Gaffar Chowdhury to be laid to rest beside wife’s grave at Mirpur
Online desk: Noted lyricist, journalist and litterateur Abdul Gaffar Chowdhury’s body will be brought to Dhaka from London to pay last respect and burial.
He will be buried beside his wife’s grave at Martyred Intellectuals’ Memorial at Mirpur.
Bangladesh High Commissioner to the United Kingdom Saida Muna Tasneem said this on Thursday that late Abdul Gaffar Chowdhury will be buried beside the grave of his wife at Mirpur Martyred Intellectuals’ Graveyard in Dhaka according to his last wishes.
His first namaz-e-janaza is scheduled to be held on Friday after Jumma prayer at Brooklyn Mosque in London.
After that, Gaffar Chowdhury’s body will be taken to Shaheed Altaf Ali Park where people from all walks of life will pay their last respect to him.
The body has been preserved at the Barnet Hospital’s mortuary in London.
Preparations are being taken to bring the body to Dhaka by a Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight.
Abdul Gaffar Chowdhury breathed his last at 7.00am on Thursday (local time) at a hospital in London, UK. He was 88 years.
He is perhaps best known for writing the lyrics to “Amar Bhaier Rôkte Rangano” which is the most widely celebrated song commemorating the Bengali Language Movement.
Chowdhury was born on December 12, 1934 in village Ulania under Mehendiganj upazila in Barishal district. His father was Haji Wahed Reza Chowdhury, a landlord and freedom fighter of British India, and mother Zohra Khatun.
He graduated from Dhaka University in 1959 and went to England on October 5, 1974.
Chowdhury worked as a journalist in different national newspapers in Dhaka. During the 1971 Bangladesh’s Liberation War, he worked for Joy Bangla, Jugantar and Anandabazar Patrika.
He wrote more than 35 five books. Some of his notable works are “Danpithe Shawkat”, “Chandrodwiper Upakhyan”, “Nam Na Jana Bhore”, “Nil Jamuna”, “Shesh Rajanir Chand”, “Polashi Thekey Dhanmondi” and “Bastobotar Nirikhey”.
Chowdhury received numerous awards including Bangla Academy Literary Award in 1967, Ekushey Padak, UNESCO Literary Award, Bangabandhu Award, Shanghati Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008, Sadhinata Padak in 2009. In the same year, The Daily Ittefaq honoured him with Manik Mia Padak. In 2014, he was awarded with the PIB-Sohel Samad Memorial Award.
