BNP on Tuesday announced an eight-day programme to observe the 44th death anniversary of its founder and former president Ziaur Rahman on May 30.

BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi announced the programmes following a joint meeting of the party and its associate bodies at the BNP Chairperson’s Gulshan office.

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir virtually presided over the joint meeting from a hospital in Bangkok, Thailand, where he recently underwent a surgery on his left eye.

Rizvi said the observance of Zia’s death anniversary will begin on May 25 and conclude on June 2 through various programmes.

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“Since Eid-ul-Azha falls on June 7, we have slightly shortened our programme,” he said.

Ziaur Rahman, who founded the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) in 1978, was assassinated by a group of army officers at the Chittagong Circuit House on May 30, 1981.

As part of the programmes, black flags will be hoisted while the party flag will be kept at half-mast atop its offices, including its Nayapaltan headquarters, at 6 am on May 30.

The leaders and activists of the party and its associate bodies will place wreaths at Zia's grave at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar at 10:30 am on the same day.

They will also offer fateha at Zia’s grave and participate in a doa and milad mahfil, praying for the salvation of the soul of the BNP founder.

The party will organise a discussion meeting on May 29 at the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh, in memory of Zia to mark the occasion.

Besides, there will be discussion meetings, mass prayers in mosques, and the distribution of rice, lentils and clothing among the underprivileged by the party and its associate bodies.

The party will also make arrangements for special supplements to be published in various national newspapers to commemorate the occasion.

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Under the initiative of BNP’s Dhaka North and South city units, rice, lentils, and clothing will be distributed among the needy and destitute across various thanas and wards on May 30.

BNP’s city, district, upazila and municipality units across the country will also observe the day with due solemnity by organising different programmes, including discussion meetings, and distributing food and clothing to the underprivileged in observance of the day.