The nation is celebrating the 50th Victory Day, the most precious day of Bangladeshis, as the country was liberated from the Pakistani occupation forces on the day 49 years back after a nine-month-long bloodstained War of Liberation.
On December 16 in 1971, Bangladesh was born as an independent country under the leadership of the father of the nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at the cost of supreme sacrifice of three million people and the honour of nearly half a million women.
Though the pandemic Covid-19 has almost paralyzed the whole world barring the people from attending any public gathering in person, the celebration of the Victory Day this year has a different dimension.
The day is set to be celebrated in the Mujib Borsho, on the occasion of the birth centenary of Bangabandhu from March 2020-March 2021, just ahead of the country’s golden jubilee of independence to be celebrated in 2021.
President M Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina issued separate messages on the eve of the day, paying glowing tributes to the martyrs of the Liberation War in 1971.
The government has organized elaborate programs to celebrate the day at the national level, maintaining the health guidelines in face of the global pandemic Covid-19.
The programs include a 31-gun salute, placing of wreaths at the monuments to pay homage to martyrs, hoisting of the national flags atop all government, semi-government and private offices as well as offices of autonomous bodies across the country, decorating city streets with miniature national flags and colorful festoons, and illumination of important buildings and establishments, roads and street islands at night.
On behalf of President M Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, rich tributes will be paid to the martyrs of the Liberation War by placing wreaths at the National Memorial at Savar with the rise of the sun.
This will be followed by the freedom fighters and their family members while Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Haque will lead them.
Later, foreign diplomats, leaders of Awami League and different political and social organizations and people from all walks of life will pay tributes to the martyrs of the Liberation War.
However, the traditional parade with the participation of different contingents of the armed forces at the National Parade Ground will not be held this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.❐
