Badruddin Umar declines to receive Independence Award

 
The government has nominated eight eminent personalities including renowned writer and intellectual Badruddin Umar for the Independence Award-2025, in recognition of their glowing and outstanding contributions at the national level. But Badruddin Umar has declined to accept the country's highest civilian honour.

In a statement sent to the media on Thursday night, Badruddin Umar said, "Since 1973, I have been awarded from many government and non-government organisations, and I accepted none of those. Now, the interim government announced to give me the Independence Award. I thank them for this, but it is not possible for me to receive this award too. I am informing it through this press statement."

Apart from him, other nominees are commander-in-chief of the liberation war MAG Osmani, scientist Professor Jamal Nazrul Islam, BRAC founder Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, poet Al Mahmud, one of the designers of the central Shaheed Minar Novera Ahmed, legendary musician Azam Khan, and Abrar Fahad, a student of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) who was killed by banned student organisation Chhatra League in 2019.

The Independence Award is the highest state honor in the country. Since 1977, the government has presented this award annually on March 26, marking Independence Day.