Strength and love: Journalist Baby Maudud remembered on third death anniversary

Co-workers and friends have poured out their praise to journalist-writer Baby Maudud for her strong sense of morality despite being close to power and influence at an event to mark her third death anniversary.

Staff Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 25 July 2017, 05:27 PM
Updated : 27 July 2017, 09:31 PM

They gathered for the remembrance organised by the Dhaka Union of Journalists or DUJ at the National Press Club on Tuesday.

“She was a classmate of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina but she never tried to use that relationship in order for personal gains,” said Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury, journalist and an dviser to the head of the government.

Maudud, who was a reserved seat MP from the ruling Awami League, was more comfortable with her identity as a writer and journalist.

Her formal name was AN Mahfuza Khatun but came to be known as Baby Maudud through her writings.

She was social affairs editors at bdnews24.com until her final days before cancer brought an abrupt end to her life at the age of 66 on Jul 25, 2014.

Beginning her career as journalist in 1967, she worked for the BBC, Daily Sangbad, Daily Ittefaq, BSS, and the Weekly Bichitra before joining bdnews24.com.

Maudud, who lost her husband at a young age and raised their two children on her own, also embodied struggle for those who knew her, said Iqbal.  

“She was the daughter of a justice but she endured a lot throughout her life for her family and politics while safeguarding her own values.”

“People could guess how her life had been after seeing the simplicity of her appearance. She never shared her grief, never took anything from anyone and finally lost her life to cancer.”

Iqbal recalled Baby Maudud’s role in editing the autobiography of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and her participation in the movement led by Shaheed Janani Jahanara Imam for punishment of war criminals from Bangladesh's Liberation War.

The participants stood in silence for a minute to remember the social worker and rights activist, and eventually criticised those who did not show up for the memorial meeting.

“Many followed Baby Apa when she used to come here. They took favours from her many times but these people are now absent,” said Omar Faruq, Secretary General of the Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists or BFUJ.

“I remember the time I was elected to the post of DUJ organising secretary. Baby Apa contested for the role of president but lost. The next day she distributed sweets. When I asked her why, she replied ‘I may have lost but you have won’.”

 

Bangladesh Nari Sangbadik Kendra President Nasimara Hoque Minu also remembered her old friend.

“We were like a team—Minu, Baby and Raka. Everyone knew us at Dhaka University. We were involved with the Chhatra union.

“Baby was not only a journalist but also an active worker for women's rights. She led a movement for building a non-communal nation inspired by the spirit of Liberation War.”

She had joined the East Pakistan Students’ Union while at the Dhaka University.

She was also a member of the Rokeya Hall Student Council in 1967-68.

DUJ General Secretary Sohel Haider Chowdhury hosted the session.

Former BFUJ secretary general Abdul Jalil Bhuiyan, National Press Club Senior Vice-Chairmen Azizul Islam Bhuiyan, General Secretary Farida Yasmin, DUJ Executive Member Mahmudur Rahman Khokon, Murtoza Haider Liton and Subhash Chandra Badal, former journalist at BSS, were present at the meeting, among others.