Dhaka:Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday said Sheikh Fazilatunnesa Mujib was the source of all inspirations, power and courage for Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to work for the development and welfare of the people of this country.

‘My mother had always given him (Sheikh Mujibur Rahman) that encouragement, never pulled him back, never cared about her own interests, even she never ever thought in that way what she would get in her life, she always wanted the country’s independence,’ the Prime Minister said.

Sheikh Hasina was addressing a function marking the 86^th birth anniversary of Sheikh Fazilatunnesa at Osmani Memorial Hall in Dhaka.

After the Liberation War, she recalled, her mother had always tried to know about the wellbeing of the common people, gathered information and brought the sufferings of people to the notice of Sheikh Mujib.

She said Sheikh Fazilatunnesa Mujib was beside father of nation till the last moment of her life. ‘When the assailants killed my father, she didn’t beg for her life.

Instead, she asked them to kill her as they already killed Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. This is how she laid down her life,’ an emotion-choked Hasina said.

State Minister for Women and Children Affairs Meher Afroz Chumki presided over the function organised by the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs.

Noted litterateur and chairman of Bangladesh Shishu Academy Selina Hossain, chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee Rebeka Momen, chairperson of Jatiya Mohila Sangstha Momtaz Begum and secretary of the ministry Nasima Begum, among others, spoke on the occasion.

A documentary on the life and works of Bangamata was screened on the occasion.

On this day in 1930, Sheikh Fazilatunnesa Mujib was born in a noble Muslim family at Tungipara village of the then Gopalganj sub-division in Faridpur.

She was assassinated along with Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and most of her family members on 15 August, 1975.