Tributes pour in as Bangladesh observes National Mourning Day

President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina have paid their respects to Bangladesh’s founding father on his 44th death anniversary on Thursday.

On this day in 1975, the nation’s independence hero was assassinated at his Dhanmondi 32 house along with most of his family members by some rogue soldiers in one of the bloodiest political assassinations in the world.

The day is observed at the state level as the National Mourning Day in memory of the victims of the military putsch.

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was then the President of the infant republic.

The day began with President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina paying homage at Dhanmondi 32.

They placed floral wreaths at the portrait of the Bangabandhu, which was followed by a state salute by a military contingent.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina along with her party colleagues pays tribute to Bangabandhu at Dhanmondi 32 on National Mourning Day on Thursday. Photo: Saiful Islam Kallol

The president and the prime minister, also the eldest daughter of the Bangabandhu, stood in solemn silence in front of the portrait for some time.

Flanked by senior leaders, Hasina, who also heads the Awami League, placed another wreath at the portrait of the Bangabandhu on behalf of the party.

Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury and Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain also paid their respects to Bangabandhu by placing wreath at his mural after the president left.

The prime minister, accompanied by her daughter Saima Wazed Hossain and Awami League leaders, also went to the Banani Graveyard and paid respect to her mother Begum Fazilatunnesa Mujib, brothers Sheikh Kamal, Sheikh Jamal and Sheikh Russell and other martyrs of the Aug 15 carnage.

They then travelled to Gopalganj’s Tungiparha — Bangabandhu’s ancestral home, where he was buried — to pay homage.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her daughter Saima Wazed Hossain scatter flower petals on the graves of the 1975 massacre victims at the Banani Graveyard on Thursday. Photo: Saiful Islam Kallol

The other victims of the bloodbath include the Bangabandhu’s daughters-in-law Sultana Kamal and Rosy Jamal, younger brother Sheikh Abu Naser, nephew Sheikh Fazlul Haque Moni and brother-in-law Abdur Rab Serniyabat, Moni’s wife Begum Arju Moni and Serniyabat’s daughter ‘Baby’, son ‘Arif’ and grandson Sukanto Babu.

His security chief Col Jamiluddin Ahmed, police’s Special Branch Sub-Inspector Siddiqur Rahman, three guests and four domestic helpers were the others to fall.

After the president and prime minister left Dhanmondi, thousands of people along with leaders and activists of Awami League and its affiliates placed flowers and wreaths at the Bangabandhu’s mural.

The day - a public holiday –began by flying the national flag at half-mast in all government, semi-government and autonomous organisations, educational institutions, private establishments.

The prime minister will attend a prayer service at Bangabandhu Bhaban in the evening.

A prayer service will also be held at the president's official residence Bangabhaban to mark the occasion.

Special prayers have been arranged at mosques, temples, churches and pagodas across the country.