AL to take programmes on mourning month in limited scale

In the wake of global coronavirus pandemic, the Awami League will take virtual programmes in limited scale marking the month of mourning that begins on the first day of August commemorating the brutal assassination of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on the black night of August 15, 1975.

Joining a special joint meeting with Dhaka city units and associate bodies of AL through video conference on setting programmes for National Mourning Day at the party president's Dhanmondi political office here today, Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader has called upon the leaders and workers of the party and associate and likeminded bodies and the people as well to observe the day with due respect maintain health guidelines strictly.

With maintaining health guidelines, glowing tributes will be paid to Bangabandhu, the architect of independent Bangladesh, on his martyrdom anniversary on August 15, the National Mourning Day, by placing wreaths on his portrait on the premises of Bangabandhu Museum at Dhanmondi road number 32 here.

Marking the Mujib Year, the birth centenary of the greatest Bangalee of all times, the ongoing countrywide tree plantation programme and relief programme will be continued.

AL Presidium member Begum Matia Chowdhury chaired the meeting while Presidium members Advocate Jahangir Kabir Nanak and Abdur Rahman, Joint General Secretary and Information Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud and Organizing Secretary SM Kamal Hossain spoke, among others.

AL Joint General Secretary AFM Bahauddin Nasim moderated the meeting while Organizing Secretary BM Mozammel Haque and Mirza Azam, Liberation War Affairs Secretary Mrinal Kanti Das, Office Secretary Barrister Biplab Barua, Forests and Environment Secretary Delwar Hossain, Health and Population Affairs Secretary Dr Rokeya Sultana, Deputy Office Secretary Sayem Khan, central working committee member Anwar Hossain, Sahabuddin Farazi and Anisur Rahman Anis were present, among others.

In the joint meeting, leaders of Dhaka City south and north units of AL and associate bodies presented their respective proposed programmes marking the National Mourning Day and the month of mourning.

Speaking on the occasion, the AL general secretary said the party will have many programmes on the month of mourning besides it will observe the birthday of Bangabandhu's eldest son Sheikh Kamal on August 5, Bangamata Begum Fazilatunnesa Mujib's birthday on August 8, the anniversary of 2005 series bomb blasts on August 17 and 2004 grenade attacks on August 21.

Quader, also minister for road transport and bridges, said the black chapters of the history of the assassination of Bangabandhu and most of his family members through August 15 carnage and the assassination attempts to kill his daughter Sheikh Hasina through gruesome grenade attacks on August 21 in 2004 were intertwined.

The deep-rooted conspiracy and brutality of the August 15 carnage has surpassed all other political assassinations across the globe as innocent children and pregnant woman could not escape the massacre in which the founding father of independent Bangladesh was brutally assassinated just after three and half years of the new-born state, he added.

He said August 15 carnage's prime target was Bangabandhu and August 21 grenade attack's major target was to assassinate Bangabandhu's daughter Sheikh Hasina.

The conspirators are still continuing their ill attempts against Prime Minister and Awami League President Sheikh Hasina, he added.

Begum Matia Chowdhury said August 15 is a day of emotional attachment to AL leaders and workers and the people of all strata and it is also a day to gain strength from the grief to take a pledge to devote lives for the betterment of our motherland imbued with the spirit and ideology of Bangabandhu".