Rahman buried as tens of thousands mourn

The body of Bangladesh president Zillur Rahman was buried in Dhaka yesterday after tens of thousands of mourners took part in funeral prayers for one of the country’s most respected politicians.

Rahman, a lawyer by profession and one of the longest serving lawmakers in the country, died on Wednesday at the age of 84 in Singapore where he was being treated for kidney and respiratory problems.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has called the death “an irreparable loss to the country”.

The president, who made his name as an activist who pushed for Bangladesh to break free from Pakistani rule, was buried with state honours in a family grave following mass funeral prayers.

Friends, family and foreign diplomats joined government and army officials at the grave to lay wreaths.

Rahman was named to the largely ceremonial post of president in 2009 after the Awami League’s landslide election win. He first joined parliament in 1973.

After his death Bangladesh declared three days of national mourning.

Rahman’s son Nazmul Hassan, a lawmaker and head of the country’s cricket board, wept as he paid tribute to his father.

Political parties set aside their bitter rivalries in respect.

Rahman’s wife Ivy, also a politician, died in 2004 after being critically injured in a grenade attack on an Awami League rally.

Aside from his son, Rahman also leaves behind two daughters.

The president’s death comes amid some of the worst political violence to shake post-independence Bangladesh in which at least 89 people have been killed since January 21.

The trigger for the unrest was a war crimes tribunal that has begun sentencing people over atrocities committed during the 1971 independence war. The political opposition says it is being targeted by the tribunal.