Bangladesh cancels holiday marking founder’s death as ex-PM Hasina faces murder probe

By SM Najmus Sakib

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) - Bangladesh's transitional government on Tuesday canceled the annual public holiday marking the anniversary of the death of the country’s founder, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

The decision came days after former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, daughter of Mujib, fled the country following weeks of mass protests.

After being elected as prime minister for the first time in 1996, Hasina bypassed parliament and, by decree, established the national day of mourning for Mujib's assassination on Aug. 15, 1975, during a military coup.

Tuesday's decision was made during a meeting between the head of the transitional government, Muhammad Yunus, and political parties in the capital, Dhaka.

Thirty-five student groups, including the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement and student wings of opposition parties, also decided at a meeting at the University of Dhaka that Thursday's National Mourning Day would no longer be observed.

Refuting the decision, Hasina, in a statement posted by her US-based son on X, urged the country to observe the day.

The holiday was first canceled in 2002 after Hasina's party lost the elections, and opposition parties formed a coalition government. She then restored the national holiday after returning to power in 2008. Since then, Hasina has ruled the country, winning three controversial and widely boycotted elections in 2014, 2018, and 2024. Her 15-year rule came to an end on Aug. 5 when she fled to India following a month-long anti-government protest.

On Tuesday, a court in the country opened a murder investigation into Hasina and six top figures in her administration over the police killing of a man during last month’s civil unrest.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh's law enforcement agencies arrested two key aides of Hasina—her Private Industry and Investment Affairs Adviser Salman F. Rahman and former Law Minister Anisul Huq—when they attempted to flee the country.

According to the India-based newspaper The Economic Times, Hasina blamed Washington for her ouster. The US has denied the allegations.