Minister Syed Ashraful Islam, former general secretary of the Awami League, had asked to be given more time to take his oath of office on Wednesday, but four days after the request he returned to parliament for the last time in a coffin draped in the national flag.
Hundreds of thousands of his colleagues, supporters and well-wishers came to pay their final tribute to the departed Awami League leader at the South Plaza of the parliament building on Sunday.
Syed Ashraf, who had fought a lengthy battle with lung cancer, breathed his last at the Bumrungrad Hospital in Thailand at the age of 67 on Thursday night.
The body of Syed Ashraf was taken to South Plaza of the parliamentary building at 10:00 am on Sunday for his first funeral prayers.
President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina placed wreaths on his coffin, which was draped with the national flag and the Awami League’s party flag.
Thousands of Awami League leaders, activists and supporters participated in the service, remembering the veteran leader, who had been a pillar of the party through difficult times, with tears in their eyes.
He was given a “guard of honour” on behalf of the Dhaka district administration after the prayer service.
After the service, the mortal remains of Syed Ashraf were flown to Kishoreganj where a second funeral service was held at 12 noon.
His body will be laid to rest at the Banani Graveyard in Dhaka on Sunday afternoon after a third funeral service at the Anjuman Eidgah field in Mymensingh.
Syed Ashraf, the son of Syed Nazrul Islam, one of the four national leaders killed in jail in 1975, left for the United Kingdom shortly after his father’s assassination.
He became a member of parliament from Kishoreganj-1 as the Awami League candidate in 1996 after returning home. He was also re-elected in 2001, 2008 and 2014.
MASSIVE CROWDS
In addition to top political leaders, people from all walks of life crowded the South Plaza of the parliament building to pay their final respects.
The crowd at the funeral service was several times that of any past gathering during any such event in front of parliament.
Hundreds of thousands of people crowded the South Plaza to take part in the funeral prayers for Syed Ashraf. People were also standing on the stairs and in the streets. Law enforcers were having difficulty keeping people away.
After his body was taken to the national parliament at around 10:30 am, Syed Ashraf, who was also a freedom fighter of liberation war in 1971, was given the “guard of honour”.
Later, Bangladesh President Abdul Hamid, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury paid tributes to him one final time.
Hasina, along with the senior party leaders, later paid tribute to him on behalf of the party, bdnews24.com reported.
The funeral prayer of Syed Ashraf was offered by Parliament Secretariat Jamme Mosque Imam Abu Raihan.
Awami League Joint-General Secretary Mahbub-ul Alam Hanif offered a speech memorialising Syed Ashraf before the prayer service. Syed Monjurul Islam, younger brother of Syed Ashraf, spoke about his brother on behalf of the family.
Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader, Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed, former Religious Affairs Minister Motiur Rahman, Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu, Health Minister Mohammed Nasim, Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury, Cultural Affairs Minister Asaduzzaman Noor, Food Minister Qamrul Islam, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan and State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam were also present at the prayer service.