The ruling Awami League and its associate bodies today paid glowing tributes to Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and four slain national leaders on the occasion of Jail Killing Day.
Marking the day, the AL leaders and workers paid homage to Bangabandhu by placing wreaths at his portrait in front of Bangabandhu Memorial Museum at Dhanmondi- 32 in the city.
The four national leaders -- Syed Nazrul Islam, Tajuddin Ahmed, Captain M Mansur Ali and AHM Quamaruzzaman -- were killed inside the Dhaka Central Jail on this day in 1975.
The assailants of the August 15, 1975 carnage with the support of their political patron Khondker Mostaq Ahmed gunned the four captive leaders and top associates of Bangabandhu.
Their goal was visibly to expose Bangladesh to extreme wilderness after killing Bangabandhu along with most of his family members and toppling his post-independence government.
Due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, the Jail Killing Day this year too is being observed across the country in a limited scale, maintaining the health safety guidelines.
At about 8am this morning, AL General Secretary and Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader paid homage to Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, on behalf of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, by placing a wreath at the portrait of Bangabandhu in front of Bangabandhu Memorial Museum at Dhanmondi-32.
Later, flanked by central leaders of the party, he placed another wreath at the portrait of Bangabandhu on behalf of the Awami League.
Around 9am, Quader along with AL senior leaders went to Banani graveyard.
At first, he paid respect to Syed Nazrul Islam, Tajuddin Ahmed and Captain M Mansur Ali by placing wreaths on their graves on behalf of the prime minister. Later, he placed wreaths on their graves on behalf of the party. Tribute was also paid on the grave of AHM Quamaruzzaman in Rajshahi.
The AL leaders offered fateha and a milad mahfil and special munajat were also held there.
AL presidium members Begum Matia Chowdhury, Dr Abdur Razzaque, Shajahan Khan and Jahangir Kabir Nanak, joint general secretary and Information and Broadcasting Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud, joint general secretaries Mahbubul Alam Hanif, Dr Dipu Moni and AFM Bahauddin Nasim, organising secretaries Ahmed Hossain, Advocate Afzal Hossain and Mirza Azam, liberation war affairs secretary Mrinal Kanti Das, science and technology affairs secretary Abdus Sabur, office secretary Barrister Biplab Barua, central working committee member Dr Mustafa Jalal Mohiuddin and deputy office secretary Sayem Khan, among others, were present on the occasion.
Talking to reporters after placing wreath at Banani graveyard, Quader said after killing Bangabandhu, the seed of communalism was sowed in the country through killing of the four national leaders.
"Rooting out communalism is a challenge now. All the democratic, patriotic and non-communal forces must remove the communal evil forces together," he added.
AL's daylong programme started with lowering the national and party flags at half-mast and hoisting black flag at Bangabandhu Bhaban and Awami League offices across the country, including its central office, at the dawn today as a mark of respect to the martyrs of November 3, 1975.