PM’s 73rd birthday today

1551
File Photo

DHAKA, Sept 28, 2019 (BSS) – The 73rd birthday of Prime Minister and
Bangladesh Awami League President Sheikh Hasina will be celebrated across the
country today.

Sheikh Hasina, the eldest of the five children of Father of the Nation
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Begum Fazilatunnesa, was born at
Tungipara in Gopalganj on September 28 in 1947.

Like previous years, Awami League and its affiliated organisations will
celebrate the day through various programmes on the life and achievements of
Sheikh Hasina, who is driving the nation towards prosperity following the
footsteps of her father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

On the occasion, Milad and doa mahfils will be offered in the capital city
and different parts of the country.

Sheikh Hasina spent much of her childhood in the small hamlet where she was
born. She started her schooling there. When Bangabandhu was elected a
legislator, his family shifted to Dhaka in 1954.

She was admitted to what is now Sher-e-Bangla Girls’ School and College and
later to Azimpur Girls’ High School from where she completed her secondary
education in 1965. She was then admitted to Badrunnessa Government Girls’
College.

During her bachelor course, she was elected as the vice-president of the
students’ union of Eden Girls’ College. (That time, Badrunnessa and Eden
Girls’ College was a single entity) Later, she enrolled on her Masters’
programme at the Bengali Department of Dhaka University.

As a student leader, Sheikh Hasina actively took part in the six-point
movement of 1966 and the student movement of 1969 which saw the abdication of
General Ayub Khan.

In 1968, with the blessings of her imprisoned father, Sheikh Hasina who is
leading the country as the prime minister for the third consecutive term got
married to nuclear scientist Dr Wazed Miah.

During the Liberation War, Sheikh Hasina and her family were interned in a
house in Dhaka. On July 27 in 1971, her first child Sajib Wazed Joy was born.
Her second child Saima Wazed Hossain was born on December 9, 1972.

After the assassination of her parents in 1975, Sheikh Hasina and her
family were offered political asylum in India, where she stayed till 1981
when she was elected as the president of the Awami League in her absence.

Sheikh Hasina returned home on May 17, 1981 when she was greeted by a
mammoth crowd that extended from the Airport to Farm Gate and Manik Miah
Avenue and she addressed a public rally.

In the 1986 parliamentary election, she was elected as parliament member
from three different constituencies. After the overthrow of autocracy in
1990, she was elected as the Leader of the Opposition in the House.

In 1996, 21 years after her father was assassinated, Sheikh Hasina led the
Awami League and helped the party assume power and became the prime minister
for the first time.

On August 21, 2004, Sheikh Hasina, the then opposition leader, barely
escaped an attempt on her life as grenades were lobbed at an AL rally on
Bangabandhu Avenue in the capital. Although she survived the attack, at least
24 people were killed and over 200 others injured. Most of them were Awami
League leaders and supporters.

In 2008, she led the Grand Alliance to an overwhelming victory acquiring
90 percent of parliament seats in the general elections. She was elected the
prime minister on January 5, 2014 for the second time in a raw.

Sheikh Hasina assumed office of the Prime Minister for third consecutive
term with a thumping victory in general elections in December 2018.

Under her leadership, Bangladesh has become a role model for development,
attaining steady economic growth, becoming self-sufficient in food and
attaining a marked progress in the fields of women empowerment, agriculture,
education, health, infrastructure, communication, energy and power, trade and
commerce, ICT and the SME sectors.

Her most recent role in extending humanitarian support to over 1.1 million
forcibly displaced Rohingyas from Myanmar, who now took shelters in Cox’s
Bazar, drew accolade from global leaders, institutions and eminent
personalities.

Sheikh Hasina received the prestigious ‘Vaccine Hero’ award given in
recognition of Bangladesh’s outstanding success in vaccination. Global
Alliance for Vaccination and Immunisations (GAVI) handed over the award to
the premier at a ceremony recently at the Conference Room of the UN
Headquarters in New York during the ongoing 74th United Nations General
Assembly (UNGA).

She also received an award titled ‘Champion of Skill Development for Youth’
for Bangladesh’s great success in youth skill development. The United Nations
Children’s Fund (UNICEF) conferred the award on the premier at a ceremony at
Labouisse Hall of UNICEF House in the UN Plaza on September 26.

UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore handed over the award to the prime
minister amid thunderous clappings of the audience.

Besides, she recently received the Dr Kalam Smriti International
Excellence Awards-2019, introduced in memory of eminent scientist and former
Indian President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam.

The award was conferred upon Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in recognition of
her commitment to a close and mutually satisfying India-Bangladesh relations,
welfare of her people, particularly women and children, and international
peace and cooperation.

Chief Adviser of the Dr Kalam Smriti International Advisory Council
Ambassador TP Sreenivasan handed over the accolade through a ceremony at the
Prime Minister’s Office here on September 16.

Sheikh Hasina was also conferred with various honourary degrees, accolades
and awards in recognition of her leadership excellence and intellectual
flair. These include: honorary Doctor of Laws by the Waseda University of
Japan, honorary Doctorate of Philosophy in Liberal Arts by University of
Abertay Dundee, UK, honorary Degree of Desikottama by Visva-Bharati
University of West Bengal, India, honorary Doctor of Laws by the Australian
National University, honorary Doctor of Humane Letters by the Bridgeport
University, USA, honorary Doctor of Laws by the University of Dhaka, Paul
Haris Fellowship by the Rotary International, UNESCO’s Houphouet-Boigny Peace
Prize in 1998, M K Gandhi Award in 1998, Mother Teresa Award in 1998 and
2006, Pearl S. Buck Award by Randolph Macon Women’s College of USA in 1999,
CERES Medal in 1999, UN Award for MDG achievement (child mortality) in 2010,
Indira Gandhi Peace Prize in 2009, South-South Award in 2011, UN Award for
MDG Achievement in 2013, Rotary Peace Prize in 2013, Tree of Peace in 2014,
ICT Sustainable Development Award in 2015, Champions of the Earth in 2015,
Agent of Change Award in 2016 and Planet 50-50 Champion in 2016.