Babita, Ayub Bachchu, Shafik Rehman to get Ekushey Padak

The band Warfaze and musician Islam Uddin Palakar are also among the awardees

The Ministry of Cultural Affairs has decided to award this year’s Ekushey Padak to nine individuals and a band.

The awardees were selected at a meeting chaired by Cultural Affairs Advisor Mostafa Sarwar Farooki on Thursday.

The names were announced by the Chief Advisor's Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam at a press conference held at the Foreign Service Academy in Dhaka on Thursday.

The awardees include actress Farida Akhtar Babita for film, Mohammad Abdus Sattar for fine arts, Marina Tabassum for architecture, Ayub Bachchu (posthumous) for music, Warfaze for band music, Islam Uddin Palakar for dramatics, Shafik Rehman for journalism, Prof Mahbubul Alam Majumdar for education, Tejosh Halder Josh for sculpture, and Arthy Ahmed for dance, the press secretary said.

"The cultural affairs ministry will present the medal," he said.

Shafiqul also said the meeting to finalise was attended by the interim government Advisors Adilur Rahman Khan, Fouzul Kabir Khan, Asif Nazrul and Cabinet Secretary Sheikh Abdur Rashid.