As the dawn broke on August 15, 1975, her phone rang ominously when she and her sister were at the house of a diplomat in Belgium, oceans away from her homeland. 

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday said the government does not want the country to plunge into the darkness that emerged after the events of August 15, 1975.   "We’ve liberated the country with the blood of thousands of martyrs [and] passed many hurdles. We don’t want our country to plunge into that state of failure again. Let not the era of post-1975 darkness shroud the life of the people of Bangladesh again," she said.   The Prime Minister said this while addressing the ‘Bangabandhu National Youth Day 2020’ virtually. The function was arranged at Osmani Memorial Auditorium while she attended it from her official residence Ganobhaban.   Sheikh Hasina said that the government wanted to keep the journey of the people of the country on the path of light. In this connection, she again issued a strong warning against drugs, militancy, terrorism and similar activities.   "These might bring some hefty money in a short time, but in the real sense, there’s no guarantee of life in these activities. Everyone will have to keep it in mind that our stance against these will be stern," she said.   She also emphasised ensuring accountability in every sphere of life. "All have to love the country and be responsible for the people. You have to step forward in the future maintaining that responsibility," she said.   The Prime Minister said that the aim of the government is to build up the youth-folks of the country in line with the ideals of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.   "We’ll build generations after generations in that way so that Bangladesh can step forward as an independent country with its dignity, [and] besides it can be self-reliant and self-dignified," she said.   She mentioned that the policy of the government is to develop the rural areas of the country with all facilities of the urban areas. "People of the rural areas will get facilities like the urban areas, development will be done equally in all areas," she said.   She said the government would provide 100 percent electricity, which is now 97 percent, across the country during the Golden Jubilee of Independence of the country.   Sheikh Hasina said that the government is developing power, roads, rail, water and airways so that the youths of the country could utilise their merit and creativity.   She urged the youth-folks not to rush after jobs completing their degrees, rather they should engage in self-employment and give jobs to others.   "They could stand on their own feet, they could create employment," she said. "We’re working towards that direction.”   Talking about the problem of the freelancers of the country, she said that she had already talked with her ICT adviser Sajeeb Wazed Joy, ICT Ministry and Youth and Sports Ministry so that freelancers could get recognition and certificates which will upgrade their status in the society.   The Prime Minister briefly elaborated various steps of the government for the welfare of the youth-folks and said that the government is taking these initiatives to make the youths skilled manpower.   The first November's youth day has been named Bangabandhu National Youth Day on the occasion of the birth centenary of the Father of the Nation.   State Minister for Youth and Sports Zahid Ahsan Russell presided over the programme where Youth and Sports Secretary Mohammad Akhter Hossain also spoke at the event.   Earlier, State Minister Russell handed over Bangabandhu National Youth Award (cash, certificate and crest) to 21 successful self-employed youths and five successful youth organisers in recognition of their exemplary contribution in setting up self-employment projects.   Read Also: Time to reintroduce covid tests for inbound passengers: PM

It is the courage of Bangabandhu -- Sheikh Mujibur Rahman you miss as you go through life. And vet it is something more, something of values that you associate with any remembrance of him. He embodied some of the finest traditions that self respecting people anywhere have throughout the course of history upheld in their lives. And among those values is the refusal to compromise, to undermine yourself through a convenient jettisoning of the ideals that;’our have always held dear. Even as the round table conference went on in Kawalpindi in 1969, President Ayub Khan suggested to Mujib that he take charge as Pakistan’s prime minister. The Bengali leader spurned the offer. It was a natural gesture on the part of a man who had defied the winds and_ the trends of the times to come forth with the Six Points in 1966. It was Bengal that mattered to him. Nothing else did, or would.

What does it mean for a man, or a woman, to have ‘a life led in politics’? Is it one in the midst or at the forefront of great events, fashioning them and in so doing, changing the course of the destiny of nations? Is it one spent embroiled in the chicanery and attendant skulduggery of court intrigue and manoeuvring, striking down opponents while forwarding the cause of allies, both forged largely as a matter of expediency, and with the ultimate aim of arriving at the pinnacle yourself? Or is it one spent privy to history as it unfolds before you, all the time doing your bit to ensure no great harm is done to the natural order of things, but mostly just being along for the ride, with no sway or influence over how the deck of cards was dealt?

The government is exploring "all the avenues" to bring back five fugitive convicted killers of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to execute the court verdict as the nation is set to observe National Mourning Day on Saturday.

In the dawn of August 15, 1975, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman made one of his final phone calls to his military secretary, the then Colonel Jamil Uddin Ahmad. He had been attacked, Bangabandhu told Col Jamil, and the residence on Road 32 was surrounded. Then the line went dead.

If Sheikh Kamal had lived until now he would have been in his seventies, an age which was quite desirable as per the LEB (Life expectancy at birth) in Bangladesh. But that did not happen. His fate was decided by on that fateful August night in 1975. It is so tragic that he died only at the age of 26 just a month after his marriage but it is more than a tragedy and so entirely unexpected that he has been much maligned by the killers and their henchmen in the wake of the  seizure of power by the anti-liberation forces after the August tragedy. Maybe, perhaps, he was the heir apparent to the Father of the Nation’s politics. Yes, he is Kamal, Sheikh Kamal, Bangabandhu’s eldest son and the second of the five children. A tragic hero in the history of Bangladesh!

President Abdul Hamid on Monday expressed profound shock at death of Shahanara Abdullah, the wife of senior Awami League leader Abul Hasanat Abdullah MP and mother of Barishal City Corporation (BCC) Mayor Serniabat Sadiq Abdullah