Bangabandhu remembered on Homecoming Day

Bangladesh has observed the anniversary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s return home from a Pakistani jail after the Liberation War.

Sheikh Mujib returned to the country from Pakistan on Jan 10, 1972 after Bangladesh emerged as a free country, defeating Pakistani forces in a nine-month-long war in 1971.

The day has since been observed as the Bangabandhu’s Homecoming Day.

But the Awami League (AL) will hold its rally to on Jan 11, Monday, to mark the event, as the Akheri Monajat of the Biswa Ijtema has coincided with the Homecoming Day.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina placed a wreath at her father's portrait in Dhanmondi at 7am on Sunday.

Later, along with other Awami League leaders, she paid respects to the Father of the Nation.

Hasina was accompanied by, among others, AL advisory council members Amir Hossain Amu, Suranjit Sengupta, HT Imam, Yusuf Hossain Humayun, presidium members Motia Chowdhury, Sahara Khatun, General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam, Joint General Secretary Mahbub-ul-Alam Hanif and Organising Secretary Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury.

Syed Ashraful Islam later told the press that anti-liberation elements were still conspiring to destroy the country’s democratic system.

“We have never lost. The Pakistanis have not been able to reconcile themselves to Bangladesh sustaining itself as an independent nation.

“For 40 years, they conspired [against Bangladesh] but to no avail. They won’t succeed even now,” said Islam, whose father, Syed Nazrul Islam, was the acting president of the wartime government of Bangladesh in 1971.

Amir Hossain Amu came criticised BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia for ‘serving the cause of the Pakistanis’.

“The main objective of her movement is to free war criminals and lead the country in the direction the Pakistanis want.”  

Referring to the withdrawal of a Pakistani diplomat from Dhaka for her alleged links with militant outfits in Bangladesh, he said, “Those who had opposed the Liberation War back then are still not able to accept.”

“All sorts of conspiracies, including those orchestrated under diplomatic cover, are on against Bangladesh,” said Amu.