Hasina pays tribute to victims of mass upsurge

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has paid glowing tribute to the memories of the victims of the mass upsurge of 1969 and the Chittagong killing in 1988.

In a message yesterday on the eve of historic January 24, she said the perspective of 1969 uprising against the communal and military autocracy of Pakistan was the same as that of communal and military autocracy of Bangladesh in 1988.

She said January 24, 1969, was a milestone in the struggle of Bangladesh's self-determination which was stained with the blood of martyrs. The event was glorious and painful as well. The people ignored oppression and repression of the Pakistani rulers and defied curfew on this day when Matiur Rahman, a student of Class IX, was killed in police firing.

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had declared the six-point programme, a charter for freedom, in 1969 in order to free the nation from the clutches of Pakistani colonial rule. The pace of struggle for self-determination got momentum, recalled the prime minister.