Freedom fighter, sculptor Ferdousi Priyabhashini dies

Freedom fighter and sculptor Ferdousi Priyabhashini has died at a Dhaka hospital at the age of 71.

Staff Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 6 March 2018, 08:03 AM
Updated : 6 March 2018, 12:32 PM

She died on Tuesday afternoon during treatment in hospital, her daughter Phuleswari Priyanandini has confirmed.

The Swadhinata Padak winner was suffering from heart and kidney ailments, according to her family.

Priyabhashini suffered an ankle injury after she slipped in her bathroom in November last year, said Priyanandini.

In the same month, Priyabhashini suffered a cardiac arrest and her doctor implanted a pacemaker to help control her abnormal heart rhythms.

She was admitted to Dhaka’s Labaid Hospital in December. Following another spell of illness, she was admitted there again on Feb 22 this year.

Priyabhashini breathed her last in coronary care at Labaid around 12:45pm, according to Saifur Lenin, an executive at the hospital. 

Born in 1947, Priyabhashini suffered tortures by Pakistani occupation forces during the 1971 War of Liberation.

She had been vocal in demanding the trial of anti-liberation forces in Bangladesh. She called on the government to honour women who endured torture in captivity during the liberation war and recognise them as freedom fighters.

In 2016, Bangladesh recognised her contributions to the liberation war by conferring the title to her.

She received the highest state honour, Swadhinata Padak, in 2010.

Her autobiography, Nindito Nondon, came out in 2014.

Shocked by the news, cultural personalities and rights activists thronged the hospital.

Her mortal remains will be taken to her home in Bashundhara Pink City in the afternoon, Ganajagaran Mancha spokesman Imran H Sarker told reporters at the hospital.

Later the body will be kept at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University.

“Priyabhashini’s son Kazi Mohammad Shaker Turja will arrive from Australia tomorrow. The mortal remains will be taken to the Central Shaheed Minar at 11am and will be kept there for an hour,” Poet Md Samad has said.

The namaz-e-janaza will be held at Dhaka University Central Mosque after Zohr prayers. She will be buried at the Mirpur Martyred Intellectuals’ Graveyard.

A memorial ceremony will take place at the Central Shaheed Minar at 4pm on Mar 10.

In 2015, the liberation war hero shared her horrific experiences with bdnews24.com: “I was in Khulna. I was taken to the concentration camp at the end of October. They kept me confined for 32 hours and there is no form of torture that they did not unleash on me. It is an unbearable memory.”

A mother of six, Priyabhashini started her career as a school teacher in 1977. She worked in different organisations over two decades.

She found interest in making home decoration pieces and other crafts with dry leaves and logs and eventually emerged as a top sculptor of the country.