Shaheed Asad Day being observed on Sunday

Shaheed Asad Day is being observed on Sunday to commemorate the great sacrifice of student leader Shaheed Asaduzzaman Asad on the occasion of his 50th martyrdom anniversary.

On this day in 1969, Asaduzzaman was killed in firing by Pakistani forces before Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) while protesting their repressive acts on the people of then East Pakistan.

To mark the day, different socio-cultural, student and political organizations, including Shaheed Asad Parishad, have chalked out various programs that include placing wreaths at the memorial plaque of Asad in front of DMCH and his grave in Shibpur of Narsingdi.

President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina issued separate messages paying tribute to the memory of Shaheed Asad on the occasion.

In his message, President Abdul Hamid said the sacrifice of Asad in the 1969 mass upsurge added a new dimension to the aspirations of Bengali emancipation.

With the demand for independence and statehood, the country’s people, irrespective of class and profession, took to the streets braving the fear of being jailed, and the movement gradually turned into a mass upsurge , the President said.

“The supreme sacrifice of Shaheed Asad is a milestone in our history of independence and democracy... His immense contribution to the country will inspire the nation’s young generation,” the president added.

In her message, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said January 20 is a significant day in the history of the Liberation War of Bangladesh as student leader Asad was killed by police firing on this day in 1969.

The historic six-point demand of Bangabandhu surfaced as the way to freedom when the people of Bangladesh had become helpless due to the discriminatory behaviour and atrocities of Pakistani rulers, she said.

Sheikh Hasina said then military ruler Ayub Khan implicated Bangabandhu in a sedition case known as the “Agartala Conspiracy Case,” being afraid of his popularity.

Shaheed Asad Foundation's President and younger brother of Asad, AM Nuruzzaman Noor said: "To inform future generations, we need to include the story of Shaheed Asad in the textbooks."

“The Government Shaheed Asad College urges the government to convert it to a university and our family requests the government to build a technical university named after Shaheed Asad on our family plot in Narsingdi,” he further added.

Shaheed Asad was the president of Shahidullah Hall Unit (Dhaka Hall) of Dhaka University and General Secretary of the Dhaka Unit of East Pakistan Students Union.

The death of Asad, then a master’s student of Dhaka University (DU), took the mass upsurge to its highest peak, which hastened the fall of the military dictator, Field Marshal Ayub Khan, after over a decade of iron rule.