We observe today the anniversary of the martyrdom of Asaduzzaman, a student activist who laid down his life in the struggle for democracy in this country in 1969. It was a time when the ferocity of the Ayub-Monem regime sought to suppress the democratic urge of the people in what was then united Pakistan and especially in its eastern part, which would in the subsequent three years emerge as the independent People's Republic of Bangladesh.
Asad's life was taken away at a time when the Ayub regime had just initiated a so-called conspiracy case to suppress Bengalis through informing the country that 35 Bengalis, with Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at the head, had sought to declare East Pakistan independent from the rest of Pakistan. For Asad and indeed for Bengalis, the larger truth was that in this part of the world, it was a demand for democracy which mattered.
Asad paid the price when on 20 January 1969 the police fired on the procession he happened to be part of. His death was not only that of the earliest of martyrs in the cause of democracy but was also a harbinger of the mass upsurge which would shape up and eventually push the Ayub regime to its deserved destruction. In other words, Asad's martyrdom was a milestone, despite the grave tragedy associated with it, to the wider movement for autonomy and eventual independence that the people of Bangladesh would strive for.
We bow our heads in deep respect and reverence before the memory of Shaheed Asaduzzaman. His sacrifice as well as the sacrifices of millions of others created the space for us which today we enjoy in the beauty of national sovereignty.
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