Shaheed Asad Day is set to be observed on Saturday to commemorate the great sacrifice of student leader Shaheed Asaduzzaman Asad on the occasion of his 55th martyrdom anniversary.
On January 20, 1969, Asad, the hero of the 1969 mass upsurge movement, was gunned down by the Pakistani police at a protest against the atrocities committed against the people of East Pakistan at a rally held near Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH).
The death of Asad, then master's student of Dhaka University (DU), took the mass upsurge to its highest peak, which expedited the fall of the then military dictator Field Marshal Ayub Khan from his long iron rule.
President Mohammed Shahabuddin and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina issued separate messages paying tribute to the memory of Shaheed Asad on the occasion.
Recalling his contribution, which had spearheaded the mass movement in 1969, with due respect, they prayed for the eternal peace of the departed soul of Shaheed Asad.
In his message, President Mohammed Shahabuddin said the sacrifice of Asad in the 1969 mass upsurge had added a new dimension to the aspiration of Bengalis for emancipation.
With the demand for independence and their own state, the country's people, irrespective of class and profession, took to the streets, braving the fear of imprisonment, and the movement gradually turned into a mass upsurge, the president said.
He said that after Asad's killing, Bangladesh emerged as an independent country through the War of Liberation at the call of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
In her message, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said January 20 is a significant day in the history of the Liberation War of Bangladesh, as student leader Mohammad Asaduzzaman was killed in police firing in front of Dhaka Medical College Hospital on this day in 1969.
The historic six-point demand of Bangabandhu surfaced as a way of freedom when the people of Bangla had become perplexed due to discriminatory behaviour and atrocities by the Pakistani rulers, she said.
Sheikh Hasina said the then military ruler Ayub Khan implicated Bangabandhu in a “sedition” case known as the "Agartala Conspiracy Case," being afraid of his popularity.
Shaheed Asad was the president of Shahidullah Hall of Dhaka University and the general secretary of the Dhaka Unit of the East Pakistan Students’ Union.
To mark the day, different socio-cultural, student, and political organizations, including Shaheed Asad Parishad, have chalked out various programs to observe the day.
The programs include placing wreaths at the memorial plaque of Asad in front of the Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) and his grave at Shibpur in Narsingdi.
