BNP bids farewell to veteran leader Mizanur Rahman Sinha

His coffin arrives draped in the party flag as senior leaders line up to pay their respects

The BNP has mourned the loss of veteran leader Mizanur Rahman Sinha, with senior figures gathering at Dhaka’s Naya Paltan to pay their last respects.

Sinha's coffin, draped in the party flag, arrived at the party’s central office at 10am on Monday.

Vice-Chairman Asaduzzaman Ripon, Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, Joint Secretaries General Habib Un Nabi Khan Sohel, Abdus Salam Azad, Voluntary Affairs Secretary Mir Sarafat Ali Sapu, and MPs Quamruzzaman Ratan and SM Jilani offered their tributes with flowers.

A Namaz-e-Janaza, or funeral prayer, was held in front of the office before the tributes, attended by Ripon, Rizvi, Sohel, and leaders and activists from BNP's central committee and affiliated organisations.

The first funeral prayer had been held at the South Plaza of the parliament building on Sunday, attended by Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmed, Deputy Speaker Kayser Kamal, cabinet members, and MPs.

The family said a final funeral prayer would be held in Munshiganj’s Louhajang, after which Sinha will be laid to rest in the family graveyard.

Sinha died in the early hours of Friday at Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital in Singapore while undergoing treatment. He was 83.

Managing director of ACME Laboratories Limited, Sinha carved out a parallel career in politics, winning a seat in parliament twice on the BNP ticket -- in the seventh election in 1996 and again in the eighth in 2001.

The latter victory saw him enter Khaleda Zia's cabinet as state minister for health and family welfare.

Beyond the legislature, he served as both convenor of the district BNP and treasurer of the party's central committee.