Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
DCAB pays tribute to Bangabandhu
The Diplomatic Correspondents Association, Bangladesh (DCAB) on Friday paid tribute to Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at Dhanmondi 32 in Dhaka.
DCAB members, led by its President Rezaul Karim Lotus and General Secretary Abu Hena Emrul Kayesh, placed a wreath at Bangabandhu's portrait in front of the Bangabandhu Memorial Museum.
They also stood in silence for a few moments showing profound respect to the memory of the Father of the Nation, his family members, Liberation War martyrs and Freedom Fighters.
Read more: FOSA pays tributes to Bangabandhu at Tungipara
Rezaul Karim Lotus, executive editor of the Daily Sun, and Abu Hena Emrul Kayesh, special correspondent of BanglaVision, were elected president and general secretary, respectively, of the executive committee of DCAB for 2023 on December 29 last year.
PM pays homage to Bangabandhu at Tungipara
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Friday offered prayers at the mausoleum of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in Tungipara in Gopalganj.
The prime minister, accompanied by her younger sister Sheikh Rehana and family members, offered fateha and joined a munajat seeking eternal peace of departed souls of Father of the Nation and other martyrs of August 15, 1975 carnage.
Read more: PM asks expats to shun hundi in sending remittance home
Hasina, the eldest daughter of Bangabandhu, paid tributes to the Father of the Nation by placing a wreath at his mausoleum.
After laying the wreath, she stood in solemn silence for some time as a mark of profound respect to the memory of Bangabandhu.
The Father of Nation alongwith most of his family members was assassinated by some disgruntled army men on the dreadful night of 15 August, 1975.
Read more: PM Hasina asks police to firmly deal with destructive acts
Sheikh Hasina reached Tungipara in Gopalganj in the morning by road after crossing the Padma Bridge.
The premier is scheduled to spend the night at Tungipara.
Anti-liberation forces and killers of Bangabandhu are always trying to make Bangladesh a ‘failed state’: PM to AL activists
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday said the anti-liberation forces and killers of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman are always active in trying to make Bangladesh a “failed state”.
"We should always keep in mind that Bangladesh is our country. We had earned our independence. The anti-liberation elements and the killers of the Father of the Nation are always active to make Bangladesh a failed state," she told Awami League leaders and activists.
Sheikh Hasina said this during her closing remarks while exchanging greetings with party leaders and activists at Ganabhaban after she was reelected AL President for the 10th consecutive term.
The PM said other governments had tried to turn the country into a failed state for 29 years — from 1975 to 1996 and from 2001 to 2009.
Read more: Accepted leadership of the party considering the volatile global economy: PM Hasina
As Awami League could come to power for three consecutive terms through elections, getting the votes of people since 2009, now Bangladesh has attained the status of a developing country and its people have got dignity, she said.
She said that only one decision to build Padma Bridge with own funds has immensely brightened the image of Bangladesh in the world.
Sheikh Hasina said Awami League's source of power is the people. "The general people who support us are the greatest source of power for us. So, every leader and activist will have to work for the welfare of the common people," she added.
Read more: Never allow anti-liberation forces to be in power again: PM
New AL central committee pays tribute to Bangabandhu
The newly-elected Awami League Central Working Committee and Advisory Council led by party President and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina paid tributes to Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman this morning.
Awami League chief Sheikh Hasina first laid a wreath at the portrait of the Father of the Nation in front of the Bangabandhu Memorial Museum at Dhanmondi-32 in the capital.
Read more: AL National Council: Not easy to lead both party and government, says PM
The Prime Minister stood there in solemn silence for some time as a mark of respect to the memories of the architect of Bangladesh’s independence.
Later, Sheikh Hasina along with members of the Central Working Committee and Advisory Council of the party placed another wreath at the portrait of Bangabandhu.
Sheikh Hasina was elected President of Bangladesh Awami League — the country's oldest political party — for the 10th consecutive term, while Obaidul Qader was re-elected general secretary for the third time in the 22nd National Council held on Saturday (December 24).
‘The energy and magnetism in Sheikh Mujib’s voice in 1972 made me understand why he was a leader of the people’
Back in the country, whose birth she documented, after half a century – Anne de Henning effortlessly recalls those tumultuous times. The veteran photographer met Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the other surviving family members of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at Dhaka’s Dhanmondi 32 Memorial Museum on December 19, 2022 – an event she described as “an emotional family reunion”. Henning photographed Bangabandhu giving a speech at the first Council Meeting of Awami League in independent Bangladesh, in 1972. After Bangabandhu and most of his family members were brutally assassinated in 1975, his images were routinely destroyed. Henning’s colour photos of the Father of the Nation are among the few known to still exist.
During the Liberation War in 1971, when Pakistan army was not allowing foreign photographers to come here, what compelled her to undertake a perilous journey to Bangladesh?
Read more: Anne de Henning’s rare photos of Bangladesh’s birth, Bangabandhu to have Dhaka exhibit Dec 15-24
“I was in Kathmandu at the time, and I saw a dispatch in the local English paper… that trouble had erupted in (then) East Pakistan and that Pakistani authorities had closed the country to the foreign press. And I thought, well, I’m going to go there. As journalists and photographers, when you are told you can’t go somewhere, you know something is going on. So that’s where you want to go,” Henning said.
President pays homage to Bangabandhu at Tungipara
President Abdul Hamid Friday reached Tungipara via Padma Bridge to pay homage to Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
It is the president's first visit to Tungipara, crossing the Padma Bridge after its inauguration on June 25 this year.
The head of the state's motorcade arrived at Tungipara at 5pm, his Press Secretary Joynal Abedin said.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her sister Sheikh Rehana, local dignitaries and senior officials of the administration welcomed Abdul Hamid there.
Read: Don't let anyone use religion to mislead people: President Hamid
The head of the state offered fateha and joined prayers, seeking eternal peace for the departed souls of the Father of the Nation and other martyrs of August 15, 1975.
President Abdul Hamid paid rich tributes to Bangabandhu by placing a wreath at his mausoleum.
National Mourning Day observed in Japan
Bangladesh Embassy in Tokyo on Monday observed the National Mourning Day and the 47th Anniversary of Martyrdom of the great architect of Bangladesh’s independence, the greatest Bengali of all time and Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman paying deep respect and in a solemn manner.
The programme began in the morning at the Embassy premises with hoisting of the national flag at half-mast by the Ambassador of Bangladesh to Japan Shahabuddin Ahmed.
The national anthem was played at this time.
After this, one-minute silence was observed followed by a special dowa and munajat for the salvation of the martyred souls of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, his family members and all other martyrs of 15th August in 1975 with the participation of all Embassy officials and expatriate Bangladeshis.
Later at the Bangabandhu Auditorium, Ambassador Ahmed followed by other participants paid deepest homage to the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman by laying a floral wreath at the portrait of Bangabandhu.
Messages of the President, Prime Minister, Foreign Minister and State Minister for Foreign Affairs issued on the occasion were read out to the audience.
Read:Bangladesh High Commission in Canberra observes National Mourning Day
Ambassador Shahabuddin paid profound homage to the greatest Bengali of all time and Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as he dreamt for freedom of his Bengali people and their independent statehood.
Under the visionary, fearless and strong leadership of the Father of the Nation, the Bengali Nation was united to forge a struggle for independence and fought liberation war to attain an independent country, Bangladesh and a national identity, Bangalee, at the global stage.
Immediate after independence, under his leadership, Bangladesh joined all major international and regional bodies and established bilateral relations with large number of countries including Japan thus firmly establishing Bangladesh’s place in the world stage.
"Bangabandhu is not with us today, but his dream, ideals and directives are still guiding us in the pathway for emancipation of Bangladesh. Under the leadership of his daughter and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh will implement the Vision 2041 to build a poverty free, modern and developed country as dreamt by Bangabandhu as his Sonar Bangla," the Ambassador expressed his resolve.
A discussion on the significance of the day was held following a documentary screening on the life and work of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
In this segment, a significant number of Bangladeshi community members and professionals working in Japan highlighted the significance of the day and vowed to turn the grief of losing Bangabandhu into strength to work unitedly in strengthening the hands of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to further develop the country and fulfil the dream of Bangabandhu to create ‘Sonar Bangla’.
Bangabandhu will always encourage to fight against misrule,oppression, says GM Quader
Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman will always encourage the nation to fight against corruption, misrule and oppression, said Jatiya Party Chairman GM Quader in a statement marking the National Mourning Day.
“Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had fought for the establishment of democracy and human rights throughout his life,” according to the statement issued on Sunday.
Read:GM Quader calls for white paper on corruption in the energy sector
“We pay our respect to late president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on this mourning day.”
The party also prayed seeking the eternal peace of the departed souls of the August 15 carnage.
“Our pledge on this mourning day is that we will build a ‘New Bangladesh’ by building a welfare state free from hunger, poverty, corruption and discrimination.”
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman – the architect of the country’s independence -- was assassinated along with most of his family members at the dawn on August 15, 1975 by a cabal of army personnel under a deep-rooted conspiracy against the country and its independence.
PM Hasina: Learn from the sacrifices of Bangamata
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday urged the women to learn from the life of Bangamata Sheikh Fazilatunnesa who set extraordinary instances and examples of firmness, intelligence and farsightedness.
Sheikh Fazilatunnesa, wife of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and mother of the prime minister, was gunned down in the gruesome massacre August 15 in 1975. The mayhem wiped out Bangabandhu, the father of the nation, and most members of his family.
Paying tribute to Bangamata, PM Hasina said she was “a person who sacrificed everything for the independence of a nation and its people.” “I never saw her breaking down in any crisis,” she said.
Hasina said this while delivering her speech at an international conference titled ‘Bangamata: a paragon of women’s leadership and nation-building in Bangladesh’.
Bangamata Sheikh Fazilatunnesa Centre for Gender and Development Studies of Dhaka University organised the seminar at the Senate Bhaban Auditorium of the University.
The prime minister joined the programme virtually from her official residence Ganabhaban.
She said that all the decisions Bangamata had taken in family matters and politics proved very much appropriate for the family and the country.
Recalling the August 15 bloodshed Hasina said, the killers all used to come to their residence (on Road 32 Dhanmandi) very regularly. “My mother always had treated them with snacks and foods in our house.”
“These people later came (to the house) as the killers,” she said describing how brutal the killers had been.
She mentioned that Bangamata was so courageous that she did not beg for her life when she witnessed the killers firing bullets at Bangabandhu.
In such a situation, people usually beg for their lives, but “my mother did not.” Instead, standing tall before the killers “my mother asked them to kill her too as they killed her husband,” she said.
The prime minister said that Bangamata had nothing to ask for her personal life and she never desired anything for her own.
Read: PM: Multitalented Sheikh Kamal led very simple life
Bangladesh would benefit if Sheikh Kamal was alive today: Hasan Mahmud
Bangladesh would have been benefited if Sheikh Kamal was alive, said Information Minister Hasan Mahmud on Friday.
The minister said this after paying homage to Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at Tungipara in Gopalganj marking Sheikh Kamal's 73rd birth anniversary today, according to a press release.
He said Sheikh Kamal will remain alive among the people for ages, as long as Bangladesh exists, through his actions during his short span of life.
“With his talent and organisational skills, I think Bangladesh would have benefited more,” he added.
Read: PM: Multitalented Sheikh Kamal led very simple life
Sheikh Kamal could have played a great role in the country's culture and sports arena, above all in leading Bangladesh, said Hasan and prayed for eternal peace of his departed soul.
Earlier in the day, Hasan paid tribute by placing wreaths at the portrait of Shaheed Sheikh Kamal at Abahani field in Dhaka.
Kamal fell to bullets when disgruntled forces assassinated Bangabandhu along with most members of the family of the architect of Bangladesh on August 15, 1975 at his 32 Dhanmandi residence.