Fazle Hasan Abed to be laid to rest today
BRAC founder Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, who died at Apollo Hospitals in the capital on Friday evening, will be buried at Banani graveyard in Dhaka today afternoon after his namaz-e-janaza at the Army Stadium.
Fazle’s body will be kept at the Army Stadium from 10:30am to 12:30pm today to allow people from all walks of life to pay their last tributes and his namaz-e-janaza will also be held there at 12:30pm, according to a press release issued by BRAC.
Born on April 27, 1936 at village Baniachang in Habiganj, Fazle Hasan Abed died at the age of 83.
His body was kept at Apollo Hospitals’ mortuary, said BRAC communications officer Mahbubul Alam Kabir.
Bangladesh Nationalist Party secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, Dhaka University vice-chancellor Md Akhtaruzzaman, People’s Health Movement-Bangladesh and Ain o Salish Kendra in separate statements on Saturday condoled his death and remembered Abed’s great contribution to socio-economic developments in Bangladesh and elsewhere in the country.
President Md Abdul Hamid and prime minister Sheikh Hasina in separate statements on Friday also condoled his death.
Besides, foreign dignitaries including former US president Bill Clinton and former World Bank president Jim Yong
Kim also expressed condolences over the death of Fazle Hasan.
Fazle founded BRAC in 1972 at the age of 36 and the non-governmental organisation currently works in 11 countries in Asia and Africa, with affiliate offices in the USA, UK and the Netherlands.
BRAC is a unique ecosystem comprising development programmes, microfinance, social enterprises, a university, bank and a range of mission-aligned investments.
In 1971, Fazle left his job as a senior corporate executive at Pakistan Shell Oil and moved to London where he helped initiate Action Bangladesh and HELP Bangladesh organisations in support of the war of independence.
In 2010, he was appointed Knight Commander of the Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George by the British Crown in recognition of his services to reducing poverty in Bangladesh and internationally. Fazle Abed was also honoured with a Dutch knighthood in 2019.
In a condolence message, Bill Clinton said, ‘Sir Fazle Abed’s life was a great gift to humanity. His nearly 50 years of visionary leadership at BRAC transformed millions of lives in Bangladesh and beyond, and changed the way the world thinks about development,’ acceding to a BRAC press release.
Former World Bank president Jim Yong Kim said, ‘The scale and impact of what he has done, and yet the utter humility with which he has done everything, is a lesson for every single one of us.’
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation cofounder Melinda Gates said they were saddened to hear of his passing and would forever draw inspiration from his work.
UNICEF executive director Henrietta Fore remembered Fazle Hasan for his inspiring leadership.
Nobel laureates in Economics in 2019, Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo said in their message,
‘How often do we see people like Sir Fazle Hasan Abed? His absence has left a great sense of loss in all of us.’
Among the dignitaries who sent condolence messages from Bangladesh and abroad are former
Bangladesh Bank governor Salehuddin Ahmed, UNICEF Bangladesh representative Tomoo
Hozumi, Ashoka founder and chief executive officer Bill Drayton, Pulitzer winner columnist Nicholas Kristof, DFID, DFAT, Save the Children UK chief executive Kevin Watkins, BOP Hub, World Toilet Organisation founder Jack Sim, USA-based social worker Sayeeda Rashid, Toronto University professor Shahidul Islam, Major General (retired) Sahool Afzal, British Red Cross representative Sofeena Lalani, Bristol University researcher Zibah Nwako, according to the release.
News Courtesy: newagebd.net
