“Bengal's brave sons are the bravest,” Speaker Hafiz Uddin tells RAOWA Veterans Day programme

The brave sons of Bengal are braver than those of any nation on earth, National Parliament Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmad Bir Bikram has said. Devoting oneself to the service of the motherland is a matter of great pride, he said, and members of the armed forces have never hesitated to sacrifice their lives when the country needed it.

He made the remarks on Saturday (14 November) as chief guest at a “Veterans Day” programme organised by the Retired Armed Forces Officers' Welfare Association (RAOWA) at the RAOWA Convention Centre in the capital.

Recalling his own military life, the Speaker said: “I was a founding member of RAOWA. Just as being a member of the armed forces is a matter of pride, so is being a member of RAOWA. The eight years I spent in the armed forces were the best time of my life.”

On the Liberation War, he said that in 1971 five battalions of the East Bengal Regiment were the first to revolt, in five cantonments of the army. But after the Liberation War, the East Bengal Regiment's contribution was denied, he said.

The Speaker added that the history of the Liberation War was distorted immediately after independence. The common people of the country, untrained, took up arms to protect lives, he noted.

On democracy, Hafiz Uddin Ahmad said the Liberation War was fought to establish democracy, and there is no alternative to democracy for the country's development. He described the past 15 years of history as a history of misrule.

On the 2024 mass uprising, he said the students and people of the country showed heroic courage in it; Abu Sayeed stood with his chest bared before raised bayonets. The armed forces played a supportive role in the uprising, he said.

In his speech, the Speaker recalled the battle at MC College grounds in Sylhet and became emotional. He praised Colonel Modachhir Ali Khan's immense bravery in frontline combat in the MC College battle.

Retired officers of the armed forces, retired East Bengal Regiment soldiers and officers from different parts of the country, distinguished guests and media workers took part in the programme.