Haider Anwar Khan Juno, communist leader and freedom fighter, dies at 76

Communist leader and freedom fighter Haider Anwar Khan Juno has died in hospital care at the age of 76.

He passed away at the capital's Gonoshasthaya Nagar Hospital around 1:30 pm on Thursday, his daughter Ananya Laboni confirmed.

Juno was admitted to Square Hospital on Sept 15 after suffering a heart while battling pneumonia. He was later put on life support as his condition deteriorated.

Juno was transferred to Gonoshasthaya Nagar Hospital a week later on Oct 22, according to Laboni.

Juno, the younger brother of communist leader Haider Akbar Khan Rano, was born in 1944 in Kolkata. Their ancestral home is in Barashula village of Narail. His father Hatem Ali Khan was an engineer. His grandfather, Syed Nausher Ali, was an eminent politician.

Juno was introduced to communist politics during his school life. Although he held a master’s degree in physics from Dhaka University, he chose to be a politician.

Juno was imprisoned after joining the Education Movement of 1962. He was then an active member of the East Pakistan Students’ Union. At the time, his brother Rano was serving as the president of the union. Juno was later elected as a member of the party’s central committee.

He was involved in the communist movement of the sixties and was in the pro-China camp. When the Revolutionary Students Union was formed in 1970, he became its president.

After independence, Juno was elected a member of the central committee of the Leninist Communist Party. In 1974, he became the cultural affairs secretary of the United People's Party. When the Workers Party was formed in 1979, he became a member of the party's central committee.

Juno trained as a guerrilla during the Liberation War of 1971. He was working on making bombs at the time. He also took part in the resistance against the Pakistani occupation forces in Shibpur of Narsingdi with the late Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan.

In addition to his political activities, Juno has also played a role in building a progressive people-oriented cultural movement. He was the president of the Gano Sanskriti Front. He has also served as the general secretary of the Bangladesh-Cuba Solidarity Committee.