15 individuals, Bangladesh Air Force to get Swadhinata Padak

According to a government handout, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will hand the Swadhinata Padak to the nominees at a programme to be organised at Osmani Memorial Auditorium in Dhaka on March 23, 2017. In the category of “Independence and Liberation War”, the award will be conferred to Group Captain (retd) Shamsul Alam (Bir Uttam), N M Nazmul Ahsan, Foyzur Rahman, and Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra artist Ashraful Alam, who read out the Declaration of Independence on March 27,1971. Also in the same category, the award will be posthumously bestowed upon the late M Nazmul Haque and Syed Mohsin Ali. Nazmul was a sector commander during the 1971 Liberation War, while Syed Mohsin Ali was a former social welfare minister and freedom fighter. Bangladesh Air Force will also be given the award for its contribution during the Liberation War of Bangladesh. In addition, Dr AHM Tauhidul Anwar Chowdhury was nominated for medical science, eminent author Begum Rabeya Khatun and late Golam Samdani Qureshi for literature, actor and professor Dr Enamul Haque and Ustad Bazlur Rahman Badol for cultural affairs, Khalil Kazi OBE for social services, Shamsuzzaman Khan and late Professor Lolit Mohan Nath for research and training, and Professor Mohammad Asaduzzaman for public administration, the handout said.