Sikder Group of Companies and National Bank Ltd Chairman Zainul Haque Sikder passed away at a Dubai hospital on Wednesday afternoon at the age of 91.
National Bank Additional Managing Director ASM Bulbul said Zainul breathed his last around 2:30pm (Bangladesh time) at Saudi German Hospital, reports Bangla Tribune.
An entrepreneur in post-liberation Bangladesh, Zainul was born on August 12, 1930 in Assam in undivided India and migrated to present-day Bangladesh with his family during the partition in 1947, according to Bangladesh Post, a newspaper owned by the Sikder Group.
He had been a close associate of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman since 1945. He arranged a Qulkhwani for Bangabandhu and his family members on August 19 in 1975, for which he had to face harassment and intimidation by military intelligence and languish in jail.
Sikder left the comfort of sleeping on the cot and started sleeping on the floor from love of his "Mujib Bhai" following Bangabandhu’s death and continued the practice until the trial of his assassins began in 1996.
Apart from establishing business entities, Zainul Sikder extended a helping hand to many leading entrepreneurs of the country during the initial days of their businesses.
Besides founding schools, colleges and hospitals, he extended his support to efforts for poverty reduction and welfare of the underprivileged and marginal people of society.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina expressed her deep shock and sorrow at the demise of the freedom fighter and prayed for the eternal salvation of the departed soul. She expressed her sympathies to the bereaved family.
