National Mourning Day
Today is a day that would be written in infamy in the annals of our history. We are happy that the killers of Bangabandhu have been tried but many are still evading punishment. We thank Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for the trial of Bangabandhu's killers, who otherwise might not have been brought to justice.
It is an incontrovertible fact that Bangabandhu's vision and selfless dedication for his people was matched by no one else of his time. The singularity of what he did to liberate the Bengalis from the hands of the Pakistani colonial masters is unquestionable.
We should remember that Bangabandhu is too big a phenomenon to be confined to certain geographical limits. Although he belongs to the ages, his struggle for independence was an inspiration for many beyond our borders seeking to smash the shackles of subjugation.
While the nation is observing National Mourning Day today, it is with great humility that we recall the fact that The Daily Star has been the newspaper to have demanded that 15th August be declared as 'National Mourning Day' in its editorial as early as 1993, when BNP was running the government of the day, and whose position on Bangabandhu was no different than the two previous military regimes, and well before AL's coming to power. It was thus a principled position and we are proud of it.
On this day, as we, along with the nation, mourn his death and that of his family, let us aim to rededicate ourselves to the fundamental mission to build Shonar Bangla, which Bangabandhu so dearly envisioned for his people. Let us reignite the spirit of 1971 in ourselves and emulate his ethos of love, compassion and respect for his peers as well as his juniors, in our lives.
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