Shaheed Asad Day today

The 53rd martyrdom anniversary of student leader Shaheed Asaduzzaman Asad is being observed today (Thursday).

On January 20, 1969, Asad, the hero of the 1969 mass upsurge movement was gunned down by the Pakistani police at a protest against the atrocities on the people of East Pakistan at a rally held near Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH).

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

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

Recalling his contribution which had spearheaded the mass movement in 1969 with due respect, both heads of the state and the government prayed for eternal peace of the departed soul of Shaheed Asad.

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

To mark the day, different socio-cultural, student and political organizations, including Shaheed Asad Parishad, have chalked out various programmes to observe the day.

The programmers include placing wreath at the memorial plaque of Asad in front of the Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) and his grave at Shibpur in Narsingdi.