Ministers and State Ministers yesterday expressed deep shock and sorrow at the death of Awami League presidium member and valiant freedom fighter Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury.
In separate condolence messages, they prayed for the eternal peace of the departed soul and conveyed deep sympathy to the bereaved family.
The cabinet members including Liberation Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Huq, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obadul Quader, Agriculture Minister Dr M Abdur Razzaque, Minister for Home Affairs Asaduzzaman Khan, Information and Broadcasting Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud, Law, Justice and Parliament Affairs Minister Anisul Huq, Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal, Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives Minister M Tajul Islam, Education Minister Dr Dipu Moni, Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr AK Abdul Momen, Planning Minister MA Mannan, Minister for Industries Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun, Minister for Textile and Jute Golam Dastigir Gazi, Health and Family Affairs Minister Zahid Maleque, Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder, Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi, Social Welfare Minister Nuruzzaman Ahmed, Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister M Shahabuddin, Fisheries and Livestock Minister SM Rezaul Karim, Chattogram Hill Tracts Affairs Minister Bir Bahadur Ushwe Sing, Land Minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury, Railway Minister M Nurul Islam Sujon, Science and Technology Minister Architect Yafesh Osman, Post and Telecommunication Minister Mostafa Jabbar, Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Imran Ahmed and convener of the National Committee on Chittagong Hill Tracts Abul Hasnat Abdullah, among others, expressed deep shock over the death of veteran ruling party leader Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury.
In addition to this, condolence also poured in from State Minister for Industries Kamal Ahmed Majumder, State Minister for Youth and Sports Zahid Ahsan Rasell, State Minister for Power, Energy, and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid, State Minister for Social Welfare M Ashraf Ali Khan Khosru, State Minister for Labour and Employment Begum Mannujan Sufian, State Minister for Shipping Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury, State Minister for Primary and Mass Education M Zakir Hossain, State Minister for Foreign Affairs M Shahriar Alam, State Minister for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Zunaid Ahmed Palak, State Minister for Public Administration Farhad Hossen, State Minister for Rural Development and Cooperatives Shawpan Bhattachariya, State Minister for Water Resources Zahid Faruque, State Minister for Housing and Public Works Sharif Ahmed, State Minister for Cultural Affairs KM Khalid, State Minister for Disaster Management and Relief Dr M Enamur Rahman, State Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism M Mahbub Ali, State Minister for Women and Children Affairs Begum Fazilatunnesa , State Minister for Religious Affairs M Faridul Huq Khan, State Minister for Planning Dr Shamsul Alam, Deputy Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Habibunnahar, Deputy Minister for Water Resources AKM Enamul Huq Shamim and Deputy Minister for Education Mahibul Hasan Chowdhury.
President mourns death of JS Deputy Leader Sajeda Chowdhury
President M Abdul Hamid yesterday expressed profound shock and sorrow at the death of Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury, ruling Awami League (AL) Presidium Member and Deputy Leader of the House.
In a condolence message, the President said Sajeda Chowdhury played an important role in the movement to establish democracy in Bangladesh.
Recalling her contribution to keeping the organizational base of Bangladesh Awami League up after the brutal incidents on August 15, 1975, Abdul Hamid said the nation will remember her with respect for long.
The Head of State said his courageous and uncompromising leadership showed the nation the right path in any critical moment of the country.
“His death has created a vacuum in the country’s political arena,” he observed.
The President prayed for eternal peace of the departed soul and conveyed deep sympathy to the bereaved family.
I lost a true guardian at Sajeda Chowdhury’s death: PM
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday said she lost a true guardian at the death of veteran Awami League (AL) leader Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury, recalling her great contribution to the country’s all the democratic and progressive movements.
In a condolence message, the premier said, “The nation has incurred an irreparable loss and we lost a veteran political leader and I, myself, lost a true guardian at the demise of Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury.”
She said Sajeda Chowdhury played a pivotal role in country’s all democratic and progressive movements that included six-point movement of 1966 and mass upsurge of 1969.
Sheikh Hasina, also AL’s President, recalled with gratitude that Sajeda Chowdhury had played a great role in electing her as party president in her absence in its 1981 national council, a press release of the Prime Minister’s Press Wing said.
The premier said she got Sajeda Chowdhury as her guardian since she returned to the country on May 17 in 1981.
Since then, Sajeda Chowdhury, Deputy Leader of the Parliament, AL Presidium Member and an organiser of the Liberation War, was her shadow companion, she said.
In the condolence message, Sheikh Hasina said Sajeda Chowdhury got interested in the AL politics since she met Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman during the election campaign of the Juktafront in 1954.
She then joined the AL in 1956 and played an important role in all the movements, the premier said.
Sajeda Chowdhury was elected one of the seven gano parishad members in 1970’s election, she said.
The premier added that she was entrusted with the responsibility of general secretary of the Bangladesh Mohila Awami League from 1969 to 1975.
Sajeda Chowdhury led the party as its acting general secretary by enduring inhuman torture and jail after assassination of the Father of the Nation with most of his family members, she said.
She served the AL as its general secretary from 1986 to 1992 and as presidium member till her death.
The prime minister expressed profound shock and sorrow at the death of Sajeda Chowdhury.
She prayed for eternal peace of the departed soul and conveyed profound sympathy to her bereaved family members.
The veteran AL leader breathed her last at a city hospital last night at the age of 87.
Vacuum created at the death of Sajeda Chowdhury would never be replenished: Quader
Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader yesterday said the vacuum created at the death of veteran Awami League (AL) leader Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury would never be replenished.
“Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury was a very trusted colleague of AL President and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. She remained in a large part of country’s politics,” he told the journalists after the AL paid tribute to the body of Sajeda Chowdhury at the Central Shaheed Minar here this afternoon.
Quader, also the Road Transport and Bridges Minister said, the late AL leader was one of the organizers of the great Liberation War, independent struggle and the movement of self-governance.
Sajeda Chowdhury was beside the AL in every crisis after the killing of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, he said.
AL Presidium Members Sheikh Fazlul Karim Salim, Dr Md Abdur Razzaque, Jahangir Kabir Nanak and Abdur Rahman, its Joint General Secretaries Mahbubul Alam Hanif, Dr Dipu Moni and Dr Hasan Mahmud (also information and broadcasting minister), Organising Secretaries Ahmad Hossain, Advocate Afzal Hossain, SM Kamal Hossain and Mirza Azam, Publicity and Publication Secretary Dr Abdus Sobhan Golap, Culture Affairs Secretary Asim Kumar Ukil, Labour Affairs Secretary Habibur Rahman Siraj and Science and Technology Affairs Secretary Abdus Sabur, were among others, present on the occasion.
Earlier, the first namaj-e-janaza of Sajeda Chowdhury was held on the premises of Mahendra Narayan Academy at Nagarkanda upazila in Faridpur.
Deputy Leader of the House and AL presidium member Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury died at the Dhaka CMH last night at the age of 87.
Fearless Sajeda Chowdhury keeps AL organised in hard times: Hasan
Awami League (AL) Joint General Secretary and Information and Broadcasting Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud yesterday said that the death of Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury, the longest-serving deputy leader of Parliament, marked the end of an illustrious life of a fearless fighter.
“She was a valiant freedom fighter, a close associate of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and a fearless leader to keep AL organized after 1975 carnage,” he told journalists after paying tributes to the veteran ruling party leader at Central Shaheed Minar here this afternoon.
Noting that Sajeda Chowdhury played a pivotal role during the party’s difficult times, liberation struggles and the country’s Liberation War, Dr Hasan said, “Begum Sajeda Chowdhury was always like a shadow with our leader Sheikh Hasina since she was elected as the president of Bangladesh Awami League in 1981”.
Even, when many people turned their backs in 2007-2008, Begum Sajeda Chowdhury remained stand by the party leader (Sheikh Hasina), the AL joint general secretary said, adding that her name (Sajeda Chowdhury) comes to mind when writing not only the history of Awami League, but also the history of the country.
“She was sick for a long time, but we wished to have her (Sajeda Chowdhury) among us for more and more days. Her demise is very much painful for us and AL,” Dr Hasan said and prayed for eternal peace of the departed soul.
