The National Mourning Day was observed at the Bangladesh Embassy in Washington DC

Washington DC : The National Mourning Day was observed Saturday August 15 at the Bangladesh Embassy in Washington DC with due solemnity marking the 40th anniversary of death of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

The mourners took a renewed pledge to turn the national grief into strength and implement the unfinished tasks of the Father of the Nation by establishing a hunger and poverty-free peaceful non-communal Bangladesh.

The day began with the hoisting of the National Flag at half-mast on the Embassy premises by Bangladesh Ambassador to USA Mohammad Ziauddin. Wearing black suits officers and staff members of the embassy participated in the ceremony in the morning.

In the afternoon a discussion on the life and works of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was organized at the Bangabandhu Auditorium of the chancery.

Opening the discussion Ambassador Ziauddin offered an account of the irreparable losses the country has suffered due to the tragic assassination of Bangabandhu at the very nascent stage of Bangladesh’s journey as an independent nation.

The Ambassador said the brutal killing of the Father of the Nation was the greatest anticlimax in the history of Bangladesh. This was part of a bigger conspiracy by the anti-liberation forces to upset the nation’s forward movement toward a democratic and secular country, he added.

Praising Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for her courageous leadership to advance democratic and secular norms and values in the country, he called on the expatriate Bangladeshis to join hands with the present government in its journey toward a happy and prosperous Bangladesh.

Messages of the President, Prime Minister, Foreign Minister and State Minister for Foreign Affairs were read out by embassy officers.

Later, a documentary film featuring the life and works of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was screened.  Anis Ahmed, former teacher of Dhaka University and journalist read out an article on Bangabandhu Mujib while Sarkar Kabir Uddin, senior journalist of Voice of America, recited poems on Bangabandhu.

Wearing black badges a good number of expatriate Bangladeshis, intellectuals, local Awami League leaders and media representatives attended the discussion.

The speakers highlighted different aspects of Bangbandhu’s leadership from the historic language movement to the liberation war and his diplomatic efforts to place Bangladesh in a respectable position in the comity of the nation.

Earlier, one minute silence was observed paying respect to the departed souls of the August 15 massacre. Doa Mahfil and special prayers were also offered for the eternal peace of the departed souls of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his family members.