Leaders from across the political spectrum have mourned Awami League stalwart Mohammed Nasim.
Published : 13 Jun 2020, 11:23 PM
The former minister, who served Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in four cabinet roles, lost the battle for his life at a Dhaka hospital on Saturday.
While working as the coordinator of the 14-Party Alliance led by the ruling party, he was as active as he had been during opposition movements.
Nasim was infected with the novel coronavirus because he did not stop distributing aid and doing other organisational activities during the crisis, said Amir Hossain Amu.
“It’s painful for us to accept his demise,” the veteran Awami League leader.
Another senior Awami League leader, Tofail Ahmed, described Nasim as a “national leader” with a colourful political career.
“He was always devoted to the party’s cause despite being jailed and tortured,” he told bdnews24.com, recalling that Nasim had suffered a stroke in jail following his arrest during the 2007-08 emergency.
In an article published on bdnews24.com, Tofail wrote about his “fearless fellow soldier” Nasim: “As a friendly and polite organiser, Mohammed Nasim was very popular among politicians and supporters from across the divide and journalists.”
Matia Chowdhury, who had been with Nasim in Hasina’s cabinet and then at the party’s presidium, said he broke down when his father M Mansur Ali, a confidante of Bangabanddhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, was killed along with the three other national leaders in jail in 1975.
“He tackled the situation firmly and proved he can work for the country like his father had,” Matia said.
Nasim did not give up his work even when he was hospitalised with COVID-19, said Workers Party chief Rashed Khan Menon, a key member of the Awami League-led coalition.
“He had told me over the phone from the hospital that we would sit and talk about the country’s situation in a virtual meeting,” Menon said.
Journalist Swadesh Roy, in an article published by bdnews24.com, also described Nasim as “an out-and-out politician”.
Opposition alliance, the Jatiya Oikya Front led by Dr Kamal Hossain, said the role played by Nasim in democratic movements will never be forgotten.
The BNP also sent condolences. The party’s Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, in a video statement, described Nasim as a “veteran leader of the masses”.