Month of mourning begins tomorrow

August, the month when Bangladesh lost its founding father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1975, will begin on Thursday.

A group of disgruntled army officers killed Father of the Nation along with most of his family members on 15 August 1975.

The 15 August carnage is the ugliest chapter of the nation’s history as the self-confessed killers not only assassinated the nation’s founding father alone but also many others.

The 15 August carnage martyrs included Bangabandhu’s wife Bangamata Begum Fazilatunnesa Mujib, sons Sheikh Kamal, Sheikh Jamal and Sheikh Russell, daughters-in-law Sultana Kamal and Rosy Jamal, Bangabandhu’s brother Sheikh Naser, brother-in-law Abdur Rab Serniabad, nephew and eminent journalist Sheikh Fazlul Huq Moni, his pregnant wife Arzoo Moni and military secretary Colonel Jamil were killed on the fateful night of 15 August 1975.

Bangabandhu’s two daughters incumbent prime minister Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana escaped the assassination as they were in Germany.

The month of August is also blackmarked with another conspiracy of assassination. The vested quarter, who assassinated Bangabandhu in 1975, also tried to kill Awami League chief Sheikh Hasina with grenades at an anti-terrorism rally at Bangabandhu Avenue on 21 August 2004.

However, Sheikh Hasina narrowly escaped the attack suffering splinter injuries when 24 of her party men, including Awami League’s women affairs secretary Ivy Rahman, were killed and 500 others injured.

The nation cannot ever forget this heinous attack.

Every year, the ruling Awami League and its associate bodies chalk out month-long programmes on the occasion. This year there will be no different.

Like in the previous years, different political and socio-cultural organisations, including the ruling Awami League (AL) and its associate bodies have chalked out month-long programmes to observe the month of mourning.