The BNP has announced a two-day programme to celebrate the 88th birth anniversary of its founder Ziaur Rahman.

On Thursday, the first day of the programme, a seminar will be held at the Engineers Institution Auditorium in Dhaka at 2pm. On Friday, the party flag will be hoisted at BNP offices across the country before people pay their respects at the former military ruler's mausoleum at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar at 11 am.

The party’s Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi announced the schedule at a media briefing at BNP’s central office in Dhaka’s Naya Paltan on Wednesday.

“We have taken steps to mark our leader’s birth anniversary with due respect. Party leaders and activists at all levels will remember Ziaur Rahman, the proclaimer of Bangladesh's independence, an advocate of multi-party democracy and the pioneer of modern Bangladesh,” he said.

Posters and pamphlets will be published and discussions will be arranged by various groups affiliated with the BNP to commemorate the occasion.

Born in Bogura's Bagmara village on Jan 19, 1936, Zia was the country's first military ruler and founded the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) in 1978.

The former president was killed at the Chattogram Circuit House in a failed army rebellion in 1981.