President, PM lead Mandela tributes

President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina joined the rest of the world on Friday in mourning the death of anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela.

Seen as a ‘moral giant’, Mandela died aged 95 at his Johannesburg home on Thursday after a prolonged lung infection, plunging his nation and the world into mourning.

“A great liberator of humanity and an avid promoter of freedom, democracy and social justice, President Mandela’s legacy will survive to guide the posterity through times of uncertainty and bewilderment,” the President wrote to his South African counterpart Jacob Zuma.

Hamid said Bangladesh remembered him with “great reverence” for his “unflinching commitment” that had “vigorously” contributed to promoting national reconciliation at home and peace in the neighborhood and beyond.

“His statesmanship not only steered his people to the making of the present-day Republic of South Africa, but also to the building of the global ethos and values in his entire lifetime.

“His inspirational leadership of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is recalled with great respect. He is one of those very few personalities who have helped shape history of our time,” the President said.

He also conveyed Bangladesh’s “deepest condolences” to the bereaved family.

Prime Minister Hasina said the people of Bangladesh “maintain an unending reservoir of love and esteem for him”.

Bangladesh learnt the news with “profound grief and sadness”, she said.

“A passionate and ardent promoter of human rights, democracy and collective good, he was fierce in struggle for justice for the oppressed and yet so forgiving at its attainment”.

She wrote to the South African President: “Legends surrounding his (Mandela’s) personality and life have inspired the realm of creative and democratic minds in Bangladesh for a generation or more”.

The Prime Minister recalled Mandela’s Bangladesh visit in March in 1997 when during her first stint as Prime Minister with “great fondness and respect”.

“That landmark visit laid the foundation of cordial relations between our two friendly nations”.

“In his demise, Bangladesh has lost a true and great friend,” she said.

“The People of Bangladesh stand by the people of South Africa with their sincerest prayers at this difficult juncture”.

Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali, too, condoled the passing of a “great inspirational leadership”, the legacy of which, he said, had influenced many and “will continue to do so in the years to come”.