BNP leader Shahid Uddin Chowdhury Annie emphasized the sacrifices of today’s youth in the political struggle, saying, “We never think outside the generation. They wanted movement, and so did we — but they were on the frontlines. They were martyred, disappeared, and killed, just like us.”

Annie noted that unlike in the past, no student organizations mobilized them — they took to the streets on their own, sometimes holding their parents’ hands. “Even when bullets rained from helicopters, they did not back down,” he said.

He added that today’s generation knows Tarique Rahman more directly than late President Ziaur Rahman, but the leadership of Zia, Tarique, and Khaleda Zia carried the same vision for Bangladesh. Annie urged student leaders to embody this generation’s sentiment in campuses across the country.