Veteran Awami League leader, former religious minister and valiant freedom fighter Principal Motiur Rahman passed away due to old age complications while undergoing treatment at a hospital in Mymensingh last night at the age of 81.
He breathed his last at 11pm on Sunday at Nexas Cardiac Hospital at Mymensingh, his family and party sources said.
His namaj-e-janaza will be held at Anjuman Eidgah Maidan at Mymensingh after Asr prayer today, they said.
Rahman played significant role in the Liberation War as Mymensingh was freed from the Pakistani occupation force on December 10 in 1971 under his leadership.
He served as religious minister after Awami League assumed office for the second time in a row following national election in 2014.
Earlier, Rahman was also elected parliament member from Mymensingh Sadar constituency as AL candidate in polls of 1986 and 2008.
He was awarded Bangabandhu Padak in 2000 and prestigious Ekushey Padak in 2022.
He performed duties as a trainer of the freedom fighters and a successful organizer of the liberation war as well.
Rahman, who was in-charge of a youth camp at Meghalaya state of India during the liberation war, also directly participated in the war.
He also served as a Principal of Shahid Alamgir Mansur Mintu College.
Leaders from different political, social and cultural organisations including Awami League and Chhatra League rushed to his residence upon hearing her death news.
President, PM mourn
President Mohammed Shahabuddin and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina expressed their deep shock and sorrow at the death of Motiur Rahman.
In a condolence message, the prime minister said Motiur Rahman was a dedicated leader of the Bangladesh Awami League.
She recalled that, "He (Motiur Rahman) performed his organisational duties remaining steadfast to the ideals of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the politics of the Awami League defying uncountable inducement and repeated imprisonments."
Sheikh Hasina said Motiur Rahman, who led the Mymensingh district Awami League for more than three decades, served as a trainer and successful organiser of the freedom fighters during the Great War of Liberation.
"The death of Principal Motiur Rahman is an irreparable loss to the party, and I lost a faithful political companion at the demise of him," she added.
In a condolence message, President Mohammed Shahabuddin recalled the contribution of Motiur Rahman to the country's Great Liberation War and promoting different educational activities.
"The death of this Ekushey Award recipient is an irreparable loss to the country . . . The nation will remember him with respect for long," the Head of State said.
The president and the prime minister prayed for eternal peace of the departed soul and conveyed her deepest sympathy to the members of his bereaved family.
