National Mourning Day

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman is known as the ‘Father of the Nation’ of Bangladesh. Often referred to as ‘Mujib’ or ‘Sheikh Mujib’, he is regarded as the prime architect of the independent nation, Bangladesh. In a 2004 BBC poll, Mujib was voted the Greatest Bengali of all time.

Mujib began his political career in 1949 as a co-founder of the Awami League. The league advocated political autonomy for East Pakistan, the then recently created eastern part of Pakistan.

In the 1970 general elections, the Bangla-based Awami League, led by Mujibur won an overall majority, but the West Pakistani regime was reluctant to hand over power. On March 25th 1971, Pakistani troops were used to quell the growing unrest.