BNP on Tuesday chalked out a 13-day programme to observe the 42nd death anniversary of its founder and  leader Ziaur Rahman with due respect. The observance of the anniversary will begin on May 29 and end on June 10. The programmes were finalized at a joint meeting of the party and its associate bodies held at its Nayapaltan central office with BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir in the chair. After the meeting, Fakhrul announced the programmes that include discussion meetings, seminars, photo exhibitions and wearing black badges, paying homage to Zia, and distributing food and relief materials among the destitute. Ziaur Rahman, a military-ruler-turned-president, founded the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) in 1978. He was assassinated by a group of army officers at Chittagong Circuit House on May 30, 1981. As part of the programmes, black flags will be hoisted and party flags kept at half-mast atop the offices of the party, including its Nayapaltan headquarters, at 6am on May 30. Besides, party leaders and activists, led by senior leaders, will place wreaths at Zia's grave at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar in the morning. BNP and its associate bodies will arrange discussions on Zia’s activities, from May 29 to June 10 as part of the death anniversary programmes. The party leaders of Dhaka's south and north city units will distribute food and relief materials among the destitute in different parts of the city on May 30. The party's all district, city and thana units will also observe the day with various programmes.  

Zia, Ershad and Khaleda Zia turned Bangladesh into a “nation of beggars” after 1975, PM Sheikh Hasina said today. Sheikh Hasina said this during her closing remarks while exchanging greetings with party leaders and activists at Ganabhaban after she was reelected AL President for the 10th consecutive term. When AL came to power, Bangladesh was free of “monga”  (famine-like situation), she said. “Today we have achieved self-sufficiency in food production.” Sheikh Hasina said Awami League is an organization formed by the hands of the Father of the Nation and the party was born through movements for establishing rights of the people. AL must continue that tradition, she told party leaders and activists. Read more: Anti-liberation forces and killers of Bangabandhu are always trying to make Bangladesh a ‘failed state’: PM to AL activists The AL chief asked her party's affluent members to come forward in helping the dedicated but insolvent workers in their respective areas. She said there are many insolvent activists in AL who are dedicated to politics, even if it means selling off their ancestral land, but never desired anything. Sheikh Hasina said many, including Ayub Khan, Zia, Ershad and Khaleda Zia, wanted to destroy AL but could not as the party has so many dedicated activists. Talking about the global economic downturn, she said her government is trying its best to continue keeping the economy vibrant and is exercising austerity in undertaking and implementing development projects. "We're putting importance on the projects which are very essential. And we are completing the implementation of the projects quickly which would ensure benefits for the people,"  she said. Read more: Accepted leadership of the party considering the volatile global economy: PM Hasina The premier said now her government's goal is to make Bangladesh a developed and prosperous country — turning it into 'Smart Bangladesh' by 2041. She said every community up to the grassroots level of the country would turn into a smart community by using digital devices and online platforms.  "Everyone will be adept at using computers and technology," said the PM, adding that smart and digital devices will be used in every sector including economic activities, healthcare services, education and agriculture.

Acclaimed academic Professor Shams Rahman has lashed out at Bangladesh’s first military dictator Ziaur Rahman, the founder of BNP, for “staging a farcical national vote of confidence in 1977 only to solidify his hold on to state power after running the country for 18 months under strict martial law.  Raising questions about the legitimacy centring the birth of Bangladesh’s Nationalist Party, Prof Shams, who teaches at the College of Business and Law at RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia, divulged that the party was founded with Zia at the helm in barracks, bearing tell-tale hallmarks of Pakistan’s repressive regime that unleashed a genocide in 1971.  “That BNP still remains in a denial mode and continues to glorify the mastermind of those darkest episodes as its founder, even when the nation is celebrating fifty years of independence clearly puts a big question mark over the party’s commitment to the constitution,” he added while addressing a virtual discussion on Monday night.  In reference to the “notorious national referendum” that Zia oversaw back in 1977, Prof. Shams said “that shameful step served a big blow to the spirit of the country’s liberation war, tore down the country’s constitution and offered an olive branch for anti liberation forces—radical elements."   The referendum was marred by a very low turnout, yet the results were manipulated showing around 90% turnout with many centres seeing the number of votes in favour of Zia surpassing the total number of voters registered with those centres, recollected Prof Shams.  Within years into country’s liberation, the father of the nation was assassinated with most of his family members, but in the aftermath, Zia rose to the rank of president and rehabilitated the killers of Bangandhu - trampling the secular credentials of the constitution earned at the cost of  ocean of blood, revealed the Melbourne based professor at a webinar held online yesterday. READ: Critics of Zia are anti-liberation elements: Fakhrul It is sheer irony that BNP still calls the referendum “a great exercise of democratic franchise,” but in reality no one permitted to campaign on the negative side and many opposition leaders still in jail, leaving little doubt on the outcome, said Ajoy Dasgupta, a veteran journalist and researcher, addressing the webinar. Dasgupta, an Ekushey Padak awardee, said the military rulers who had taken over and ruled Bangladesh for the next 15 years legitimized the pro-Pakistan Jamaat-e-Islami, introduced constitutional amendments that undermined the country's secular democratic polity, and finally declared Islam as the state religion of Bangladesh. He said some parties like BNP and its ally, Jamaat-e-Islami, have tried to restore the "Pakistan military-fundamentalist model of radical Islam" but failed.

The 41st death anniversary of BNP founder  and ex-president of the country Ziaur Rahman was observed with various programmes across the country on Monday. Black flags were hoisted while party flags kept at half-mast atop the party's central offices and chairperson’s Gulshan office at 6am as part of its programme to mark the day. BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir together with party senior leaders paid homage to Zia by placing a wreath at his grave on the occasion. Leaders of BNP’s different associate bodies also placed wreaths at Zia’s grave on the occasion. Zia, who founded Bangladesh Nationalist Party in 1978, was assassinated by a group of disgruntled army officers at the erstwhile Chittagong circuit house on May 30, 1981 while serving as the country's president, a position he formally assumed in 1977. Mirza Fakhrul and party standing committee members distributed food and clothes among the destitute at 70 points of the capital on the day arranged by Dhaka North and South units of BNP. READ: Zia’s 41st death anniversary Monday Doctors Association of Bangladesh (DAB) arranged a free medical camp at BNP’s Naya paltan central office from where poor people were provided with treatment and d medicines. The party's all district, city and thana units also observed the day amid various programmes, including discussions and distribution of food among the poor. BNP and its different associate bodies chalked out a 10-day programme to observe the death anniversary across the country with due reverence. The observance of Zia's death anniversary programmes began on Sunday through holding a discussion at the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh, in the capital. The programmes will end on June 7.

BNP will pay homage to the party's founder and late president Ziaur Rahman on Tuesday on the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr. Party secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir along with its senior leaders will place a wreath at Zia’s grave at 11 am, paying homage to him, said party senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi. They will also offer fateha and a special munajat there seeking the salvation of Zia’s departed soul, he said. Besides, BNP standing committee members will exchange greetings with Khaleda Zia in her Gulshan residence in the evening. BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia used to offer fateha at Zia’s grave on the occasion of Eids every year until she was sent to jail in 2018. But BNP senior leaders have been observing the programme on Eid day since then in her absence. Khaleda was sent to the Old Dhaka Central Jail as a lower court sentenced her to five years' imprisonment in Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case on February 8, 2018. Later, she was found guilty in another corruption case the same year. Amid the coronavirus outbreak, the government temporarily freed Khaleda Zia from jail through an executive order suspending her sentence on March 25, 2020, with conditions that she will stay in her Gulshan house and will not leave the country. It has since been extended twice. READ: BNP blames govt’s inaction for soybean oil shortage Meanwhile, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has greeted all the Muslims of Bangladesh and elsewhere across the world on the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr and wished them ‘Eid Mubarak’. In a message, he hoped that Eid will bring happiness, peace, prosperity and well-being to the country’s people and the Muslim Ummah. Fakhrul bemoaned that the nation is going to celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr at a time when their beloved leader and former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia has remained under house arrest being subjected to the Awami League government’s political vengeance. He urged the country’s people to pray to the Almighty Allah so that she can lead the nation again getting released from jail and recovering from her illness.

The office of the Mayor of Baltimore City, Maryland, USA has removed the name of former military ruler President Ziaur Rahman, said the US chapter of Awami League.  At a press conference, the AL leaders said the Mayor office made it clear that they would not honor a military dictator by naming a road after him. Earlier, the AL leaders applied to the office of the Mayor to remove Ziaur Rahman's name.  Also read: Museum in Ctg circuit house named after Zia will be removed: State Minister On Thursday, a hearing was held at the Maryland State’s Baltimore city’s Mayor’s office.  The argument was that Gen Zia was a military dictator who came to power through a bloody Coup d'état and he should not be recognized by the great country of America.  After the hearing, his name was removed which was shared by the AL leaders at a press conference.  The AL leaders said Zia's name was removed as he was the first military ruler of Bangladesh underlining democracy while the US is a democratic country. Also read: Any plan to remove Zia’s grave to invite dire consequences: BNP Dr Prodeep Ranjan Kar and Engineer Mohamnad Ali Siddiqui, among others, briefed the media there who also had joined the hearing.

BNP on Tuesday warned that the government will have to face dire consequences if it removes the grave of party founder Ziaur Rahman from Chandrima Udyan in the capital. “The current regime has been spreading ruthless, cruel and disgusting lies about the body of Ziaur Rahman Bir Uttam, his grave and even his contribution to the Liberation War,” said BNP organising secretary Syed Emran Saleh Prince. Speaking at a press conference at BNP’s Nayaplatan central office, he also alleged that many ministers being inspired by the Prime Minister are making ‘unguarded’ comments against Zia only to be there in her good book. “Their only job is to lie, spit venom, assassinate characters and distort the Liberation War history.” Also read: BNP knows it very well Zia’s body not there at Chandrima Udyan: PM He asked the ministers who are making ‘derogatory remarks’ against Zia to tell people under which sector they fought in the battlefield during the Liberation War? "We want to say firmly that if the worst thing, like removing the body of Zia, is done, they'll have to face dire consequences. Their hands will be broken, crushed and burnt.” On Monday, Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Haque said the government will remove the grave of BNP founder Ziaur Rahman from the parliament premises. He also said the gallantry title conferred on Zia for his role in the Liberation War will also be annulled based on documentary evidence about his involvement in the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. The minister also asked BNP to prove Zia’s body is there in Chandrima Udyan. ”I’ll apologise to the nation if it’s proved that Zia’s body is there.” Also read: Govt kept schools, colleges closed out of fear of movement: BNP Prince criticised the minister for what he said were such ‘discourteous’ comments involving Zia’s grave and DNA test. “The Liberation Affairs Minister himself defamed the freedom fighters by making false remarks against a sector commander of the Liberation War.” He said those who are lying about Zia and the outstanding contributions of Z Force under his leadership will be thrown into the dustbin of history. “The nation is rejecting them with hatred.” The BNP leader said Zia needs not to take a Liberation War certificate from those who lived in Kolkata at that time. “The common people of Bangladesh gave him that certificate. We condemn and protest the indecent and false remarks by the ministers about Ziaur Rahman, his body and grave.”

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday urged all to remain alert as anti-liberation forces along with their companions are still conspiring against Bangladesh taking assistance from abroad. "War criminals, defeated forces, August-15 killers and their children are still conspiring against Bangladesh. They’re plotting against the country," she said. Read: Bangladesh to be turned into a global aviation hub: Hasina The Prime Minister said this while addressing a programme of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) at Krishibid Institution, Bangladesh (KIB) marking the National Mourning Day. She joined the programme virtually from her official residence Ganobhaban. Hasina said the evil forces are pampered by some international forces which had acted against Bangladesh’s Liberation War. "The nation must remain alert about it." Referring to the nation-building hectic efforts of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, she said the defeated forces staged the August-15 massacre when they saw Bangladesh cannot be stopped from its economic march forward. "We’ve to move forward keeping that in our mind." Hasina said the defeated forces took their revenge with the August-15 carnage and distorted the history of Bangladesh after that, its struggle to liberation and independence. The Prime Minister alerted all that Bangladesh has many enemies and massive hurdles in every step of its development journey. "Our path of progress is not smooth. It’s rather full of hurdles, but we’ve to move forward overcoming all the odds and obstacles, and we’re doing that," she said, adding Bangladesh has stood out on the world stage in the last 12 years. Talking about Ziaur Rahman and his engagement in the Liberation War in 1971, Hasina said there is no instance that Ziaur Rahman fired a single shot at the Pakistani forces. "No one can prove that." Read: Promote small investors: PM to BEZA She mentioned that Mustaq, Rashid and Farooq during their interviews with the BBC admitted that Ziaur Rahman was always with them. "Zia was the source of all power (for them), he betrayed," she said. The PM said she sometimes thinks that these people, who had always visited Bangabandhu’s house for various purposes, including personal matters, killed the Father of the Nation. “How could they do that!” The Prime Minister highlighted the sacrifice of her mother Bangamata Fazilatunnesa Mujib saying that her mother was beside Bangabandhu throughout her life. "My father could fully engage in the service of the country as he got such a companion beside him…this is a rare instance," she said. Sheikh Hasina, the chief patron of BCL, asked the BCL activists and leaders to work for the country being imbued with patriotism and follow the ideals of the Father of the Nation.  Awami League presidium members Jahangir Kabir Nanak and Abdur Rahman, BCL president Al Nahean Khan Joy and general secretary Lekhak Bhattacharjee also spoke at the programme. At the beginning of the programme, a one-minute silence was observed to show respect to the martyrs of the August 15 massacre. The Prime Minister, earlier, unveiled the covers of books titled ‘Matribhumi’ and ‘Joy Bangla Magazine’.  

Investigative journalist and former South Asia Correspondent of the Far Eastern Economic Review Lawrence Lifschultz has said in his view, psychologically General Ziaur Rahman was something of a ‘psychopath’ in his capability to use and betray others and use violence.