NEW DELHI: A draft has been prepared by the interim government in Bangladesh to scrap August 15th as a national holiday. Forty-nine years ago, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was assassinated on this day, and it has since been observed as a holiday and a day of mourning.
Extra police and paramilitary forces will be deployed across Bangladesh to maintain law and order. A formal notification on scrapping the holiday is yet to be made.
“There have been reports that members of the Awami League will pay their tributes to a portrait of Bangabandhu on this day, while right-wing political parties want the holiday scrapped. Meanwhile, the police uniforms (which were designed by the previous regime) are likely to be changed, as they feature a logo of a boat, which also happens to be an election symbol of the Awami League,” Professor Nazmul Ahsan Kalimullah, a political commentator from Dhaka, told this newspaper.
A 10-member committee was set up on Monday to work on designing the new uniform and logo and has been asked to submit a report within one week.
Meanwhile, the India Visa Application Center (IVAC) in Dhaka has resumed limited operations. “Messages will be sent to individual applicants regarding the collection of passports,” according to an IVAC notice.
The interim government’s chief advisor, Professor Muhammad Yunus, visited the Dhakeshwari National Temple (the largest Hindu temple in Bangladesh) in Dhaka on Tuesday.
Professor Yunus sought cooperation from all and called upon the country and its people to exercise patience. He also emphasized that rights are equal for all.
Meanwhile, the US has categorically denied any involvement in the toppling of Sheikh Hasina’s government.
“We have had no involvement at all. Any reports or rumors that the United States government was involved in these events are simply false,” White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said on Monday.