Prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday paid rich tributes to August 15 martyrs at the Banani graveyard in Dhaka on the occasion of Sheikh Russel Day.

The prime minister along with her younger sister Sheikh Rehana went to the Banani graveyard and paid glowing homage by placing wreath in the morning.

After laying the wreath, they stood in solemn silence for some time.

They also spread flower petals on the graves.

Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana also offered Fateha and prayed for eternal peace of the departed souls of the martyrs of August 15.

At the Banani graveyard, their mother Begum Fazilatun Nesa Mujib, brothers Sheikh Kamal, Sheikh Jamal, and Sheikh Russel and other martyrs of August 15, 1975 were laid to eternal rest.

Today is the 59th birthday of Sheikh Russel, the youngest son of Bangladesh’s founding president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, which is being observed as Sheikh Russel Day across the country.

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, his spouse Begum Fazilatun Nesa Mujib, their three sons — Sheikh Kamal, Sheikh Jamal, and Sheikh Russel — and most of the family members of Bangabandhu and his three close relatives were assassinated in cold blood on the fateful night of 15 August, 1975 by a group of disgruntled army men.

Two daughters of Sheikh Mujib — incumbent prime minister Sheikh Hasina and her sister Sheikh Rehana — could escape the carnage as they stayed abroad at that time.