The 46th anniversary of the 1969 mass uprising and martyrdom of Shaheed Asad has been observed in Narsingdi and Barisal districts on Tuesday calling to institutionalise democracy in Bangladesh ensuring basic and human rights.
Various political, socio-cultural organisations and educational institutions placed floral wreaths at the tomb of the martyr Assad at Dhanua village of Shibpur upazila of Narsingdi, reports our correspondent.
Narsingdi 3 constituency MP Sirajul Islam Mollah and former MP Khairul Kabir Khokon were present on the occasion.
A discussion meeting was held at Shibpur Government Shaheed Asad College with Principal Hasna Hena in the chair.
The discussion programmes were also held at Shaheed Asad Collegiate Girls' High School and College and Shibpur Ideal School and College.
Marking Shaheed Asad Day, various programmes were also held in Barisal, reports our correspondent.
The participants of the programme urged to build a statue or monument at Chankharpool in the capital where Asad was martyred.
They also called to include objective history of the mass uprising movement, its leaders and achievements in the educational curriculum of the country.
Shaheed Asad Parishad Barisal unit organised a rally, discussion on ‘Achievements of mass uprising of 69 and thoughts of Shaheed Asad’, placed floral wreath to his portrait and cultural function was held on this occasion in front of Ashwini Kumar Hall in the morning.
The programmes was presided over by Dr. Mizanur Rahman, and conducted by Joytirmoy Chakrabarty Ratan, president and secretary of the organization respectively.
Socio-cultural-political-educational personalities like Khan Altaf Hossain Vulu, Barisal convener of the Sarbadalio Chhatra Sangram Parishad of 1969 uprising and central leader of Krishak League, Prof Mohsin Ul Islam Habul, leader of college teachers association, Nazrul Huq Nilu of Workers Party, Hiran Kumar Das Mithu of Gono Forum, addressed the rally.
The speakers said the Mass Uprising Day has great significance in national life and it teaches us to become democratic and protest against all kinds of injustice and oppression.
They said that the best way to honour the sacrifices of the heroes of the uprising of 1969 is to institutionalise democracy and establish the basic and human rights of the people.
They also called on all the countrymen to be united in the fight to protect the country’s independence and sovereignty.Quoting the history they said Asaduzzaman, a graduate student of History at Dhaka University and also the DU unit president and Dhaka city unit general secretary of East Pakistan Chhatra Union (Menon group), sacrificed his life in front of Dhaka Medical College Hospital while he was leading a rally protesting repression of Pakistan military on the people of the then East Pakistan on January 20 in 1969.
After that the autonomy movement spread like wildfire across the then East Pakistan.
On January 24 in 1969, students and people in the thousands poured out into the streets of Dhaka and elsewhere following the killing of Motiur Rahman, a student of Nabakumar Institute in Dhaka, rickshaw puller Rustam Ali, and a number of other protesters in police firing.
The speakers viewed that the sacrifice of Asad, Matiur, and Rustam had not gone in vain. It triggered the movement that brought about the fall of the autocratic ruler, Ayub Khan, through a mass upsurge.
Ultimately their martyrdom culminated in the birth of Bangladesh after a bloody nine-month war in 1971.