Awami League pays tribute to four national leaders

The ruling Awami League and its associate bodies on Wednesday paid glowing tribute to  Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and four slain national leaders on the occasion of Jail Killing Day.

Marking the day, the Awami League leaders and activists paid homage to Bangabandhu by placing wreaths on his portrait in front of Bangabandhu Memorial Museum at Dhanmondi 32 in Dhaka.

The four national leaders — Syed Nazrul Islam, Tajuddin Ahmed, Captain Md Mansur Ali, and AHM Quamaruzzaman — were killed inside the Dhaka Central Jail on this day in 1975.

The assailants of the August 15, 1975 carnage with the support of their political patron Khondker Mostaq Ahmed gunned down the four captive leaders and top associates of Bangabandhu.

The aim was to expose Bangladesh to extreme wilderness after killing Bangabandhu along with most of his family members and toppling his post-independence government.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Jail Killing Day this year too is observed across the country on a limited scale, maintaining the health safety guidelines.

At 8am, Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader paid homage to Bangabandhu, on behalf of his daughter and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, by placing a wreath at the Bangabandhu Memorial Museum at Dhanmondi 32, reports BSS.

Later, flanked by central leaders of the party, he placed another wreath at the portrait of Bangabandhu on behalf of the Awami League.

Around 9am, Quader along with Awami League senior leaders went to Banani graveyard.

At first, he paid respect to Syed Nazrul Islam, Tajuddin Ahmed, and Captain Md Mansur Ali by placing wreaths on their graves on behalf of the prime minister.

Later, he and other ruling party leaders paid tribute on behalf of the party. Tribute was also paid to the grave of AHM Quamaruzzaman in Rajshahi.

The Awami League leaders offered fateha and a milad mahfil and special munajat were also held there.

Awami League Presidium members Matia Chowdhury, Dr Abdur Razzaque, Shajahan Khan and Jahangir Kabir Nanak, Joint General Secretary Dr Hasan Mahmud, Joint General Secretaries Mahbubuln Alam Hanif, Dr Dipu Moni and AFM Bahauddin Nasim, Organizing Secretaries Ahmed Hossain, Advocate Afzal Hossain, Mirza Azam, Liberation War Affairs Secretary Mrinal Kanti Das, Science and Technology Affairs Secretary Abdus Sabur, Office Secretary Barrister Biplab Barua, Central Working Committee member Dr Mustafa Jalal Mohiuddin and Deputy Office Secretary Sayem Khan, among others, were present on the occasion.

Awami League’s daylong program started with lowering the national and party flags at half-mast and hoisting a black flag at Bangabandhu Bhaban and Awami League offices across the country, including its central office, at dawn on Wednesday as a mark of respect to the martyrs of November 3, 1975.