Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday urged all to uphold the development and democratic values being imbued with the spirit of the freedom struggle.
In a message on the occasion of the Victory Day, she said: “Let us engage ourselves for the services to the country and its people. Let this be our vow on the Victory Day of 20l4.
“Today is the 16th December, the great Victory Day. This is the day of greatest pride for the Bangali nation,” the prime minister said, responding to the clarion call of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, following which the Bangali nation earned the ultimate victory on this day in 1971 after 23 years of intense political struggle and a nine-month bloody war against the Pakistani occupation forces.
She extended her sincere greetings and warm felicitations to the people of the country at home and abroad on the occasion of the 43rd Victory Day.
“On this glorious day, I pay my deep homage to the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. I recall with gratitude the four national leaders, and three million martyrs, who sacrificed their lives, and two hundred thousand women, who lost their innocence for the cause of our independence,” Hasina added.
She said Bangbandhu realised that the oppression, persecution and deprivation meted out to the Bangali nation would not end without achieving the independence.
“Ultimately, on the historic March 7, 1971, Bangabandhu in front of a million people at the then Race Course Maidan declared, ‘This time the struggle is for our freedom, this time the struggle is for the independence.’ Virtually, from that day, the final chapter had started for achieving an independent Bangladesh” she said.
“But, after Bangabandhu’s death, identified war criminals and killers of Bangabandhu were politically and socially rehabilitated. The BNP-Jamaat alliance government of 2001 had followed the paths of their predecessors.”
However, the Bangali nation re-established democracy and rights of the people in 2008 through a long struggle, the prime minister said, adding that the nation overwhelmingly voted in favour of the Awami League, the party that led the War of Liberation, in the much-awaited parliamentary elections.
In another programme, Hasina underscored the need for further modernisation of Bangladesh Betar to sustain in the competitive era and assured that her government would extend all sorts of support to this end.
“The importance of Bangladesh Betar is endless. So, I hope that all concerned including officials, employees and performers of Bangladesh Betar would further modernise the organisation through its technological development by realising its importance,” she said while addressing the inaugural function of the Diamond Jubilee marking the completion of 75 years of the state-run Bangladesh Betar.
Earlier, she had inaugurated the four-day programme of 75-year celebration of Betar.
At the function, the prime minister handed over a crest and citation to family members of late Syed Abdus Shaker, late Belal Mohammed, late Abul Kashem Sandip and Abdullah Al Faruk as well as to Mohammad Aminur Rahman, Mohammad Rashidul Hossain, Mohammad Anwar Hossain Khan, A M Sharfuzzaman, Mohammad Rezaul Karim chowdhury, Kazi Habib Uddin Ahmad for their courageous and heroic contribution to founding Swadhin Bangla Bangla Betar Kendra in 1971.
Sheikh Hasina said Bangladesh Betar is the biggest mass media for flourishing talents of about 10,000 singers, theatre artistes, 8,000 presenters, 4,000 children and juveniles and 800 performers in the rural areas.
