50th Victory Day Being Celebrated

Today (Wednesday) the nation is celebrating the 50th Victory Day, the most precious day of the Bangalee people, as on the day 49 years ago after a nine-month-long bloodstained War of Liberation, the country was liberated from the Pakistani occupation forces.

On December 16 in 1971, Bangladesh was born as an independent country under the leadership of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at the cost of the supreme sacrifice of three million people and the honour of nearly half a million women.

Though this Covid-19 pandemic has almost crippled the world without mankind attending any public gathering in person, the celebration of the Victory Day this year has a different dimension as the day is being celebrated in the 'Mujib Barsho' from March 2020-March 2021, just ahead of the 'Mujib Barsho' day on the occasion of the birth centennial of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman

President M Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina issued separate messages on the eve of the day, paying glowing tributes to the martyrs of the Liberation War in 1971.

The government has taken elaborate programmes to celebrate the day at the national level, maintaining the health guidelines in face of the global pandemic Covid-19.

The programmes include a 31-gun salute, placing of wreaths at the monuments to pay homage to martyrs, hoisting of the national flags atop all government, semi-government and private offices as well as offices of autonomous bodies across the country, decorating city streets with miniature national flags and colourful festoons, and the illumination of important buildings and establishments, roads and street islands at night.

On behalf of President M Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, rich tributes were paid to the martyrs of the Liberation War by placing wreaths at the National Memorial at Savar in the early hours of the morning.

The freedom fighters and their family members will be followed this while Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Haque will lead them. Later, the martyrs of the Liberation War will be honoured by foreign ambassadors, representatives of the Awami League, various political and social groups, and people from all walks of life.

However, the traditional parade with the participation of different contingents of Bangladesh Army, Navy and Air Force as well as Freedom Fighters’ contingent, Para-military forces and law enforcement agencies at the National Parade Ground on the victory day will not be held this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Marking the day, a virtual discussion titled ‘Attaining the national prosperity through upholding the spirit of the Liberation War and ensuring the best use of digital technologies to build the ‘Sonar Bangla’ as dreamt by Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’ will be held today.

Posters based on the history of the Liberation War will be exhibited at Swadhinotastambha and the underground museum at the Suhrawardy Udyan here on the day. A limited number of visitors will be allowed to visit the exhibitions, maintaining the health guidelines.

Besides, essay competitions based on the Liberation War will be held using the digital platforms like e-mail or online while painting competitions for the children and virtual functions will be held at the educational institutions across the country.

Special prayers will be offered at mosques and other places of worship, seeking eternal peace of the departed souls of the martyrs of the Liberation War and good health for the injured freedom fighters as well as peace, progress and prosperity of the country.

Improved diets will be served to inmates of jails, hospitals, orphanages and vagrant homes across the country.

Similar programmes will be taken at upazila and district levels as well as at Bangladesh missions abroad to celebrate the day in a befitting manner.

Different socio-political, educational and cultural institutions and organisations have also chalked out a series of programmes to celebrate the nation’s glorious victory over the Pakistani occupation force.

Marking the Day, ruling Awami League (AL) has taken elaborate programmes to celebrate the country’s 50th Victory Day.

The programmes also include placing of wreaths at the National Memorial at Savar at 9am and paying homage to Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman by placing wreaths at his portrait in front of Bangabandhu Bhaban at 10am.

Leaders and workers of the party will place wreaths at the Mausoleum of Bangabandhu at Tungipara in Gopalganj at 9.30am. Doa and milad mahfil will also be held on the occasion.

AL central working committee members Azizus Samad Azad Don and Syed Abdul Awal Shamim will join the programme at Tungipara in Gopalganj.

A discussion will be held at 3pm at the AL’s central office at Bangabandhu Avenue marking the Victory Day.

Prime Minister and Awami League President Sheikh Hasina will address the discussion through a videoconferencing.

AL General Secretary and Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader urged the leaders and workers of the party and its associate bodies to celebrate the Victory Day with due respect following the central programme.

He also called upon all to follow the health guidelines properly during the celebration of the Victory Day.

The day is a public holiday.

National dailies will bring out special supplements on the occasion while Bangladesh Postal Department will release memorial postal stump to mark the day.

The state-owned and private televisions and radios will broadcast special programmes highlighting the Liberation War.

The victory day celebration had reached a new height following the UNESCO’s recognition of Bangabandhu’s historic March 7th Speech as a part of the world’s documentary heritage in 2017.

On October 30 in 2017, the UNESCO announced the prestigious acknowledgement of one of the world’s most glorious speeches, through which Bangabandhu effectively decelerated the country’s independence in a mammoth public rally at Ramna Racecourse ground (now Suhrawardy Udyan) in Dhaka on March 7, 1971.

The speech inspired the Bengali nation in their quest for freedom and energised freedom loving people for freeing the country through War of Liberation.