The 43rd homecoming day of Awami League President

and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is being observed today.

On May 17 in 1981, she returned to the country after a long exile.

Boarding on an aircraft of the Indian Airlines, Sheikh Hasina reached the
then Kurmitola Airport here from the Indian capital of New Delhi via Kolkata
at 4.30pm on that day.

Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was brutally killed
along with most of his family members on August 15 in 1975 and his two
daughters– Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana — luckily escaped the carnage
as they stayed abroad.

In a national council session of the Awami League on February 14, 15 and 16
in 1981, Sheikh Hasina was elected as party president in her absence and then
she returned to the country on May 17.

“I have returned to the country not to become a leader of the Awami League,
rather to participate in the struggle for freedom by staying beside the
people,” said the AL president in a heart touching reception accorded by
nearly 1.5 million people at the airport at that time.