Janakantha Editor Atiqullah Khan dies at 70

Atiqullah Khan Masud, publisher and editor of Bangla-language newspaper Janakantha, has died at the age of 70.

He breathed his last at Evercare Hospital at around 5.30 am  on Monday, said Azad Solaiman, a senior reporter at Janakantha.

Khan was admitted to the hospital at around 4 am with complaints of respiratory distress. The body will be kept in the mortuary of a hospital in Shahbagh, as one of his sons lives abroad, Solaiman said.

He will be laid to rest at the Martyred Intellectuals Graveyard in Mirpur after his son arrives home.

Janakantha was first published in 1993 with Khan as its editor. The newspaper was the first to be printed from multiple locations in Bangladesh simultaneously. Later it suspended printing from multiple locations.

Last week the journalists and staff of Janakantha who lost their jobs 'without a prior notice' staged protests against the newspaper.