguna, Noakhali, Dinajpur and Nilphamari demanding execution of the rest of the convicted killers of Bangabandhu.
In Chittagong, the people from all walks of life paid rich tributes to Bangabandhu on his 38th martyrdom anniversary in a befitting manner and with brisk programme.
The Chittagong city, north and south district units of the AL and its various front organisations, different socio-cultural organisations, trade unions, district administration and professional bodies organised hundreds of discussion meetings to observe the black day.