DHAKA, Jan 6, 2019 (BSS) – The first namaz-e-janaza of the Public
Administration Minister and Awami League Presidium Member Syed Ashraful Islam
was held at the South Plaza of the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban here this morning.
President M Abdul Hamid attended the janaza at about 10:30 am.
Subsequently Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, also the leader of the House and
Parliament Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury bid farewell to Syed Ashraful
Islam by placing wreath on the coffin of Syed Ashraf.
They also took part in a munajat seeking doa for eternal peace of the
departed soul. The body of Syed Ashraf, adorned with the national flag and
flowers, was given “Guard of Honour” after the namaz-e-janaza.
His colleagues, senior political leaders, ministers, advisers, deputy
ministers, whips, lawmakers, senior civil and military officials and
thousands of party supporters and well-wishers thronged the South Plaza of
the Parliament Complex to pray for Ashraf’s departed soul.
The body was later taken by a helicopter to Kishoreganj, from where he was
elected Member of Parliament (MP) for five times.
His second namaz-e-janaza will be held at historic Sholakia Eidgah Maidan in
the district town and third namaz-e-janaza will be held at Mymensingh Anjuman
Eidgah ground.
He will be laid to eternal rest at Banani graveyard in Dhaka at 4.30pm
today.
He died at the Bangkok hospital at the age of 68 after undergoing treatment
for lung cancer for long. He is survived by a daughter. His wife Sheila Islam
died in London in 2017.
Syed Ashraf was born in Mymensingh in 1952. His father Syed Nazrul Islam
was acting President of Mujibnagar Government in 1971 and one of the key
figures of Bangladesh independence struggle.
He was actively involved in student politics. He was the general secretary
of Mymensingh district unit of Bangladesh Chhatra League after the
independence of Bangladesh.
He also served as the assistant publicity secretary of central committee
of Bangladesh Chhatra League.
On November 3 in 1975, his father Syed Nazrul Islam and three other
national leaders were brutally killed in Dhaka Central Jail.
After the incident, Syed Ashraf went to London and organized Bangladesh
Awami League in the UK.
Ashraf came back home in 1996 and elected parliament member. He served as
the state minister for civil aviation and tourism during 1996-2001. He also
elected parliament member in 2001 and served as a member of the parliamentary
standing committee on foreign affairs.
In 2008, Syed Ashraf was again elected lawmaker and appointed as the
minister for local government, rural development and cooperatives. He took
over the charge as a minister for public administration on July 16, 2015.
In the just concluded 11th parliamentary election on December 30 last, he
was also elected a member of parliament in his absentia due to illness as he
was undergoing treatment for lung cancer in Bangkok.
Syed Ashraf, an iconic politician, was also engaged in various social
welfare activities.
People of all strata liked the eminent AL leader because of his honest,
sincere, devoted and charismatic personality and his works for the welfare of
the country and its people.