Historic March 7 today

Staff Correspondent

Today is historic March 7.

On this day in 1971, Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in his fiery speech called on the freedom-loving Bangalis to wage a decisive struggle against the Pakistan junta.

“Ebarer sangram amader muktir sangram, ebarer sangram swadhinatar sangram [The struggle this time is a struggle for emancipation, the struggle this time is a struggle for independence]”, Bangabandhu declared in a thunderous voice at a mammoth rally at the Racecourse Maidan (now Suhrawardy Udyan) that day.

“Turn every house into a fortress, resist the enemy with everything you have ... Having mastered the lesson of sacrifice, we shall give more blood. God willing [Inshallah], we shall free the people of this land,” Bangabandhu also said in his speech.

The watershed speech touched every Bangali heart across the then East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, and mobilised the whole nation, excepting a few pro-Pakistani elements, to prepare for the ultimate sacrifice they made in the Liberation War.

The speech had set the tone for the Liberation War that would officially begin on March 26.

On the night of March 25, just 18 days after the 7th March speech, the Pakistani military launched genocide on innocent unarmed Bangalis, the most gruesome and shameful act the human history has ever seen.

Shortly before his arrest on the black night, Bangabandhu proclaimed the independence.

To mark the day, different political parties and socio-cultural organisations have chalked out various programmes, including laying wreaths at the portrait of Bangabandhu and holding discussions and rallies.

The ruling Awami League will hoist national and party flags atop the Bangabandhu Bhaban and party offices and place wreaths at Sheikh Mujib's portrait on Bangabandhu Bhaban premises in the capital's Dhanmondi in the morning.

The party will hold a rally at Suhrawardy Udyan at 3:00pm. Awami League President and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will preside over the rally.

President Abdul Hamid and PM Sheikh Hasina gave separate messages marking the day.

The president said the historic March 7 address of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman would remain a perennial source of inspiration for the nation, reports BSS.

He recalled Bangabandhu with profound respect and said the Bangalis have got an independent and sovereign state in 1971 because of the extraordinary leadership of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

His March 7 speech at the Racecourse Maidan was the charter of freedom for the Bangali nation, the president observed.

Bangabandhu's declaration of “the struggle this time is a struggle for independence” was in fact a call for independence of the country, Abdul Hamid said, adding that as a sequel to this, the Father of the Nation proclaimed the independence on March 26, 1971.

In her message, the prime minister said Bangabandhu's March 7 historic speech had inspired the Bangali nation to get prepared for the freedom struggle with arms, reports BSS.

To face the enemies, Bangabandhu directed the countrymen to be ready with whatever they had and get prepared for the freedom struggle, she said.

The PM said the day is a memorable one in the thousand-year history of the Bangali nation as Bangabandhu on this day in 1971 made a clarion call to the people to fight for liberation.

Hasina noted that the political analysts across the world rated the March 7 historic speech by Bangabandhu as one of the excellent speeches so far delivered by world leaders.

In every fold of the speech, she said, the necessity and aspiration for the emergence of a state were reflected.

“The directives given by Bangabandhu in this speech were the basic elements of the national unity at that time,” she said, adding that this historic speech was the source of enormous strength for the nation during the Liberation War.

Diatribes against CJ continue

AG terms ministers' comments unconstitutional; SCBA, BNP for action against two ministers

For a second day in a row, Food Minister Qamrul Islam and Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Haque blasted Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha yesterday.

Attorney General Mahbubey Alam termed their comments unconstitutional and unprecedented, and urged all to refrain from making any hostile comment about the CJ.

Qamrul, also a joint general secretary of Awami League, once again alleged that the chief justice was openly speaking in language used by BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami and their lobbyists in their efforts to undermine the war crimes trial.  

The food minister was speaking at a meeting organised by Dhaka city Awami League at its office on Bangabandhu Avenue in the capital yesterday.

The comments come at a time when the Supreme Court is scheduled to give its verdict in the war crimes case against Jamaat leader Mir Quasem Ali. 

Qamrul alleged Quasem spent crores of taka to make the tribunal and the trial process questionable, and appointed international lobbyists to obstruct the trial.

Quasem may be in the condemned cell, but his money is spinning outside and he is hatching conspiracy, the minister alleged. “We will remain in the street on March 8 like we had been during other verdicts.”

'NOT RIGHT AT ALL'

Mozammel Haque, the Liberation War minister, went further, saying the chief justice should not be delivering the verdict in Quasem's case at all.

“You [the CJ] are the top judge of the country. You consider it yourself if it will be reasonable for you to deliver the verdict after making such comments. In my view, it will not be right at all,” a private television quoted Mozammel as telling a discussion of Bangabandhu Sangskritik Jote yesterday.

On Saturday, Qamrul demanded that the appeal in Quasem's case be reheard by a reconstituted Appellate Division bench, keeping the chief justice out of it. He added that the CJ in an open court made some observations that raised questions about the prosecutors and investigators' role in the trial.

Speaking at the same discussion, the Liberation War minister had said if the CJ had indeed made such comments, as a judge and responsible citizen, he must as well know the remedy.

THE CJ'S COMMENTS

On February 24, a five-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by the CJ completed hearing on Quasem's appeal and fixed March 8 for its verdict.

During hearing of the appeal on February 23, the chief justice expressed dissatisfaction over the poor performance of the prosecutors and investigators in dealing with the war crimes cases.

The top judge of the country observed that a huge amount of money was being spent on the prosecutors and investigators, but they did not handle and investigate the cases properly.

Justice Sinha had also told the attorney general that the judges were shocked to note that the prosecutors appeared before the media to make statements immediately after a session of the case proceedings at the tribunal

'UNCONSTITUTIONAL, UNEXPECTED'

In his reaction, the attorney general said the two ministers' comments were unconstitutional and uncalled for, and urged all not to make any undesirable comment about the chief justice to keep the judiciary above controversy.

The CJ is the head of the judiciary and if he is made controversial, the entire judiciary will be affected, the AG told reporters at his office when asked to comment on the two ministers' remarks.

He requested all to wait for the apex court's verdict in Quasem's case on Tuesday.

Later in the day, the top state lawyer told the BBC Bangla, “Such comments by the ministers have damaged the judiciary and such remarks against the judiciary are unprecedented.” 

'THREAT TO JUDICIARY'

The Supreme Court Bar Association called on the apex court to take legal actions against two ministers for their comments immediately. 

The ministers' comments on a sub-judice matter are a threat to the judiciary, SCBA President Khandker Mahbub Hossain told a press conference at the association auditorium.

He hoped the SC would act in this regard in order to uphold the image of the judiciary.

Replying to a query, Mahbub said the Appellate Division may initiate contempt of court proceedings against the two ministers.

SCBA Secretary AM Mahbub Uddin Khokon demanded removal of the two ministers, saying the ministers broke their oaths by violating the constitution through making those comments.

The BNP, meanwhile, termed “extremely audacious and political hooliganism” the ministers' comments.

“The way Food Minister Qamrul Islam and Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Haque asked the chief justice to quit is a naked interference in the judiciary. Their comments have once again proved that the one-party Baksal system of 1975 has been revived with its all aggressive features,” said BNP Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi.

Talking to reporters at the party's central office, he said the comments by Qumrul and Mozammel were tantamount to contempt of court.

According to the BNP leader, the ruling AL is restoring to threats and intimidations having failed to establish a full control over the judiciary.

Son all too lonely as mother also departs

Except Zarif, first from right, everyone in this family, burnt in a fire at their home in the capital's Uttara on February 26, is now dead. The mother, Sumaiya Khanam, succumbed to her injuries at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital yesterday, ending a 10-day battle for her life. The two other brothers died on the day of the incident and the father the next day. Photo: Collected

With 90 percent of her body burnt, Sumaiya Khanam had been fighting a grim battle for life for 10 days.

Her painful groans, coupled with her cries of loss of her two little children and husband in a devastating fire, would fill the air inside the hospital she was admitted to.

Between the cries and groans, Sumaiya would bemoan how her neighbours declined to help them when all her family members were on fire.

However, all her complaints and sufferings came to an end yesterday.

Sumaiya's brain stopped working around 11:45am and she was put on artificial life support. But she breathed her last at 3:15pm, said doctors at City Hospital Ltd where she was transferred from Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) on Tuesday.

She was aged around 40.

On February 26, a fire engulfed her apartment at Uttara Sector-5 in the capital when her husband Mohammad Shahnawaz, 50, lit the gas stove around 6:30am to make tea.