In the capital thousand of men, women and children joined the historical Janmashtami rally and procession brought out from Dhakeswari Temple in Old Dhaka. Hindus community celebrates Janmashtami, the birthday of Lord Krishna. The days aimed festivity and religious fervor across the country.
According to the Hindu faith, Krishna, the incarnation of God, descended to this world some 5,500 years ago with a vow to establish love, truth and justice. Devotees on this day celebrate his birth on earth.
Nation observed the National Mourning Day to mark the death anniversary of its founder Sheikh Mujibur Rahman who was killed in a military-led putsch on this day in 1975. Twenty-eight people, including his wife and three sons, were killed. The survivors included his two daughters who were abroad. Sunday 15 August was a public holiday with prayer meetings being held in mosques, churches and temples.
Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s LIFE
Mujib was born on Mar 17, 1920 at Tungipara in Gopalganj.
He came to limelight with the formation of Purba Pakistan Chhatra League following the end of British rule in the Indian sub-continent.
Mujib continued to rise in national politics because of his active involvement in the language movement in 1952, 1954 general elections, and six-point declaration in 1966. His arrest in the Agarata conspiracy case catapulted him into the national limelight, making him the undisputed leader of the Bengali’s freedom struggle against Pakistani exploitation.
He was given the title of ‘Bangabandhu’ – friend of the Bengal- after he was freed from jail in 1969.
On Mar 7, 1971 Mujib delivered the historical speech at Racecourse Maidan (now Suhrawardy Udyan), which inspired the countrymen to join the war of independence.
A handful of renegade army officials on Aug 15, 1975 killed Mujib along with his wife Begum Fazilatunnesa, sons Sheikh Kamal, Sheikh Jamal and Sheikh Russel, daughters-in-law Sultana Kamal Khuki and Parveen Jamal Rosy, Mujib’s younger brother Sheikh Abu Naser, nephew Sheikh Fazlul Haque Moni, Moni’s pregnant wife Begum Arju Moni, Mujib’s brother-in-law Abdur Rab Serniabat, Serniabat’s daughter, son, nephew and grandson, Mujib’s security chief Col Jamiluddin Ahmed, three guests and four domestic workers.
Mujib’s daughter Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her younger sister Sheikh Rehana, were in Europe and thus escaped the massacre on that fateful night.
BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia yesterday demanded the government scrap the $1 billion loan deal with India.Addressing a rally before a mass procession in the capital, she urged people to wake up and unite in efforts to bring about a Bangladesh free from all shackles . . .
Thousand of garment workers on Friday morning protesting the new wage declared. Police have baton-charged workers who have been protesting at Mohakhali demanding Tk 5,000 as minimum wage, and the scrapping of the newly established wage scales.
The workers of several garment factories took to the streets of Gulshan 1,2, Banani, Mohakhali and Karwan Bazar area rejecting the new wage structure. They put barricade on the road and started vandalizing in these areas. Workers vandalized several cars, garments factory and set fire on the street.
Transport workers put barricade on the south side of Dhaka Buriganga second bridge at about 10:30 to 1:00 am demanding withdrawal of the excess toll charged by the leaseholders. Causing traffic jam and public suffering.
More than a thousand rare birds have been intercepted by customs officers at Bangladesh’s Hazrat Shahjalal International airport in Dhaka after a trafficker attempted to smuggle them into Pakistan.
Police arrested Ahmmed Shaikh Wahid on July 3 as he was boarding a plane to Pakistan. According to customs authorities, he had used a fake veterinary certificate to register four cages full of rare birds in the luggage compartment, including endangered species like Blossom-headed parakeets and Scaly-breasted Munias. Wahid apparently bought the birds from a Pakistani poacher in Dhaka. . . .
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MONIRUL ALAM 