The Awami League will observe mourning day today, marking the 49th death anniversary of Bangladesh鈥檚 founding president, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
The Awami League and different socio-political and cultural organisations have undertaken programmes to mark the day.
The day was observed as a national mourning day in the past 16 years, when it was also a public holiday.
Following the fall of prime minister Sheikh Hasina on August 5, the interim government led by Muhammad Yunus has cancelled the holiday.聽
Mujib was assassinated along with all but two of his family members in the early hours of August 15, 1975, at his Dhanmondi residence in Dhaka, by a group of army personnel.
His daughters 鈥� Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana 鈥� survived the massacre as they were abroad at that time.
Mujib鈥檚 wife Fazilatunnesa Mujib, sons Sheikh Kamal, Sheikh Jamal, and Sheikh Russell, daughters-in-law Sultana Kamal and Rosy Jamal, brother Sheikh Naser, nephew and youth leader Sheikh Fazlul Huq Moni, his wife Arzu Moni, Mujib鈥檚 brother-in-law Abdur Rab Serniabat, his daughter Baby Serniabat, son Arif Serniabat, grandson Sukanta Abdullah Babu, Awami League leader Amir Hossain Amu鈥檚 cousin Abdul Nayeem Khan Rintu, and Sheikh Mujib鈥檚 chief security officer Colonel Jamiluddin Ahmed were also killed by army personnel on the night.
After the assassination of Mujib and his family members, the then-president, Khandakar Mushtaque Ahmed, issued an indemnity ordinance to protect the killers.
The Awami League scrapped the Indemnity Ordinance when they came to power in 1996, paving the way for justice for the killing of Mujib.
Five of the 12 condemned army officers for the killing of Mujib 鈥� Syed Faruk Rahman, Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, Muhiuddin Ahmed, Bazlul Huda, and AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed 鈥� were executed on January 27, 2010, a year after the Awami League-led alliance government had assumed office for the second time.
Another convict, Abdul Majed, was hanged on April 12, 2020, five days after he had been arrested at Mirpur in Dhaka on his return from India.
Among the six other condemned convicts, Khandaker Abdur Rashid, Shariful Haq Dalim, MA Rashed Chowdhury, SHMB Noor Chowdhury, and Moslem Uddin are still in hiding, and Aziz Pasha reportedly died in Zimbabwe in 2001.
Indian media reports, however, claimed that the Indian authorities handed Moslem Uddin over to the Bangladesh authorities. The Awami League government rejected the claim.
Wreaths will be placed at the portrait of Mujib in front of the Bangabandhu Memorial Museum in the capital at 8:00am, a prayer session will be held at Bangabandhu Bhaban premises at 8:30am, and a condolence procession will be held from road no. 32 to Kalabagan playground at 9:00am, a press release of the party signed by office secretary Biplab Barua and shared on social media said.
Floral wreaths will also be placed at the graves of Mujib鈥檚 family members and others killed on August 15, 1975, at Banani Graveyard in Dhaka, where fateha and munajat will also be offered at 10:00am, according to the release.
Wreaths will be laid at the grave of Mujib at Tungipara in Gopalganj at noon.
The Awami League government on August 8, 1996, declared August 15 National Mourning Day and the public holiday.
When the Bangladesh Nationalist Party came to power in 2001, it cancelled the holiday, which was reintroduced by an army-backed caretaker government in 2008.