Staff Reporter :The 34th death anniversary of founder of the BNP and late President Ziaur Rahman was observed on Saturday. The BNP and its front bodies arranged various programmes across the country to mark the day. The party flag was kept at half-mast while black flags were hoisted atop the central office of the BNP at Nayapaltan in the city and party offices across the country at 6:00 am.Leaders and workers of the party, led by the party Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia, placed wreaths and offered Fateha at the grave of Ziaur Rahman at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar in the morning.Later, Khaleda joined a doa mahfil arranged by Jatiyatabadi Ulema Dal on the premises of the grave. She also inaugurated a voluntary blood donation programme jointly arranged by Doctors’ Association of Bangladesh (DAB) and Zia Sanskritik Sangathan (ZISAS) there. DAB also provided free medical treatment and medicine in front of the party’s Nayapaltan office.BNP leaders Barrister Moudud Ahmed, Lt Gen (Retd) Mahbubur Rahman, Abdullah Al Noman, Chowdhury Kamal Ibne Yusuf, Altaf Hossain Chowdhury and Dr Asaduzzaman Ripon were present among others. Jubo Dal, Sramik Dal, Krishak Dal, Mahila Dal, JASAS, Ulema Dal, Matsyajibi Dal, Tanti Dal, Chhatra Dal, DAB and Sammilito Peshajibi Parishad also paid tributes to Ziaur Rahman by placing wreaths at his grave.Besides, the 20-party alliance’s components –Jatiya Ganotantrik Party (Jagpa), Bangladesh Labour Party and NAP placed wreaths at the grave.Khaleda Zia also distributed cooked food among the destitute in various parts of the city under a three-day destitute feeding programme taken by Dhaka city unit of the BNP.She inaugurated the food distribution at T&T field near Farmgate at noon. Later, she distributed cooked food at Mohammadpur, Dhanmondi, Azimpur, Lalbagh, Shantinagar, Mouchak, Shajahanpur, Khilgaon, Nayapaltan, Motijheel, Jatrabari, Rayerbazar, Nayabazar, Bangsal and some other parts of the city. After the food distribution, Khaleda Zia attended a doa mahfil at her Gulshan office in the evening, seeking salvation of departed soul of her husband.BNP and its front organisations chalked out a 14-day programme to observe the death anniversary. The observance of the death anniversary began through a discussion at the Institution of Engineers Bangladesh on Thursday.The programmes that will end on June 10 include holding discussions, wearing black badges, publishing posters and supplements in newspapers and distributing food among destitute.
