Journalist Musa to be buried at Feni home Thursday

Veteran journalist ABM Musa will be laid to rest at his ancestral home in Feni on Thursday after his colleagues and general people pay their last respects, his family members say.

The 1999 Ekushey Award recipient died at LabAid Hospital in Dhaka on Wednesday.

He was 83 and left three daughters and one son.

Musa was admitted to LabAid Hospital two weeks ago with age-related complications. Doctors pronounced him dead around 1pm Wednesday after keeping him on life support for last several days.

President Md Abdul Hamid, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury have offered condolences to the bereaved family.

Many organisations of journalists have also expressed deep sorrow at his passing away.

The senior journalist’s daughter Parvin Sultana told bdnews24.com that her father would be buried at the family graveyard at Dharmapur village in Feni’s Porshuram Upazila on Thursday after the formalities in Dhaka.

His first namaz-e-janaza was held at Iqbal Road playground at Mohammadpur on Wednesday evening.

His body would be kept at BIRDEM mortuary on Wednesday night.

At 12pm on Thursday, his body will be brought to the National Press Club where the second janaza would be held. There, the media fraternity will pay their tributes by placing wreaths on his coffin.

Then, his remains would be taken to Feni.

ABM Musa had a career spanning 60 years in in journalism. He was also a lifetime member of the National Press Club.

Born on Feb 28, 1931, Musa was elected an MP with a ticket from Awami League in the first national election of independent Bangladesh in 1973.

He launched himself in journalism at the age of 19 by joining ‘Saptahik Qaifiat’ in Feni and then ‘Dainik Insaaf’ in Dhaka. Later. he joined Dainik Ittefq.

Afterwards Musa went over to ‘The Pakistan Observer’.

Musa then joined ‘Sangbad’ when ‘The Pakistan Observer’ closed down during the 1952 Language Movement.

But he was back at ‘The Pakistan Observer’ with the paper resuming publication in 1954, and was with it until 1971, first as a reporter and later as its news editor.

During the 1971 War of Independence, Musa worked for the BBC and the Sunday Times.

After independence, he worked as Director General of the state-owned Bangladesh Television and editor for ‘Morning News’.

Musa joined the UN ESCAP in Bangkok in 1978.

He was director general of the Bangladesh Press Institute from 1981 to 1985, and chief editor of the Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha from 1985 to 1987.

He served as the president and the general secretary of the National Press Club in several terms.

He also worked at dailies New Nation and News Today.

He served as editor at the ‘Daily Jugantar’ briefly in 2004.

Later, he was active in column writing and participating in television talk-shows.