Shaheed Asad Day was observed on Monday, commemorating the supreme sacrifice of student leader Asaduzzaman during the mass uprising against then Pakistani autocratic ruler Ayub Khan in 1969.
To mark the 56th anniversary of Asad鈥檚 martyrdom, political parties and cultural organisations in Dhaka and elsewhere across the country organised elaborate programmes, including placing of wreaths at the memorial plaque of Asad in front of Dhaka Medical College Hospital and his grave at Shibpur in Narsingdi.
On the day in 1969, Asad was killed near theChankhar Pool intersection adjacent to Dhaka Medical College Hospital in a police firing during a protest at the repression against the people of the then East Pakistan, now Bangladesh.
A student of history at Dhaka University, Asad was also the university unit president and Dhaka city unit general secretary of the erstwhile East Pakistan Chhatra Union, Menon Group.
Ayub was forced to step down on January 24, 1969, amid a mass movement fuelled by the killing of Asad.
To mark the day, Shaheed Asad Parishad and the Gonosanskriti Front held discussions at Central Shaheed Minar and in front of the National Museum at Shahbagh respectively.
National Awami Party Bhashani also held a rally in front of the National Press Club in Dhaka to mark the day.
