Ruling Awami League and its student front Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) yesterday postponed all their programmes including discussion meetings and processions which were announced earlier to mark the 70th birthday of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
At the directive of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Awami League and Chhatra League postponed their programmes to mourn the death of versatile writer Syed Shamsul Haque, PM’s special assistant Mahbubul Hoque Shakil said.
The discussion meeting of Awami League was scheduled to be held at the city’s Engineers Institution yesterday while the BCL called for procession in every educational institute and wards of the city, marking the birthday of Sheikh Hasina, also the president of Awami League.
Many organisations also postponed their programmes those were scheduled yesterday to observe the birthday of the premier.
Celebrated writer Syed Shamsul Haque died on Tuesday at the United Hospital in the capital giving in his battle with cancer. He was 81.
Haque was earlier being treated at a London hospital where Sheikh Hasina visited him and took the responsibilities of his treatment.
Prime Minister Hasina mourned the death of the eminent author. The prime minister, who is now in Washington on the last leg of her US visit, received the news with profound bereavement, PM’s press secretary Ehsanul Karim said.
Terming Haque as a conscience of the nation the prime minister said the country lost “a writer who was devoted to the truth while she personally lost one of her well-wishers at his death,” the press secretary quoted her as saying.
“Haque has viewed Bangalee, Bangladesh and Bangabandhu as inseparable entities and through his powerful writings he showed the nation the dream of a secular country,” the premier said.
She added: “Haque’s death is an irreparable loss of the national arena of literature and culture.”