Abdur Razzak passes away

The death brings down the curtain on his 50 year glittering political career

Syed Nahas Pasha

from London

London, Oct 23 (bdnews24.com)—Abdur Razzak, MP, one of the leading organisers of the 1971 Liberation War, died late on Friday in a London hospital, doctors said. He was 69.

The death brings down curtain the curtain on his 50-year glittering political career.

Press minister of Bangladesh High Commission in London Rashed Chowdhury told bdnews24.com doctors at King's College Hospital took his life support off at 03:50pm local time, which is 9:50pm Bangladesh standard time.

The charismatic leader to have never lost an election, Razzak had been on life support for three days.

The Shariatpur-3 legislator had been suffering from liver diseases for three months. Doctors there were planning to transplant his liver on Dec 11 but later said his kidney needed to be transplanted, too. They had been planning to do both surgeries at a time.

The senior politician was on life support when several news media had announced around 6:30pm that the senior leader had died. They also cited condolence messages from the president, prime minister and the opposition leader.

However, when contacted, the prime minister's office, Awami League office and opposition leader's office had no reactions. His long-time political colleague Tofail Ahmed had told bdnews24.com at 7pm he had contacted London around 6pm and the life support had not been taken off.

LIFE

Razzak became general secretary of the Awami League in the post-1975 difficult days, but later broke away to resurrect BKSAL in the early 1980s when Sheikh Hasina had returned home to take over the reins of the troubled party.

The BKSAL, which he virtually led, merged with the mainstream Awami League in the late 1980s, but Razzak never got back the coveted position of the general secretary. He was made a member of the policymaking presidium, became a minister when Awami League ended its 21-year wait for state power in 1996.

He was widely believed to be instrumental in making the Indo-Bangla 30-year water sharing treaty happen in 1996.

After the 2007 emergency, Razzak was among the Awami League leaders who became known as 'reformists'.

When the party returned to power in 2009, Razzak failed to secure a cabinet seat. At the 2009 council, he also lost his presidium post and was shifted to the advisory council.

As an MP he was made the chairman of the parliamentary committee on water resources ministry. He led a 10-strong parliamentary fact-finding mission on Tipaimukh dam project to India in late 2009 and in his report to parliament he said that the Indian government had assured the team that they would not implement any project that would harm Bangladesh.

Razzak was arrested and imprisoned many times by the Ayub Khan government in 1964-65, then from 1967 to 1969 for participating in the Six-Point Movement. After the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1975 to 1978; Razzaq was yet again arrested.

Razzak was born to Imamuddin and Begum Akfatun Nesa in Damudya Upazila of Shariatpur. He left behind two sons and wife.

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