Shaheed Asad Day today

Staff Correspondent:  The nation is recalling today (Friday) the sacrifice of student leader Asad whose death in police firing triggered the 1969 mass upheaval that toppled the autocratic Ayub regime.

On the occasion of Asad Day marking his 48th martyrdom anniversary, different socio-cultural and political organisations, including Shaheed Asad Parishad, have chalked out various programmes that include placing wreaths at the memorial plaque of Asad in front of the DMCH and his grave at Shibpur in Narsingdi.

On this day in 1969, Asad, the hero of the 1969 mass upsurge, was killed in firings by the Pakistani police on a protest rally near Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) against the atrocities on the people of East Pakistan.

The death of Asad, then a master's student of Dhaka University (DU), reached the mass upsurge to the highest peak which hastened the fall of the military ruler Field Marshal Ayub Khan after over a decade of his iron rule.

The nation achieved independence in 1971 following the nine-month War of Liberation in continuation of the 1969 mass upsurge.

President M Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina issued separate messages paying tribute to the memory of Shaheed Asad on the occasion of Shaheed Asad Day.

They prayed for peace of the departed soul of Shaheed Asad, who was killed by police in front of Dhaka Medical College Hospital on January 20 during the mass movement in 1969.

risingbd/Dhaka/Jan 20, 2017/Mukul