Shawdehs Desk:

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday paid tribute to Bangladesh’s founding president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on the occasion of the historic six-point day.

The prime minister placed a wreath at the portrait of Sheikh Mujib in front of Bangabandhu Memorial Museum at Dhanmondi in Dhaka.

After laying the wreath in the morning, she stood in solemn silence for some time as a mark of profound respect to the memory of Sheikh Mujib.

Flanked by senior Awami League leaders, Hasina placed another wreath at the portrait as the party chief.

Later, associate bodies of Awami League, including Dhaka city AL, Chhatra League, Juba League, Sramik League, Krishak League, Mohila Awami League and Swechchhasebak League placed wreaths at the portrait of Bangabandhu marking the historic occasion.

On this day in 1966, Sheikh Mujib launched a massive movement against the misrule of the Pakistanis on the basis of the six- point demand, the Magna Carta of the Bangalees demanding autonomy for the then East Pakistan.

The Awami League under the leadership of Bangabandhu called for a day-long hartal on June 7 in 1966 throughout the then East Pakistan pressing the demand for autonomy to end the exploitation, deprivation, subjugation and tyranny of the then central government of Pakistan on the people here.

Ten people, including labour leader Manu Mian, Shafique and Shamsul Haque, were killed as the police and paramilitary East Pakistan Rifles opened fire on the demonstrators on the day in Dhaka, Tongi and Narayanganj during the hartal.

The Pakistani atrocities intensified the movement for provincial autonomy turning it into the historic mass upsurge in 1969 that subsequently caused the downfall of the reign of Field Marshal Ayub Khan.