Prime Minister Tarique Rahman today said building a self-reliant, secure and welfare-oriented state to realise the dreams of Shaheed Nazir Uddin Jehad and countless other martyrs is the nation's responsibility to honour their sacrifices.

"Democracy's renewed journey has begun in Bangladesh stained with Jehad's blood," he said in a message marking the 36th anniversary of Jehad's martyrdom, stressing the need to establish a self-reliant, secure and welfare-oriented state to fulfil the aspirations of those who sacrificed their lives for democracy and people's rights.

Recalling the role of courageous individuals in the country's democratic struggles, Tarique Rahman said that whenever authoritarian rule had deprived people of their rights, people like Jehad had risen in fierce protest and sacrificed their lives for the cause.

The prime minister prayed for the eternal peace of Shaheed Jehad's soul and paid tribute to his contribution to the movement for democracy and people's rights.

Nazir Uddin Jehad, a leader of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal from Ullapara upazila in Sirajganj, was shot dead in Dhaka on October 10, 1990, during a protest against the then autocratic regime of Hussain Muhammad Ershad.

His death came amid the anti-autocracy movement that gained momentum in the late 1980s and culminated in the fall of Ershad's regime in December 1990. Jehad's sacrifice became a symbol of the struggle to restore democracy, multiparty politics and people's rights.