<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;">The historic Six-Point Day is being observed today in Bangladesh.</span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Bengalis of the then East Pakistan joined Awami League’s call for a daylong shutdown on this day in 1966 to press for specific demands including autonomy.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had placed the demands several months earlier to end the tyranny of the then Pakistan government and their oppression of the Bengalis.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">At the call of Awami League, the people of the then East Pakistan joined the Six-Point Movement spontaneously and observed the dawn-to-dusk hartal across the province.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The law enforcers opened fire on demonstrators at various places in Dhaka and Narayanganj, killing at least 10 people. The killings intensified the movement.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The six points included having a federal structure of government based on the spirit of the Lahore Resolution of 1940, with a parliament elected on the basis of universal adult franchise.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It also asked for the central government’s authority only in defence and foreign affairs and vesting all other subjects in the federating units of the state of Pakistan.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It proposed two freely convertible currencies for the two wings of Pakistan or two separate reserve banks for the two regions of the country; vesting power of taxation and revenue collection in the federating units; and two separate accounts for foreign exchange reserves for the two wings of Pakistan.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It also demanded a separate militia or paramilitary force for East Pakistan as a measure of its security. UNB</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>