Politicians, academics and people from other professions yesterday said former Awami League advisory council member Abdur Razzak was a fearless crusader and progressive political thinker.
Razzak had strongly stood against fundamentalism, and for secularism. He was one of the key organisers of the War of Liberation in 1971, they also said at a memorial meeting, held at Dhaka University’s TSC Auditorium.
Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed said: “Abdur Razzak was a close aide to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. He had an active role in the movement for bringing the war criminals to book. The best way to respect him duly is to complete the trial.”
Information Minister Hasanul Haque Inu, also president of Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (Jasod), said former water resources minister Razzak had played a key role in organising the War of Liberation as a leader of the then Awami League and its student wing Chhatra League.
Civil Aviation Minister Workers Party President Rashed Khan Menon said Razzak had actively taken part in the movement for the trial of the war criminals, which was led by Shahid Janani Jahanara Imam’s Ekattorer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee, in the 1990s.
Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB) President Mujahidul Islam Selim, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD) President ASM Abdur Rab, Abdur Razzak’s son and ruling party’s lawmaker Nahim Razzak also spoke at the memorial meeting.
Abdur Razzak Smriti Sangsad organised the memorial meeting with Dhaka University Professor Abdul Mannan in the chair.
Yesterday, the ruling party and its associate organisations also remembered the late Awami League leader through various programmes marking his third death anniversary.
Razzak was elected a member of Jatiyo sangsad from the Awami League in national polls in 1973, 1991, 1996, 2001 and 2008.
He held different important positions in the party, including its presidium member and general secretary. The historic Ganges Water Treaty was signed between Bangladesh and India in 1997 when Razzak was a minister.
Razzak breathed his last on December 23 in 2011 while undergoing treatment at King’s College Hospital in London.
