Youth and Sports Adviser Asif Mahmud Shojib Bhuiyan said on Wednesday that Bangladesh is now fully independent and that its citizens will never feel enslaved on this land again. "The country is now fully independent. The bloody people’s uprising of February 24 protected the independence we gained in 1971. This independence will remain in the days to come. Never again will the people of this country feel enslaved on an independent land,” he told reporters after paying tribute to the martyrs of the Liberation War at the National Martyrs' Memorial in Savar on the occasion Independence and National Day. 1971 and 24 are naturally interlinked: Nahid Islam He reflected on the significance of the 1971 Liberation War, saying, "1971 gave birth to the country, which is why we have gained independence. We believe that the successful people’s uprising of the July Revolution of 24th February protected that independence. As a result, the fascists fled. The country is now fully independent, in exchange for blood." The adviser spoke about the concept of independence in the past 16 years. He said that despite the struggle for independence, the essence of that independence had been undermined in recent years. There’s nothing like ‘2nd independence’ in sovereign Bangladesh: Mirza Abbas "We believe that until every citizen of the country feels that they are free, that they have freedom of speech, and freedom of expression, there is no benefit in a land being independent. We believe that 24th February protected that independence. The self-sacrifice of the student masses has completed that independence,” he said.

Indian President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday paid homage to Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at Bangabandhu Memorial Museum, the place which bears the testimony to the life and work of Bangabandhu. Bangabandhu’s daughter Sheikh Rehana accompanied President Kovind to visit the museum at Dhanmondi 32. He signed the visitors' book kept there after paying respect to Bangabandhu. Rehana also presented Kovind with a set of books. Read:Gifts from President: What Kovind brings for Hasina! Earlier, President Kovind visited the National Martyrs' Memorial in Savar and placed wreathes there, paying tributes to the brave hearts of the Liberation War of Bangladesh. He arrived here on a three-day State visit as a “unique example” of the existing good relations between the two neighbouring countries.