, Aug. 15 -- Today marks the 51st anniversary of the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the country's then-president, on August 15, 1975.

After being observed as National Mourning Day under successive Awami League governments, for threee consecutive years since the July Uprising, the day is bereft of any state-led initiative to mark the massacre of Mujib and most members of his family by a section of disgruntled army officers.

With the ban on the Awami League's activities implemented under the interim government last year still in place, there are no visible major political programmes either to mark the day, following the fall of the government led by his daughter Sheikh Hasina in a mass uprising.

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman...