Mourning Day of the country's founding father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

People gathered to commemorate the 36th National Mourning Day of the country's founding father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. 
Dhaka, Bangladesh, August 15, 2011

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday laid a wreath on the grave of the architect of Bangladesh's independence at Tungipara in Gopalganj.Chiefs of the Army, Navy and Air Force, armed forces, Hasina's younger sister Sheikh Rehana and the cabinet members were also present there.It is a government holiday with the national flag flying at half-mast at government buildings and the Bangladesh missions abroad.Programmes to mark the day started by laying wreathes to Sheikh Mujib's mural in front of Bangabandhu Museum at road 32, Dhanmondi early in the morning.President Zillur Rahman and the prime minister laid wreaths on the mural. After that, Hasina also laid floral wreaths on the graves of other victims of the day at Banani graveyard.They issued separate messages to mark the day.The Awami League is observing the day by flying the national flag at half-mast and hoisting black flag in every party office across the country early in the morning. It is holding day-long programmes to observe the day.Prayers in the mosques, temples, pagoda and churches will also be held to mark the day.State-run Bangladesh Television and Bangladesh Betar are broadcasting special programmes while national dailies have published special supplements.This year the day is being observed in a different context as five murderers of Sheikh Mujib were hanged on Jan 28 last year following their convictions and decisions of the Supreme Court.Six other former army officials convicted in their absence are still on the run while another died abroad.The day was observed for the second time at state level after the Awami League formed government in 1996. The caretaker government in 2001 also observed the day.But BNP-led four-party alliance government cancelled the decision to celebrate the day at state level.It was restored as National Mourning Day in 2008 following a High Court order after a gap of six years under the BNP-led government.

SHEIKH MUJIB'S LIFE

Mujib was born on Mar 17, 1920 at Tungipara in Gopalganj.

He came to limelight with the formation of Purba Pakistan Chhatra League following the end of British rule in the Indian sub-continent.

Mujib continued to rise in national politics because of his active involvement in the language movement in 1952, 1954 general elections, and six-point declaration in 1966.

His arrest in the Agartala conspiracy case catapulted him into the national limelight, making him the undisputed leader of the Bengali's freedom struggle against Pakistani exploitation.He was given the title of 'Bangabandhu' - friend of the Bengal- after he was freed from jail in 1969.On Mar 7, 1971 Mujib delivered the historical speech at Racecourse Maidan (now Suhrawardy Udyan), which inspired the countrymen to join the war of independence.

A handful of renegade army officials on Aug 15, 1975 killed Mujib along with his wife Begum Fazilatunnesa, sons Sheikh Kamal, Sheikh Jamal and Sheikh Russel, daughters-in-law Sultana Kamal Khuki and Parveen Jamal Rosy, Mujib's younger brother Sheikh Abu Naser, nephew Sheikh Fazlul Haque Moni, Moni's pregnant wife Begum Arju Moni, Mujib's brother-in-law Abdur Rab Serniabat, Serniabat's daughter, son, nephew and grandson, Mujib's security chief Col Jamiluddin Ahmed, three guests and four domestic workers.Mujib's daughter prime minister Sheikh Hasina and her younger sister Sheikh Rehana, were in Europe and thus escaped the massacre on that fateful night.