Ayesha Khanam passes away

Dhaka – The president of Bangladesh Mahila Parisahd, Ayesha Khanam, has died at a hospital in Dhaka. She was 74.

The Parishad at a statement on Saturday expressed shock at the demise of the progressive woman leader.

“She passed away on the morning of January 2, 2021. The women’s movement in Bangladesh lost a guardian in her death,” reads the statement.

Khanam, a valiant freedom fighter and organizer of many progressive movements, was a cancer patient and suffering from other ailment.

People from different strata paid respect to the late woman leader as her body was taken to the Parishad building in the morning. She will be buried at her family graveyard in Netrakona, a north-eastern district where she was born on October 18, 1947.

Khanam was the leader of Student Union and played roles in organizing mass upsurge in 1969. She also took part in other democratic movements. She also played roles in Bangladesh’s 1971 war of liberation from Pakistan.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina expressed deep shock at the death of valiant freedom fighter.

In a message of condolence, the Hasina said the country’s women community has lost a genuine and brave compatriot at the death of the women leader.

She prayed for the eternal peace of the departed soul and conveyed deep sympathy to the bereaved family.