For generations the weekly "Pratibeshi" has been serving the nation and will continue to do so, said speakers yesterday at their platinum jubilee celebration in the capital's Bottomley Home Girls' High School.

Beginning its journey in 1941 in Mymensingh as a Christian newspaper; Pratibeshi, one of the oldest Bangla newspapers, raised its voice during the 1952 language movement and 1971 Liberation War, through its editorials, they said.

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said the weekly had faced many difficulties in the last 75 years, but never caved in.

Manzurul Ahsan Bulbul, chief executive officer of Ekushey Television, Father Tapan Camilus De Rozario, chairman of the Department of World Religions at Dhaka University, and Archbishop Patrick D Rozario were present among others.