Raihan Uddin Sarker, Gouripur (Mymensingh) :
The 50th martyrdom anniversary of student leader Azizul Haq Harun was observed in a befitting manner in Gouripur upazila on Sunday.
On the day, the people of this upazila remember the sacrifice of the hero of the 1969 mass upsurge that swept away the regime of iron man Ayub Khan. Student leader Harun was shot dead by the then Pakistan police at the height of the mass movement. Continuing that movement, the nation achieved independence in 1971 following the nine-month long Liberation War.
Freedom Fighter Adv. Nazim Uddin Ahmed MP placed floral wreath on the Shaheed Harun monument at Harun Park of the upazila town. Different socio -cultural and political organisations, clubs, Shaheed Harun Smriti Parishad, Muktijudda Sangsad Gouripur Unit also placed floral wreaths.
In the early morning, Probhat Feri was brought out by different organisations which paraded through the main roads of the town and joined the Harun Park.
Freedom Fighter Adv Nazim Uddin Ahmed MP was present as Chief Guest in a discussion meeting held at Shaheed Harun Park at 11:00 am .The chief guest said that the sacrifice of martyr Harun did not go in vain. After students’ killing like Harun, the movement turned into a mass upsurge and soon Bangladesh emerged as an independent country through the Great War of Liberation at the call of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Later a Milad and Doa Mahfil was held.
Talking to The New Nation, ex-VP of Gouripur Govt. College Freedom Fighter Fazlul Huq, one of those leaders who led the students’ movement in ’69, says that he was target by the police but a second year student of Gouripur College, Azizul Haq Harun who was killed on January 27 when police opened firing at a procession brought out by the students who burst into fierce action against the Pakistani rulers. Besides, on those days some students were killed by police throughout the country, such as Asad was killed in Dhaka on January 20, Alamgir Mansur Mintu was killed in Mymensingh on 24 January of 69.
The elites of Gouripur and Nandail upazila urged the National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) to mention the name of Gouripur college student Azizul Haq Harun , an inhabitant of Tamarula village of Nandail upazila, the hero of the Mass Upsurge in 1969’who was killed at historic Dhan Mahal in Gouripur upazila . Now this historic ground known as Dhan Mahal in 1969 named after Harun which is called Harun Park still exists in the mid- town of Gouripur.
