Md Zillur Rahman, the 19th President of Bangladesh, has been laid to rest with full state honours at the Banani Graveyard in the capital at 3:55pm Friday.Hundreds of people including his family members, friends, long-time political associates and government officials attended the burial ceremony.
Rahman, who watched and took active part in the watersheds of the nation’s political history, was buried in Ivy Rahman’s grave, his wife and comrade who was fatally injured in the gruesome grenade attack on an Awami League rally in Dhaka on Aug 21, 2004 and had succumbed to those injuries.
As the burial ceremony came to an end around 4pm, the army’s parade team fired shots in the air as a mark of respect to the late President.
The 84-year-old statesman and politician breathed his last on Wednesday at the Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore, bringing curtains on a colourful career lasting over six decades.
His dead body arrived at Dhaka Thursday noon and was kept at the presidential palace, Bangabhaban, for everyone to pay their last respects.
His first namaj-e-janaza was held at Kishoreganj’s Bhairab – his birthplace – Friday morning as thousands gathered to attend the funeral prayers. The second janaza was held at the National Eidgah Maidan in Dhaka after Juma prayers.
A military vehicle covered with red and white flowers and wrapped in the national flag carried Zillur Rahman’s coffin to his personal residence, Ivy’s Legacy, in the capital’s Gulshan. The coffin was kept there for a while.
Then his mortal remains were taken to the Banani Graveyard at 3:30pm. The coffin was carried to the grave by 10 senior army officials.
An army official briefly read the late President’s life story in the presence of the family members, Acting President Abdul Hamid and Cabinet members.
A two-minute silence was observed after his body was lowered in the grave. A group of artillery division of the army gave a 21-gun salute as Rahman’s remains were being lowered in the grave following rituals.
Then armed forces personnel gave him a military salute.
(Sourse: bdnews24.com)
