of the departed souls of the martyrs who had, he maintained, died in the struggle for democracy.
Other speakers at the meeting called upon the people to maintain peace and harmony among the people and desist from looting and other anti-social activities.
They declared in unequivocal terms that the people of Bangla Desh could not be suppressed any more and they must achieve, their goal at any cost.
The meeting in a resolution condemned the firings in different parts of the city during the last two days and prayed for the salvation of the departed souls. It expressed its deep sympathy with the members of the bereaved families.
In another resolution, the meeting called upon the people from all walks of life to lake active part in the movement for the realization of the people's rights under the dynamic leadership of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
The meeting took a fresh vow for the establishment of a society in Bangla Desh, where there would be no exploitation and people would live in peace.
Sheikh Mujib gave call for “peaceful Satyagraha” movement for the realization of the rights of the people of Bangla Desh and appealed to the people to maintain peace for the success of the struggle.
Sheikh Mujib also appealed to the people to guard against looting and arson and to maintain peace at all costs. Any attempt to disrupt peaceful life must be resisted, because without strict discipline no mass movement could attain any success.
Sheikh Mujib appealed for communal peace and added the Biharis and non-Muslims “are our sacred trust”.
He referred to the sacrifice of lives by Bengalis during the last 23 years and during yesterday's observance of hartal in the City.
He said “I do not know how many people died yesterday,” adding that he himself heard the firing of machine-gun. He also led the prayer at the meeting for those who died. The dead bodies of a few persons, who died yesterday, were also brought to the public meeting.
Sheikh Mujib said he wanted to spell out the future course of action, and added if the attitude of the Government remained unchanged till March 7, he would give out his mind at the race course, where he is scheduled to address a public meeting. He said if he failed to turn up for any unforeseen reasons there would be others to announce the future course of action.
He said the maintenance of discipline was the prerequisite for the success of any mass movement. Without discipline no movement could achieve any tangible results “no matter how many lives we sacrifice.” He particularly reminded the volunteers of their responsibilities in this connection.
