The 50 years since Bangladesh came out victorious in the Liberation War is a milestone like no other. This is indeed one of the brightest moments in our history, and on this day, we express our eternal gratitude to the brave men and women whose sacrifices culminated in our hard-earned victory, won under the leadership of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. However, even our most joyous celebrations are tinged with the anguish of the brutal genocide that was inflicted upon our people in 1971, and we pay our deepest respects to the memories of those who endured unimaginable violence at the hands of the Pakistani forces and their collaborators, while continuing to demand justice for these war crimes.

As we celebrate the casting off of the yokes of oppression and the establishment of an independent nation, we also look towards a future that is bright with promises. The road that led us here has been a long and difficult one. At the birth of Bangladesh, many doubted that a small, crowded land ravaged by war could turn itself into a functional, sovereign state. We are proud to say that we have proven the naysayers wrong—by all accounts, the journey of Bangladesh is a success story, and the Golden Jubilee of independence has established us on the global map as a country of great potential.

This Victory Day is made all the more special by the knowledge that the country is on its way to graduating from the LDC (least developed country) status, despite facing one of the greatest challenges it has seen since independence in the form of the Covid-19 pandemic. If anything, our ability to overcome this unprecedented crisis and still continue to experience economic growth is testament to our resilience as a nation.

However, even as we take pride in our achievements, we must also be able to critically assess our mistakes and failures in order to learn from them. While we have surpassed expectations with regard to socioeconomic indicators, there is still a lot left to be done in terms of strengthening democracy, improving governance, and dealing with the climate crisis. Corruption and institutional weakness continue to plague the country, and we have barely started to recover from the havoc the pandemic has wrought on our education and healthcare sectors. On top of that, communalism continues to rear its ugly head, and women and children are still being subjected to violence. As we continue our upward development trajectory, all of our efforts must now be focused on dealing with these issues and creating a just, equitable and rights-based society.

On this momentous occasion, we must not only look forward to brighter days—we request the leaders of this nation to look inwards, and do what must be done to make Bangabandhu's dream of Sonar Bangla a reality.