The Bangladesh High Court ruled on Sunday that the cancellation of a public holiday to mark the death of the country's founding leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was illegal. The August 15 annual holiday was scrapped six years ago by the government of former prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia, after she won a 2001 election by defeating Mujib's daughter Sheikh Hasina, another former prime minister. Mujib was killed with most members of his family in a military coup on August 15, 1975, beginning years of rule by army generals, including Khaleda's husband Ziaur Rahman, himself killed in a 1981 mutiny. Hasina introduced Aug. 15 as public holiday to mourn her father after she won power in a 1996 election, but her rival Khaleda scrapped it in 2002, despite protests by Hasina's Awami League. “The High Court also asked the country's incumbent interim government to take steps to rectify the illegal decision by the previous government (regarding the Aug. 15 holiday),” a court official told reporters. Meanwhile, a mild earthquake shook Bangladesh early on Sunday, sending people running out of their homes in panic, witnesses said. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage to property, they said. The quake occurred around 12:50 A.M. (1851 GMT Saturday). The United States Geographic Survey estimated the magnitude of the quake at 4.9, and put the epicenter some 70 miles (115 km) north of the capital Dhaka, near Mymensingh. Quakes have affected Bangladesh many times in recent years but most have caused no loss of life or damage.
