People from all walks of life paid tributes to Shaheen Reza Noor, former Executive Editor of The Daily Ittefaq and the founder of Projonmo Ekattor, after his body was taken to the Central Shaheed Minar on Wednesday morning.
The prominent campaigner for the war crimes trail breathed his last in Canada's Vancouver General Hospital from cancer at 10:40am (Bangladesh time) on February 13 at the age of 67.
Shaheen's body was brought to Bangladesh on Wednesday. His body was brought from Shahjalal International Airport to his home at Asad Avenue. After completing the first Namaz-e-Janaza, his body was brought to the Central Shaheed Minar at 10.50am.
People from all walks of life including Projanmo 71, Gana Sangeet Samovay Parishad, Dhaka University Alumni Association, Bangladesh Awami League, Cultural League, Ekattorer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee, Press Institute Bangladesh, and leaders of various organisations paid floral tributes.
Paying deep homage to him, Foreign Minister A K Abdul Momen said, “Today We lost a star. We always depended on him as a pro-Liberation power. I knew him since childhood.”
Mahbubul Alam Hanif, joint general secretary of the Awami league said, “Shaheen worked a lot to establish the spirit of Liberation War. He started writing to spread the dreams of our freedom fighters. He is our hero.”
Shahriar Kabir, president of Ekattorer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee said, "Shaahen asked the government to cross off the Jamaat-e-Islami recently. We hope that fundamentalist-communal politics in the name of religion will be banned soon.”
Shaheen's wife Khurshid Jahan Shaheen thanked Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for arranging the procedures to bring back Shaheen's body in Bangladesh. She said, "Even though he was in Canada for three years, his mind was always here, in the country. Every year, he would come to Bangladesh and want to do something for the country."
Shaheen Reza Noor's eldest son Sorav Reza said, “I was not prepared for my father's death. My father loved the people of the country very much.”
Earlier, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader also expressed shock over the death of the journalist