FROM PAGE 12

to wage a decisive struggle against the Pakistani rulers and to achieve the long-cherished independence.

Delivering the verdict on a writ petition, the HC asked the government to include the March 7 speech in the textbooks through an expert committee.

The committee will determine how the March 7 speech of Bangabandhu will be included in the textbooks, Deputy Attorney General Abdullah-Al-Mahmud Bashar told The Daily Star.

The HC also ordered the government to complete construction of the monument of Bangabandhu delivering the March 7 speech at Suhrawardy Udyan as early as possible.

The bench of Justice FRM Nazmul Ahasan and Justice Shahed Nuruddin handed down the judgment after hearing of the petition filed by Supreme Court lawyer Bashir Ahmed in November 2017 seeking necessary directives in this regard.

The grounds on which the HC bench delivered the verdict could not be known as its full text was not released yesterday.

During yesterday’s hearing, Attorney General AM Amin Uddin told the court that the government will work in line with its directives on this issue.

Petitioner Bashir himself moved the petition and requested the HC bench to direct the government to include Bangabandhu’s historic March 7 speech in the textbooks for students of school, college and university so that they can learn about the significance of the speech.

On February 25 last year, the HC directed the government to declare March 7 as “National Historic Day” and to issue a gazette notification this regard.

It also asked the authorities concerned to set up murals of Bangabandhu in all upazilas and districts across the country during the Mujib Borsho and to submit a compliance report in a month.

The directives, issued by the HC on February 25, 2020, have already been implemented, Deputy Attorney General Bashar added.