The body of Zainul Haque Sikder, the Chairman of Sikder Group of Companies, who died in Dubai on Wednesday, arrives in Dhaka today (Friday).
A chartered aircraft, which will fly the body and family members of Zainul Haque Sikder, is expected to land at Hazrat Shah Jalal International Airport around 3:30pm, family sources said.
A renowned freedom fighter and social worker, Zainul Haque Sikder breathed his last at a hospital in Dubai where he was undergoing treatment.
Family sources said the body will be taken to his Dhanmondi house from the airport and the Namaz-e-Janaza (funeral prayer) will be held at ZH Sikder Medial College at Rayerbazar.
The following day, the body will then be flown to his village home in Shariatpur where he will be laid to rest beside the grave of his mother Zarina Sikder after another Namaz-e-Janaza is held there.
A leading entrepreneur of the country, Zainul Haque Sikder was born on August 12 in 1930 in Assam in undivided India and migrated to present-day Bangladesh with his family during the partition in 1947.
He was one of those who contributed greatly to the development and progress of Bangladesh. He established a large number of business ventures in the fields of education, health, housing and tourism and employed about 20,000 people in the last seven decades.
Apart from establishing business entities, Zainul Haque Sikder developed numerous entrepreneurs. He extended helping hands to many leading entrepreneurs of the country during their initial days of establishing businesses.
He is well-known as a philanthropist too. Besides founding schools, colleges and hospitals, he extended support to efforts for poverty reduction and welfare of the underprivileged and marginal people of society.
Zainul Haque Sikder had been with Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as one of his close and trustworthy associates since 1945.
