Hasina pays emotional tribute to Nasim, Abdullah in parliament

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has paid emotional tributes to two deputies, describing their deaths from the coronavirus one after another as “very painful”.

As Hasina spoke in parliament on the deaths of Awami League stalwart Mohammed Nasim and State Minister for Religious Affairs Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, she was visibly upset.

“When I returned to the country, it was in no state for politics. I faced obstacles in every step. During those times, these two people were always beside me. We’ve lost them both on the same day,” Hasina said.

The prime minister spoke during a discussion in parliament on a condolence motion on Sunday.

Nasim lost the battle for his life in hospital care on Jun 13 after suffering a stroke during treatment for COVID-19.

State Minister Abdullah fell ill at his residence and was taken to the Combined Military Hospital in Dhaka where he breathed his last at 11.45 on Saturday.

Abdullah was initially reported to have a ‘cardiac arrest’ but his coronavirus test returned positive after his death.

Hasina prayed for the salvation of both of the departed souls and urged their families to stay strong.

Hasina recalled that Nasim had suffered a stroke while in prison during the reign of the army-backed caretaker government in 2007.

“An ambulance used to remain at the jail gate for Salman F Rahman, which took Mohammed Nasim to the hospital; he survived that time but one side of his body was paralysed.”

Hasina said the coronavirus epidemic has upended lives and she cannot even rush to the families of the departed colleagues to console them.

“People forbade me to come to the parliament but I told them that I’ve reached the parliament braving bullets, bombs, grenades and many more’. Should I be afraid of an invisible force? It can’t be that I don’t come here when we lost a member of our Awami League family and a cabinet member.”