The New Nation - Internet Edition

UNB, Dhaka

Awami League will observe the 61st birthday of its President and former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Friday.

Hasina, the eldest daughter of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, was born at her ancestral home in Tungipara in Gopalganj on this day in 1947.

She was elected President of the party in an AL council session on February 1981 while she was in exile and returned to Bangladesh on May 17, 1981. In 1968, the AL chief got married to eminent nuclear scientist M Wazed Miah. They have a son and a daughter.

This is first time while leaders and workers of her party would observe her birthday in her absence. She will not cut the birthday cake as she is now under detention in an extortion case. The AL chief was arrested on July 16 from her Sudha Sadan residence. The party would observe her birthday in a low key manner under the state of emergency.

AL would arrange milad mahfil and doa at its Dhanmondi office seeking divine blessings for her long life and immediate release from jail. Zillur Rahman urged leaders, workers, supporters and admirers across the country to observe Sheikh Hasina's birthday and demanded of the present caretaker government to release Sheikh Hasina immediately.