Bangladesh remembers ‘Mujibnagar’ era
By IANSSaturday, April 17, 2010
DHAKA - Bangladesh Saturday observed the 40th anniversary of the inauguration of its provisional government, when its then green and golden flag was unfurled for the first time at a mango grove on the western border with India.
The spot, Baidyanathtala, was subsequently renamed Mujibnagar after Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who had by then been detained and whisked away to West Pakistan.
While Rahman, popularly called Sheikh Mujib, or with honorophic Bangabandhu (friend of Bengal) was declared the first president, acting President Syed Nazrul Islam unfurled the flag in the presence of Prime Minister Tajuddin Ahmed and other cabinet colleagues - Khandaker Moshtaque Ahmed, Captain Mansoor Ali and A.H.M. Qamaruzzaman.
President Mohammed Zillur Rahman and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Mujib’s elder daughter and political successor, sent out special messages on the occasion, being observed as Mujibnagar Day.
They said the Mujibnagar government after its formation on April 17, 1971 played a very significant role in conducting the War of Liberation and its contribution will remain ever remembered in the country’s history.
Bangladesh became independent in December 1971 at the end of a freedom struggle that also entailed an armed conflict between India and Pakistan, in which Pakistani forces in East Pakistan surrendered.
Released from a Pakistani prison, Mujib returned home to head the government, in which his Mujibnagar colleagues also served.
All of them, except Khandaker Moshtaque Ahmed, were assassinated in 1975 in a military-led putsch. Ahmed became the president after the coup.
