The 75th birthday of prime minister Sheikh Hasina, also the president of Bangladesh Awami League, will be celebrated across the country on Tuesday.
Sheikh Hasina, the eldest among the five children of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Sheikh Fazilatunnesa Mujib, was born at Tungipara in Gopalganj on 28 September 1947.
Like previous years, Awami League and its affiliated organisations will celebrate the day through various programmes, highlighting her life and achievements.
The prime minister is now in the USA as she went there to join the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
Marking her birthday, different programmes, including discussions, Milad-Mahfil, special prayers and photo exhibitions will be organised in the capital and across the country.
As part of the AL central programmes, a discussion meeting will be held at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (BICC) in the capital at 10:00am on Tuesday.
Besides, Milad-Mahfil will be arranged in Baitul Mukarram National Mosque and all other mosques throughout the country after Zahr prayers.
Special prayers will also be offered at International Buddhist Monastery (Bihar) at Merul Badda at 6:30pm, Christian Association Bangladesh (CAB) Mirpur Baptist Church at 12:01am, Jakmala Rani Church at Tejgaon at 6:00am and Dhakeshwari Temple at 5:00pm on the day. The AL central leaders will be present at the programmes, said a press release.
The birthday celebration programmes will be held with maintaining proper health protocol across the country, it said.
AL general secretary Obaidul Quader also asked all the AL’s associate bodies, social and cultural organisations and their all-level leaders and activists to celebrate the day through different programmes including discussions, special prayers throughout the country.
He also asked the leaders of all AL units up to ward-level to celebrate the day, taking up similar programs maintaining the health codes.
Sheikh Hasina assumed the office on 7 January 2019 for the fourth time after her party Awami League-led grand alliance won the 11th Parliamentary election held on 30 December, 2018.
Earlier, she served as prime minister for the first time in 1996-2001, second term in 2009-2013 and the third term in 2014-2018. Sheikh Hasina was the Leader of the Opposition in the 4th, 5th and 8th Parliaments.
Hasina spent much of her childhood in her ancestral small hamlet in Tungipara. When Bangabandhu was elected a legislator, his family moved to Dhaka in 1954. She graduated from the University of Dhaka in 1973.
Having a checkered political career, Hasina was elected vice president of the Students Union of the Government Intermediate Girls College when she contested as a candidate from Students League.
Later, she served as secretary and then as president of the college unit of Student League. She was also a member of Students League in Dhaka University and became the secretary of Rokeya Hall unit. She actively participated in all mass movements from her student life.
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman along with the members of his family was brutally assassinated on the fateful night of 15 August, 1975. Sheikh Hasina and her younger sister Sheikh Rehana were the only survivors as they were in West Germany at that time.
Hasina was unanimously elected as president of Bangladesh Awami League in 1981 in her absence while she was in forced exile. She finally returned home on 17 May, 1981 ending her six years in exile.