Fazle Hasan Abed’s Qulkhwani held in Dhaka

The Qulkhwani of Sir Fazle Hasan Abed has been held in Dhaka.

Special prayers were offered at a gathering after Juma prayers at the Azad Mosque in Gulshan on Friday.

National Professor Anisuzzaman, former finance minister AMA Muhith, Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen, economist Rehman Sobhan, senior lawyer and politician Dr Kamal Hossain, former minister Abul Hasan Chowdhury, local MP AKM Rahmatullah, BNP leader Abdul Awal Mintoo, agricultural journalist Shykh Seraj and Dhaka Tribune Editor Zafar Sobhan attended the post-funeral ritual.

Recalling the contribution of the BRAC founder to Bangladesh’s progress, Prof Anisuzzaman said, “His biggest contribution was to build several organisations while taking forward the one he built for human well-being.”

Bangladesh has suffered an “irreparable loss” due to the demise of Abed, Foreign Minister Momen said.

“His contribution to education, health and self-dependency of the neglected people worldwide will make him immortal in our memories,” he added.

BRAC Executive Director Asif Saleh thanked all for joining the programme.

“He always showed us the right path through his deeds, not words. He spent his life thinking about the development of the marginal people,” Asif said.

Abed breathed his last at a Dhaka hospital on Dec 20 battling brain tumour. He was 83.

He founded in 1972 what was then Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee or BRAC, later changed into Brac, to support war-torn Bangladesh’s rebuilding efforts.

It eventually grew into the world’s largest indigenous NGO and a global brand in the development community.

He was buried at the Banani Graveyard on Dec 22 after people from all walks of life paid their respects to him at the Army Stadium.