THE nation mourns the 41st Shahadat Anniversary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman today with prayers and solemnity throughout the country. He was assassinated with almost all of his family members. Some of his closest relatives were also killed on this occasion. It was a night of massacre and Bangladesh mourns it every year as a day of national mourning. Bangabandhu is the towering leader of the Bengali nation who along with many other leaders of Awami League motivated and united the Bengali people to fight for their democratic rights and freedom. Mr Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, the founder of Awami League as the democratic opposition in Pakistan was his mentor and leader. After his death Sheikh Mujib took his mantle and led the democratic movement into a struggle for independence from Pakistan. From a student leader he rose to eminence to become the founder of an independent nation. He transformed the deprivation of the masses as an unequivocal leader of the then East Pakistan into the struggle for freedom. He used the historic Six-Point Programme as the unwavering driving force that ended in creation of independent Bangladesh. Though Sheikh Mujib was in prison in Pakistan when the nation fought the nine-month long Liberation War, his historic speech on March 7 at Race Course, now Suhrawardy Uddyan, instilled the unflinching courage and unity for armed struggle imposed on unarmed and unprepared people of the then East Pakistan. The brutality of Pakistan army had antagonized the entire world but it failed to derail the people from achieving their goal. We acknowledge the help of India and particularly its military involvement that hastened the process of the Liberation War. The physical absence of Bangabandhu, created problem of leadership for political direction of our Liberation War but he remained the inspiring force at all time. But the subsequent killing of the Founder of the Nation led to manifold complexities in our national politics that still continued today when his daughter Sheikh Hasina is now at the helm of the government. We remember his love for the people and his honesty; which should be the ideals for any worthy leader who aspire to lead the people and run the country. He openly waged his fight against corruption and tried to free Bangladesh from the grip of corrupt ones. Yet politics of Bangladesh is now more corrupt and in the hands of the dishonest people. When we see well-known corrupt ones and people who are involved actively in grave crimes against common people praise Bangabandhu to tell us how great he was, it shocks us. Where are the fighters on behalf of Bangabandhu who himself was so anxious to stop corruption.
