The government has finalised names of 16 personalities for Independence Award-2018 for their outstanding contributions at national level.
The Cabinet Division revealed the names through a statement on Tuesday.
The statement said, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will hand the trophies over to the awardees at Osmani Memorial Auditorium on March 25,
Late speaker Humayun Rashid Choudhury and Sergeant Zahurul Haq are among the 12 people getting the awards in the Independence and Liberation War category.
A career diplomat, who joined the Pakistan Foreign Service in the mid-1950s, Choudhury defected to the provisional government of Bangladesh in 1971 and negotiated with more than 40 countries for the new state’s recognition.
Sergeant Haq was serving the Pakistan Air Force in 1968, when he along with 35 others, including Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, were accused in the Agartala Conspiracy Case.
He was killed in custody triggering the 1969 uprising, which gradually led to the 1971 Liberation War.
The 12 others nominated in the same category are late Kazi Jakir Hasan, martyred intellectual MMA Rashidul Hasan, late Shankar Govinda Chowdhury, Air Vice Marshall Sultan Mahmud Bir Uttam, late M Adbur Rahim, late Bhupati Bhushan Chowdhury alias Manik Chowdhury, and martyrs Lieutenant Md Anwarul Azim, Amanullah Md Asaduzzaman and Matiur Rahman Mallik and Amzadul Haque.
According to bdnews24, four others have been nominated in other categories.
Prof AKMD Ahsan Ali has been nominated for medicine, AK Azad Khan for social welfare, Selina Hossain in literature and Abdul Majid in food security.
