OBITUARY Zillur Rahman: Bangladeshi president
By Syed Tashfin Chowdhury
DHAKA - Bangladesh's president Mohammad Zillur Rahman passed away on Wednesday afternoon at Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore. The 84-year old president had been undergoing treatment at the hospital for respiratory problems and other complications since March 11.
Three days of state mourning were declared to enable the nation and the friends of Bangladesh to grieve the untimely loss of the country's 19th president.
Rahman's death has shocked the entire nation as well as the two
main political parties. The Bangladesh Awami League, the ruling party, which Rahman led for the past four decades, struggled to describe the loss.
In a statement following the president's death, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said: "With the death of Zillur Rahman a chapter of struggle of the Bengalee nation has come to an end."
The people of Bangladesh would remember his contribution to every stage of development since the country's emergence as an independent nation in 1971, Hasina said in the statement. Remembering Rahman's association with her father, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who is regarded as the Father of the Nation, she said that Zillur Rahman also played an important role in organizing the War of Liberation, the campaign against military rulers in 1962, the Six-Point Movement in 1966 and the Mass Upsurge in 1969.
In particular, Rahman was a key figure in consolidating the Awami League's unity since the killing of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on the fateful night of August 15, 1975, she said.
Recalling the outstanding leadership of Zillur Rahman during the emergency period after 2007 when he took a strong hand to steering the party, Hasina said, "Under his [Zillur's] bold leadership I came out of jail. ? He presented the country a free democracy that was kept under lock and key at that time." Zillur Rahman would remain immortal in Bangladesh's political history.
Khaleda Zia, leader of the opposition 18-party alliance and chairperson of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), also expressed her shock. Describing Zillur as a laconic, gentle and polite man, Khaleda said he refrained from making indecent and belligerent remarks about his political rivals.
"The vacuum that has been created through his death at a time when there is an acute lack of wisdom and good taste will not easily be filled," the former premier observed.
Both Hasina and Khaleda were among the thousands present to have a last glance of the leader at the president's residence, after Rahman's body was flown back to Bangladesh yesterday.
On Friday, after the second funeral prayers for the president at National Eidgah following jumma prayers, Rahman was due to be laid to rest beside his wife, Jebun Nahar Ivy Rahman, at Banani graveyard. Ivy, president of Bangladesh Women Awami League, died on August 24, 2006 following a grenade attack at an Awami League rally at Bangabandhu Avenue in Dhaka.
Mohammad Zillur Rahman was born on March 9, 1929. He made his debut in politics in late 1940s and his leadership qualities became visible during the historic 1952 Language Movement. A lawyer by profession, Zillur Rahman was sworn in as the 19th president of the country on February 12, 2009.
Rahman is survived by his only son Nazmul Hassan Papan, an Awami League lawmaker and cricket board president, and two daughters.
Syed Tashfin Chowdhury is the Editor of Xtra, the weekend magazine of New Age, in Bangladesh.
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