BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia on Thursday urged people to resist the conspiracies by local and foreign evil forces imbued with the spirit of Shaheed Jehad to protect the country’s independence and sovereignty and uphold democracy.
Naziruddin Jehad, an activist of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD), was shot dead in the capital during the movement against autocratic Ershad on October 10, 1990.
JCD, the student associate body of BNP, and Shaheed Jehad Smriti Parishad observe October 10 as ‘Shaheed Jehad Day’.
In a message on the occasion, Khaleda Zia said, “The autocratic ruler Ershad had annihilated democracy. Jehad sacrificed his life with a firm determination to reestablish democracy and giving it a strong footing. His soul will suffer, if we fail to implement his dream.”
She said people have to wage a movement to protect the country’s democratic institutions and ensure their development.
“Democracy means not only election. Instead, it means ensuring people’s independence and basic rights. Undemocratic evil forces had occupied all spheres of the state and society as a heavy burden like a dead stone,” the BNP chief said.
She said Jehad suffered bullets in police firing during his key role in the anti-autocratic mass movement of 1990. “The mass upsurge took place in that year on his (Jahed) blood and it ultimately caused Ershad’s ouster.”
JCD will organise a student rally at Akbar Ali College at Ullapara in Sirajganj on the day.
Shaheed Jehad Smriti Parishad will place wreaths at Jehad memorial at the city’s Dainik Bangla crossing at 9 am on Friday and hold a discussion at the Jatiya Press Club at 3 pm.
BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir will address the programme.
On October 10, 1990, Naziruddin Jehad, the then president of Government Akbar Ali College unit of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, along with 60 other students from Ullapara in Sirajganj, joined the grand rally at Paltan in the capital, organised by the then BNP-led seven-party alliance demanding an end to Ershad’s autocratic regime.
At around 4:00pm on the day, police charged baton at the rally and fired gunshots. Jehad suffered serious bullet wounds and died later.
Source: UNB
