Govt plans programmes to celebrate great Victory Day

The interim government has planned nationwide elaborate programmes to celebrate the great Victory Day.

The day will begin with a 31-gun salute in Dhaka on the morning of 16 December.

At sunrise (6:34am), the president and the chief adviser will lay wreaths at the Savar National Martyrs' Memorial.

Then, the Bir Shrestha families, war-wounded Freedom Fighters and brave Freedom Fighters, under the leadership of the Liberation War Affairs adviser, will lay wreaths there.

In addition, foreign diplomats in Bangladesh and various political and social organisations, including people from all walks of life, will pay tribute to the martyrs who died during the great Liberation War by laying wreaths.

On the occasion of the day, the national flag will be hoisted in all government, semi-government, autonomous and private buildings and Bangladesh embassies and missions abroad, and important buildings and establishments will be illuminated.

However, lights will not be turned on during the day and night of 14 December. The main roads and road islands of Dhaka and various cities of the country will be decorated with banners, festoons and colourful flags, including the national flag.

To celebrate the day with due dignity, Bangladesh is preparing to set a world record by parachuting with the most flags, along with other arrangements.

As a joint initiative of the Bangladesh Army, Bangladesh Air Force and Bangladesh Navy, 54 paratroopers will parachute with flags in their hands to mark the 54th anniversary of independence. This will be the largest flag-carrying parachute jump in the world, which is expected to set a Guinness World Record.

On Victory Day, the Bangladesh Army, Navy and Air Force will conduct separate fly-past exercises at the old airport in Tejgaon, Dhaka from 11am.

A special Victory Day band show will be held. Along with the armed forces across the country, the police force, BGB, Ansar and BNCC band groups will perform.

On the occasion of the day, a three-day grand Victory Fair will be held in all districts and upazilas of the country, as was the case last year, at the initiative of the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs.

At 9am, students will gather in educational institutions at the division, district and upazila levels, hoist the national flag, perform the national anthem, parade and display.

Under the initiative of the Ministry of Cultural Affairs, an acrobatic show and a procession of 'General Osmani' will be held at Suhrawardy Udyan in Dhaka on December 15 at 3pm and 6pm respectively.

Victory Day songs will be performed at Suhrawardy Udyan from 3pm. In addition, new-generation artists will perform songs of Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra simultaneously in 64 districts across the country.

On this occasion, various social and cultural organisations, including Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, Bangla Academy, National Museum, Liberation War Museum and Bangladesh Shishu Academy will organise Liberation War-based discussions, cultural programs, children's painting, writing and sports competitions, and screenings of Liberation War-based documentaries.

Bangladesh embassies abroad will also take up similar programs, highlighting the significance of the day.

On the occasion of the day, sports events, football matches, T20 cricket tournaments, Kabaddi and Hadudu games will be organised at convenient times at the district and upazila levels with the participation of students from schools, colleges, madrasas and other educational institutions.

The president will felicitate the members of the Bir Shrestha families at Bangabhaban in the afternoon.

In addition, receptions will be held for the family members of freedom fighters and martyrs in the metropolis, districts and upazilas.

The Bangladesh Postal Department will issue commemorative postage stamps on this occasion.

A banquet will be organised at all hospitals, prisons, old age homes, orphanages, street child rehabilitation centres, disability welfare centres, daycare and child development centres, and institutions for children and homeless people in the country.

Various private radio and TV channels across the country, including Bangladesh Television and Bangladesh Betar, will broadcast programs based on the glorious history of the Liberation War on the occasion of the great Victory Day.

All children's parks and museums in the country will be open to the public without tickets, and films based on the Liberation War will be screened free of cost for students in cinema halls across the country, including Dhaka.

In addition, ships at the BIWTC wharves in Chattogram, Khulna, Mongla and Payra ports, Sadarghat, Pagla and Barishal, and the Bangladesh Navy and Bangladesh Coast Guard, individually and jointly, will be kept open for public viewing from 9am to sunset.

Special prayers and offerings will be held at mosques, temples, churches, pagodas and other places of worship across the country, praying for the eternal peace of the departed souls of the martyred freedom fighters, good health of the war-wounded freedom fighters and freedom fighters, and peace and progress of the country.