God Bless Him.
To: alochona@yahoogroups.com
From: ezajur.rahman@q8.com
Date: Sun, 6 Sep 2009 10:14:04 +0300
Subject: [ALOCHONA] Ex-finance minister Saifur dies in car crash
Ex-finance minister Saifur dies in car crash
BNP announces 3-day mourning programme
Courtesy New Age 6/9/09
Staff Correspondent
|
|
Bangladesh Nationalist Party standing committee member M Saifur Rahman, who served as the country's finance minister for the longest period, was on Saturday killed in a road accident in Brahmanbaria.
Saifur met with the tragic accident when his car fell into a ditch at Khariyala of Ashuganj on the Dhaka–Sylhet Highway at 2:30pm.
He was taken to Brahmanbaria General Hospital where physicians pronounced him dead at about 3:30pm. He was 77.
He was on his way to the capital from Moulvibazar, his constituency for which he had been elected lawmaker four times between 1979 and 2001.
Saifur, who had already lost his wife, Durre Samad Rahman in 2003, is survived three sons and a daughter.
The police, quoting witnesses at Khariyala, said the car in which Saifur was travelling, fell into a ditch after the driver lost control trying to save a dog.
The Rapid Action Battalion rushed to the spot and began rescue operation immediately.
Local Awami League lawmaker Lutful Hai Sachchu told reporters the car skidded off into a ditch and fell into five-to-six-foot water.
'Saifur Rahman was wearing a seat belt. It took 10 to 12 minutes to get him out of water by breaking open the door of the car and cutting the seat belt,' said Lutful Hai.
After rescuing him, the battalion took him straight to Brahmanbaria General Hospital where physicians pronounced him dead. As the news spread, hundreds of people rushed to the hospital premises.
Saifur's private secretary Shamsul Huq, Sajib Miah, Sharif Ahmed, Miraj Hossain and Shams Miah who were accompanying him were all critically injured. All of them were admitted to Brahmanbaria General Hospital.
The accident marks an end to the eventful life and chequered political career of Saifur Rahman, who was handpicked by the late president Ziaur Rahman into his advisory council in 1976 in charge of commerce. He then became finance minister.
The BNP chairperson, Khaleda Zia, expressed her deep shock at the death of the senior most member of the party's standing committee. The BNP has postponed all its programmes for Saturday and Sunday showing respect to Saifur and announced a three-day mourning programme.
'As a successful finance minister and politician, Saifur Rahman had contribution to the country's economic development. He also played a significant role in establishing the BNP and its expansion working as a close aide to the late president Ziaur Rahman. He also played an important role in restoring democracy to the country,' Khaleda said.
'The nation lost a wise politician in his sudden death. It is an irreparable loss for the country and it has created a vacuum in national politics,' Khaleda said.
Saifur's body was brought to his house at Gulshan in Dhaka in the evening. A pall of gloom descended there as the microbus carrying Saifur's body entered the Jalalabad House.
Khaleda visited the place to pay her respect to Saifur. The body was laid in state in front of the house and mourners filed past in solemn silence.
A cross section of people flocked to Saifur's house. The finance minister, Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, industries minister Dilip Barua, Awami League advisory council member Tofail Ahmed, Awami League presidium member and chairman of the committee on public undertakings Muhiuddin Khan Alamgir, state minister for home affairs Shamsul Haque Tuku, Workers Party president Rashed Khan Menon, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal president Hasanul Huq Inu, Dhaka University professor emeritus Anisuzzman, Awami League lawmaker Subid Ali Bhuiyan, Awami League president's adviser Salman F Rahman, Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry president Annisul Huq, former Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters' Association president Anwarul Alam Chowdhury Parvez also went there.
Former Jatiya Sangsad speaker Jamiruddin Sircar, BNP secretary general Khandaker Delwar Hossain, opposition chief whip Zainul Abdin Farroque, BNP standing committee member M Shamsul Islam, vice-chairmen M Hafizuddin Ahmed, Sarwari Rahman and Chowdhury Kamal Ibne Yusuf, BNP chairperson's adviser ASM Hannan Shah, joint secretary general Selima Rahman, office secretary Rizvi Ahmed and Jatiyatabadi Juba Dal president Barkatullah Bulu also went to Saifur's house and consoled his two sons and the daughter. Saifur's eldest son, Naser Rahman, has started for home from Saudi Arabia.
Jamaat-e-Islami secretary general Ali Ahsan Muhammad Mujahid and assistant secretary general Muhammad Quamaruzzman also went to Saifur's house.
The family said the first namaz-e-janaza would be held in the Gulshan Azad Mosque at 11:00am, and then the body would be taken to the BNP's central office at Naya Paltan at 12:30pm for the second namaz-e-janaza. The third namaz-e-janaza will take place on the national assembly building premises at 2:30pm.
Saifur will be laid to rest in his family graveyard in Moulvibazar Monday afternoon after holding namaz-e-janazas at Shahi Eidgah in Sylhet at 1:00pm and in the Moulvibazar Government High School ground at 4:00pm.
The body was taken to the mortuary of the United Hospital at Gulshan from his house Saturday night.
The New Age correspondent in Moulvibazar said normal life in Saifur's hometown came to a halt at the news of the death.
Most of the offices and business establishments immediately pulled down their shutters to show respect to Saifur.
Similar was the situation in Sylhet where Saifur went on Friday to say prayers at the shrine of Hazrart Shah Jalal.
check out the rest of the Windows Live™. More than mail–Windows Live™ goes way beyond your inbox. More than messages
__._,_.___
