Nation observing Jail Killing Day

For city-dwellers the dawn of 3rd November 39 years ago was like no other. They awoke to the sound of air force fighters screeching through the clear blue sky. As everybody switched on to their radios they found it off air. Apparently the planes had hit the radio transmission station at Savar Upazila in the outskirts of Dhaka city, first thing in the morning, as it was occupied by ‘some disgruntled forces’. An eerie silence fell across the country. A few hours later, foreign radio stations could be heard broadcasting that four detained national leaders of Bangladesh were assassinated at Dhaka Central Jail early in the morning of November 3, 1975. The nation is observing another black night today. The 40th Jail Killing Day commemorating the assassinations of four Liberation War heroes – Syed Nazrul Islam, acting president of Bangladesh government in exile in 1971, Tajuddin Ahmad, prime minister of the same government, M Mansur Ali, finance minister, and AHM Quamaruzzaman, minister for home affairs, relief and rehabilitation – were killed in captivity by a group of disgruntled Army officers. Different political parties, including the Awami League and its associate bodies, and pro-liberation and socio-cultural organisations have chalked out various programmes to observe the day in a befitting manner. The ruling party will organise a rally at Suhrawardy Udyan in the afternoon, which will be addressed by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, according to a news agency.