Air Marshal (Retd.) Asghar Khan, leader of the National Movement for Solidarity party, called on Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at his Dhanmondi residence on March 5, 1971.

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman issued a statement on March 4, 1971, requesting that government and non-government offices where employees had not yet been paid remain open between 2:30pm and 4:30pm to disburse salaries during the next two days of the hartal.