Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has vowed to bring the convicted killers of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman back home as the nation is celebrating his 93rd birth anniversary on Sunday.
The day is also being observed as the National Children’s Day with all educational institutions across the country marking the day.
Hasina, also the eldest daughter of Bangabandhu, said in a commemoration message that efforts were on to bring back the absconding convicts of the brutal murder.
In a separate message, President Mohammad Zillur Rahman also recalled contributions of Bangabandhu for Bangladesh.
He urged all to prepare the new generation in a way so that they could take up the unfinished tasks of building a golden Bangladesh as per the visions of Bangabandhu.
Sheikh Mujib was born on this day in Tungipara of Gopalganj in 1920. He was the third among six children of Sheikh Lutfar Rahman and Saima Begum.
He grew into a natural leader and guided the Bangalees through a struggle for freedom from oppressive Pakistani rulers. Later, he went on to become the first President of independent Bangladesh.
The Awami League and its associate organisations are observing the day holding elaborate programmes to mark the anniversary.
The day has been declared a public holiday. National dailies have published special supplements while the Bangladesh Betar, Bangladesh Television and other private TV channels and radio stations will air special programmes on the day.
The Prime Minister, along with senior party leaders and Cabinet members, placed wreaths at the Bangabandhu's portrait at the Bangabandhu Memorial Museum at Dhanmondi in the morning.
The ruling party hoisted the national and party flags at 6:30am on Sunday.
The Prime Minister along with senior party leaders and Cabinet members are expected to place wreaths at the grave of Bangabandhu at Tungipara later in the day.
The party will also organise a rally at Suhrawardy Udyan in the capital at 3pm on Monday.
President Zillur Rahman and Hasina have issued separate messages on the eve of the birth anniversary of Bangabandhu.
While studying at the secondary level he was attacked by beriberi disease and had to undergo treatment in Kolkata. As a result, there was a gap in his studies of few years. After passing the Matriculation examination in 1942, Sheikh Mujib was admitted to the Islamia College in Kolkata.
After the partition of the sub-continent, Sheikh Mujib chose Dhaka as the centre of his political activities and took admission in the Law Department of the Dhaka University.
The Pakistani rulers imprisoned Sheikh Mujib several times and he had to remain in jail for over a decade for leading various national movements since the historic language movement of 1952.
He was killed, along with most of his family members, in a military coup on Aug 15 in 1975.
In 2009, the Supreme Court upheld the death penalty of 12 killers, including the six fugitives. Of the 12, Syed Farooq Rahman, Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, Bazlul Huda, AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed and Mohiuddin Ahmed were executed on Jan 27, 2010. Another convict, Aziz Pasha, died in Zimbabwe in 2001.
The trial began in a Dhaka court in 1997.
About the six convicted fugitive killers, Law Minister Shafique Ahmed had earlier said that the government was informed of that Maj (retd) Noor Chowdhury and Maj (retd) Rashed Chowdhury residing in Toronto, Canada and in Los Angeles of the United States respectively.
“The remaining might have been staying in Pakistan and Kenya,” he had said.
Officials at the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs had earlier said that Noor Chowdhury and Rashed Chowdhury had filed pre-removal risk assessment appeals in Canada and US respectively.
The absconding convicted killers cannot be brought back until the issue is resolved, the minister had said.
“They’ve filed risk assessment appeals. We’re trying to resolve the issue through the lawyers appointed by us.”
The duo could be returned despite the government's diplomatic manoeuvres. The government even does not yet have specific information about the whereabouts of the four absconding killers because of their frequent change of location. It already sought assistance from the Interpol, but to no avail.
Ahmed had said: “It’s not right that they will be hanged once they are brought here. They will be allowed to appeal, file review petition and seek presidential clemency.”
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment