Dhaka, Aug 15: Thousands of people, led by President Zilur Rahman and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, paid homage to Bangladesh's founding leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman who was assassinated 36 years year ago today in a military coup.
President Rahman and Prime Minister Hasina, the daughter of the assassinated leader, placed wreaths at the Bangabandhu Memorial Museum, the house of Sheikh Mujib where he was killed along with most of his family members on August 15, 1975.
Thousands joined the mourning in the capital and other parts of the country by wearing black badges as army bugles played the last post.
A total of 28 people, including Sheikh Mujib's wife Begum Fazilattunesa, three sons were killed in the putsch that also toppled Bangladesh’s post independence Awami League government.
Hasina and her younger sister Sheikh Rehana survived as they were abroad at the time.
Five of the leaders involved in the coup were hanged last year after a protracted trial process while six were on the run.
The trial began after Awami League returned to power in 1996 and scrapped a controversial indemnity law that had provided protection to the killers of the first president of Bangladesh.
Senior government leaders today said a three-pronged approach was underway to bring back the fugitive convicts, two of them claimed to be hiding in India.
"At least two of the killers are likely to be hiding in India. . . New Delhi has reassured us to extend their hands for the repatriation,"
 Syed Ashraful Islam, the Awami League general secretary and local government minister told reporters.

Lastupdate on : Mon, 15 Aug 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Mon, 15 Aug 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Tue, 16 Aug 2011 00:00:00 IST