President Mohammed Shahabuddin and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today paid rich tributes to the martyrs of the 1971 Liberation War by placing wreathes at the National Memorial in Savar on the outskirts of Dhaka marking the 53rd Victory Day.

The head of the state laid the wreath at the altar of the National Memorial with the rise of the sun around 6:33am. After the president, the prime minister placed a wreath there.

A smartly turned-out contingent drawn from Bangladesh Army, Bangladesh Navy and Bangladesh Air Force presented a state salute on the occasion when the bugles played the last post.

After placing the wreath, the president and prime minister stood in solemn silence for a while as a mark of profound respect to the memories of the martyrs of the country's War of Liberation in 1971 as the bugle played the last post.

President Shahabuddin also signed the visitors' book kept there.

Flanked by senior leaders of her party, Sheikh Hasina, also the Awami League president, laid another wreath at the National Memorial as the party chief.

Speaker of the parliament, chief justice, ministers, chiefs of the three services, members of parliament, freedom fighters, diplomats, representatives of different development partners and high civil and military officials, among others, were present.

Fifty two years back on December 16 in 1971, Bangladesh was born as an independent country under the leadership of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the greatest Bangalee of all times, in exchange for the supreme sacrifice of three million martyrs and the honour of two lakh women.

The Victory Day is a national holiday. It is celebrated on December 16 every year to commemorate the victory of Bangladesh against the Pakistani occupation forces in the Liberation War in 1971.

The Pakistani occupation army surrendered to the joint forces of Bangladesh and India ending the ninth-month blood-stained Liberation War to make Bangladesh an independent state.

Along with the government, different socio-political, educational and cultural institutions and organisations have chalked out a series of programmes to celebrate the day.