Bangladeshis pay homage to Mujib

Thousands of people wearing black ribbons on their shirts and blouses yesterday marched silently, prayed and laid wreaths at a marble statue of the country's founding father, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who was killed by a group of disgruntled army men in 1975.

More than 50,000 men, women and children visited Mujib's residence, now converted into a museum.

Sheikh Mujib, as he was popularly known as Bangabandhu (friend of Bengal), was killed along with his wife, three sons, including a 10-year-old , two-daughters-in-law and nine other family members on August 15, 1975.

His two daughters, Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana, survived as they were visiting Germany at the time.

Hasina has since served as the country's prime minister for five years. She handed power to a caretaker administration last month to oversee an October general elections.

President Shahabuddin Ahmad led the people at dawn in paying homage to Mujib. He stood in silence for a minute before the statue, and offered prayers.

Many mourners travelled to Mujib's village home in eastern Gopalganj district, where his body was buried.

Mujib was assassinated about four years after he led the nation to independence from Pakistan in 1971 following nine months of bloody war. The trial of the killers began only after Hasina steered her Awami League to power in 1996.

Twelve former army commanders have been sentenced to death for killing Mujib and his family. Four of them are in Dhaka jail and eight are fugitives abroad.

Those in jail have appealed against the conviction. A hearing on their appeal is set for today. "We look forward to the day when the killers of the father of the nation will be executed," Hasina said in a press statement.

Khaleda has refused to accept Mujib as the country's founding father and says her husband, then a major, actually launched the independence war on March 26, 1971, when the Pakistani army arrested Mujib at his Dhaka home.