DHAKA: The 68th birthday of president of the ruling Awami League and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is being celebrated across the country on Sunday.

On this day in 1947, Sheikh Hasina, the eldest of five children of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, was born at Tungipara in Gopalganj district.

Awami League and its associate bodies and other socio-cultural-professional organisations have chalked out elaborate programmes to observe her birthday.

Dhaka city AL will hold a doa mahfil and a discussion at 4:00pm at its office on Bangabandhu Avenue.

Special prayers and milad mahfils will be held at different mosques, including Baitul Mukarram National Mosque after Zohr prayers.

Special prayers will also be offered at Dhakeshwari National Temple and other worship places, including churches and pagodas, at noon.

The ruling party will distribute food among orphans at different orphanages.

Sheikh Hasina and her younger sister Sheikh Rehana luckily survived the August 15 massacre in 1975 as they were aboard when most of her family members were assassinated by an army cabal. Later, she was elected as president of
Awami League in 1981 while in exile.

She has been elected Prime Minister thrice --in 1996, 2008 and 2014.

BDST: 1059 HRS, SEP 28, 2014