PM pays homage to Bangabandhu on Independence Day

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today paid homage to Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on the occasion of 54th Independence and National Day.

The premier paid glowing tributes to the Father of the Nation by placing a wreath at his portrait in front of Bangabandhu Memorial Museum at Dhanmondi 32 in the capital this morning.

After laying the wreath, she stood in solemn silence for some times as a mark of profound respect to the memory of Bangabandhu, also the great architect of independent Bangladesh and the greatest Bangalee of all times. Bangabandhu's younger daughter and only sister of the Prime Minister Sheikh Rehana was present at that time.

Besides, a smartly turned out contingent drawn from the Bangladesh Army, Navy, and Air Force presented a state salute at the time. Flanked by party leaders, Sheikh Hasina, also the President of Awami League, paid rich tributes to Bangabandhu by placing another wreath at his portrait on behalf of the party. Earlier in the morning, she paid homage to the Liberation War martyrs by placing wreath at the National Memorial in Savar on the outskirts of the capital marking the 54th Independence and National Day.

Marking the day, the Prime Minister later released a commemorative postage stamp, a first-day cover and a data card at her official Ganabhaban residence here.

Every year, the March 26 brings the most tragic reminiscence of the history's blackest episode that heralded a nine-month bloody ordeal from the night of March 25, 1971, achieving the long-cherished independence on December 16 the same year at the cost of a sea of blood. In the wake of the military crackdown by the then Pakistan occupation force, Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman proclaimed the independence of Bangladesh through the erstwhile EPR (East Pakistan Rifles) wireless at 00-30 hours on March 26 (the night following March 25) in 1971 at his historic Road-32 residence at Dhanmondi here. The day is very auspicious and precious to the Bengali Nation.