Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina paid tribute to the Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, on the occasion of the historic Six-Point Day.
She placed a wreath at his portrait in front of Bangabandhu Memorial Museum in Dhanmondi, Dhaka, on Thursday.
After laying the wreath, the prime minister stood in solemn silence for some time as a mark of profound respect to the memory of Bangabandhu, the architect of Bangladesh’s independence.
Flanked by senior Awami League leaders, Sheikh Hasina placed another wreath at Bangabandhu's portrait as the party chief.
Later, leaders of the associate bodies of Awami League, including Dhaka city Awami League, Chhatra League, Jubo League, Sramik League, Krishak League, Mohila Awami League, and Swechchhasebak League, all placed wreaths at the portrait.
On this day in 1966, Bangabandhu launched a significant movement against Pakistan misrule, on the basis of a six- point demand, the Magna Carta of Bangalis demanding autonomy for what was then East Pakistan.
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The Awami League, under the leadership of Bangabandhu, called for a day-long hartal or general strike, on June 7, 1966, throughout East Pakistan. The hartal pressed home the six- point demand for autonomy: autonomy to end the exploitation, deprivation, subjugation, and tyranny of the central government of Pakistan, affecting the lives of people here in what was then East Pakistan.
Ten people, including labour leader Manu Mian, Shafique, and Shamsul Haque, were killed as police and the paramilitary East Pakistan Rifles (EPR), opened fire on demonstrators during the hartals in Dhaka, Tongi, and Narayanganj.
The atrocities by Pakistanis intensified the movement for provincial autonomy, turning it into the historic mass upsurge in 1969, causing the downfall of of Ayub Khan, Pakistan’s head of state at the time.
