The historic Mass Upsurge Day was observed Friday in the country commemorating the 1969’s movement for autonomy from the then East Pakistan that eventually led to Liberation War and emergence of Bangladesh in 1971, reports BSS.
On January 24, 1969 Matiur Rahman Mallik, a standard IX student of the Nabakumar Institution, and Rustam Ali, a rickshaw-puller, were killed in police firing on demonstrators in Dhaka as the Pakistani rulers desperately tried to suppress the popular uprising.
The killings spread intense protests across the country that eventually saw the fall of the Ayub regime.
On that time, the mass upsurge compelled the autocratic Ayub regime to release Bangabandhu and others from jail.
It is said that the day teaches Bangladeshis the values of democracy and protest against oppression.
Marking the day, different political, social and cultural organisations chalked out elaborate programmes, including paying tributes to 1969 martyr Matiur Rahman by placing wreaths at his monument at Nabakumar Institute at Bakshibazar in the capital.
On behalf of Awami League, its Advisory Council Member Tofail Ahmed was present at Nabakumar Institute here.
On the eve of the day, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina issued a message on the occasion, expressing profound respect for those who embraced martyrdom in the historic movement in 1969.