The heartbreaking incident of 15th August has left the mark of a nation of traitors in the glorious history of the Bengali nation. Bangabandhu built a nation bit by bit by giving up all the pleasures of his life, fighting against hostile forces and spending most of his life in prison; The example of the family being killed by some black-sheep of that nation is very painful and cruel! Not ungrateful, this is a crime. Fortunately, Bangabandhu’s daughters Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana survived due to being abroad.
The main purpose of the attack on August 15, 1975 was to kill the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his family, and to establish a fundamentalist state in non-communal and secular Bangladesh in the spirit of the liberation war. On the other hand, the purpose of the grenade attack on 21 August 2004 was to kill Bangabandhu’s daughter, who survived in 1975, to fulfill their unfulfilled desire.
He said, “The blood of August 15, August 21, November 3rd; Master Da Surja Sen, Pritilata Waddedar, Titumir and Haji Shariat Ullah are flowing in the same stream.”
The minister said these while speaking as the chief guest at a discussion meeting organized by the Department of Posts and Telecommunications on the occasion of National Mourning Day and 47th Martyrdom Anniversary of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at GPO Auditorium in Dhaka today.
Chairman of BTRC Shyam Sundar Sikdar, Director General of Postal Directorate Md. Faizul Azim and Managing Director of BTCL Dr. Md. Rafiqul Matin delivered their speeches in this connection.
As the keynote speaker at the event, heroic freedom fighter Lt. Col. (Retd.) Kazi Sajjad Ali Zahir highlighted various anecdotes of Bangabandhu’s leadership tenacity.
The Minister of Posts and Telecommunications said, Bangabandhu stood on the ruins of war in three and a half years but built technology structures, emphasized primary and technical education, formed Atomic Energy Commission, established T&T Board, established satellite geostation, initiated radical changes in education through the Kudrat-e-Khoda Education Commission. He took initiatives to make almost every sector of the country suitable to meet the needs of the age. In fact, he has sown the seeds of today’s life of the 21st century and where Bangladesh will reach in 2041. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina followed the path of Bangabandhu’s ideals and transformed it into a huge tree in eighteen and a half years.
Mr. Mostafa Jabbar, a fighter soldier of the Chhatra League in the 60s, highlighted Bangabandhu’s political foresight and said that his participation in the 1970s elections despite internal opposition under Yahya Khan’s legal framework was the result of Bangabandhu’s visionary decisions. In this continuity, we had no chance to call the war of independence a separatist movement. The minister mentioned that besides the unification of all the people of the whole country in the absolute victory of Bangabandhu in the election in 1970, the international community has got a lot of support in this war of Bengalis.
Post and Telecommunication Secretary stressed on the need of studying Bangabandhu along with his autobiography for the new generation to know Bangabandhu and said that today we have got an independent country because a great leader like him was born. He highlighted various aspects of Bangabandhu’s prison life and his strong leadership and said, “Our debt to Bangabandhu is endless.”
Chairman of BTRC, highlighting the many setbacks of Bangabandhu’s political life since 1947, and said, “We are a lucky nation because we got a leader like Bangabandhu.”
The main speaker, a heroic freedom fighter Lt. Col. (Retd.) Kazi Sajjad Ali Zahir, brought out the unknown and colorful stories of Bangabandhu’s political life, including various touching stories behind the scenes of Bangabandhu’s incarceration in Pakistan jail and his release from there. He said that the people of this country really responded to the call of Bangabandhu. They helped the war with whatever they had. He gave the example of a widow handing over her only child to join the liberation war and said, ‘My son, I am a poor man, I have nothing to give. Take this child of mine with you into battle – I give this wealth of mine into your hands’. He mentioned that this desire of mother is just a small example of people’s love for Bangabandhu.
Earlier in the morning at Dhanmondi No. 32, Posts and Telecommunication Division and its subordinate organizations paid homage at the portrait of the Father of the Nation.
Later, the minister spoke as the chief guest at a discussion meeting organized by BASIS at BASIS headquarters in Dhaka on the occasion of National Mourning Day.