Khulna: The Khulna city unit of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party has announced a six-day programme to observe the 45th martyrdom anniversary of party founder and former President Ziaur Rahman with due respect and solemnity. The programmes were adopted at a joint meeting held at the city BNP office on Monday evening and later disclosed through a press release.
According to Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, the announced schedule includes party leaders and activists wearing black badges, hoisting black flags, and keeping party flags at half-mast on May 30. Discussion meetings and prayer sessions are planned, and the programmes will continue until June 4. Improved meals will be distributed among residents of Lillah boarding facilities and orphanages as part of the observance. Special prayers will be offered at mosques, temples, churches, and pagodas.
The programme also includes essay competitions on Ziaur Rahman, documentary screenings, and quiz contests. Cleanliness drives, tree plantation, and blood donation programmes will be conducted at ward, thana, and union levels across the metropolis. Quran recitation, Hamd-Naat and Azan competitions, free medical camps, and book exhibitions have been incorporated into the programme schedule.
The city BNP stated that leaders and activists of all thana, ward, and union units, alongside associate and affiliated bodies, would participate in the observance. The meeting was chaired by city BNP president Advocate Shafiqul Alam Mona and attended by general secretary Shafiqul Alam Tuhin and organisational secretaries Sheikh Sadi, Masud Parvez Babu, Chowdhury Hasanur Rashid Miraj, and KM Humayun Kabir. The meeting also warned party leaders and activists against using the BNP’s name to gain unethical benefits in the name of Qurbani or charity feasts.
Meanwhile, on the same evening, city BNP general secretary Shafiqul Alam Tuhin and former joint convener Chowdhury Shafiqul Islam Hossain were greeted with flower bouquets by BNP and its associate bodies after being nominated as councillor members of the Bangladesh Cricket Board.