Asad Day today
The nation will observe the 45th martyrdom anniversary of Asad today in a betting manner.
On the day, the people of the country will remember the sacrifice of the hero of the 1969 mass upsurge that swept away the regime of strongman Ayub Khan.
Student leader Asad was shot dead by the then Pakistan police at the height of the mass movement that hastened the fall of the military ruler after over a decade of his iron rule.
Continuing that movement, the nation achieved independence in 1971 following the nine-month long War of Liberation.Various socio-cultural and political organizations have chalked out various programmes to observe the day.
President Md Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina have given messages marking the day.
In separate messages, they paid tribute to the memory of Shaheed Asad on the occasion of Shaheed Asad Day.
They prayed for peace of the departed soul of Shaheed Asad, who was killed by police in front of Dhaka Medical College Hospital on January 20 during the mass movement in 1969.
In his statement, President Abdul Hamid said that the sacrifice of martyr Asad did not go in vain.
After Asad’s killing, the movement turned into a mass upsurge and Bangladesh emerged as an independent country through the great War of Liberation at the call of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, he said. In her message, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said Asad was killed in police firing on January 20, 1969, at the beginning of the mass upsurge.
When people of Bangladesh were perplexed due to discriminatory behaviour and repression of Pakistani rulers, the historic six-point demand of Bangabandhu emerged as a beacon of emancipation of the Bangalee Nation, she said.
The then military ruler Ayub Khan implicated Bangabandhu in a ‘sedition’ case known as ‘Agartala Conspiracy Case’ being afraid of his popularity, added Sheikh Hasina.
She said, when the people of Bangladesh protested against the case, police killed Asaduzzaman, a master degree student of Dhaka University, at a protest rally in front of Dhaka Medical College Hospital on January 20, 1969.
The supreme sacrifice of Asad triggered the mass upsurge that brought the fall of autocratic ruler Ayub Khan, she added.