Announce April 10 as ‘Republic Day’

Speakers at a conference yesterday demanded announcing April 10 as “Republic Day” since Bangladesh’s Proclamation of Independence was adopted on this day in 1971.

“I believe that April 10 — the day on which Bangladesh emerged as an independent country — will be recognised as Republic Day,” said Barrister M Amir-ul Islam, who drafted the proclamation, while presenting a keynote at the event held at Dhaka’s Foreign Service Academy.

Bangladesh Institute of Law and International Affairs (BILIA) organised the conference titled “The Proclamation of Independence: 10th April 1971 and Birth of a Sovereign Republic”.

Amir-ul Islam said, “The Proclamation of Independence is the constitutional basis of the state named People’s Republic of Bangladesh, which was born on April 10, 1971 in Mujibnagar. The proclamation is the birth certificate of Bangladesh.”

Speaking as chief guest, Prime Minister’s Energy Adviser Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury said, “Bangladesh’s Proclamation of Independence is a result of a long-run movement for independence in which Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was at the epicentre.”

He stressed on preserving the history of “Republic Day” using technology and spreading it to the young generation.

According to a press release issued by BILIA, former high commissioner of India to Bangladesh Veena Sikri said the March 7 speech of Bangabandhu and the Proclamation of Independence of April 10 are the “arts of events” in the history of Bangladesh.

Indian army officer who took part in the fight for Bangladesh’s liberation and author of the book “From East Pakistan to Bangladesh” Brig (retd) RP Singh, former police superintendent Mahbub Uddin Ahmed, historian Syed Anwar Hossain, and Liberation War veteran Nasir Uddin Usuf spoke at the event.

Meanwhile, Sohel Taj, son of Bangladesh’s first prime minister Tajuddin Ahmad, has also demanded announcing April 10 as “Republic Day” in a memorandum to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Gazi Hafizur Rahman, personal secretary-2 to the prime minister, received the memorandum at the entrance of Gono Bhaban yesterday, following a sit-in on Manik Mia Avenue in front of the parliament.

Speakers in a separate event in Dhaka organised by Ekattorer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee also demanded April 10 to be observed nationally.