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The coffin of former Bangla Academy president, essayist, researcher, literary critic and social thinker Prof Abul Quasem Fazlul Huq was brought to Bangla Academy on Monday for a final farewell.
Colleagues, former students, writers, cultural figures and representatives of the Ministry of Cultural Affairs gathered at the academy to pay their last respects.
Floral tributes were placed by Bangla Academy, the Jatiya Kabita Parishad and the Ministry of Cultural Affairs. Among those paying tribute were Mansur Musa, novelist Anwara Syed Haque, researcher Simon Zakaria and poet Sarkar Amin.
Cultural Affairs Minister Nitai Roy Chowdhury described Prof Huq as “an intellectual of extraordinary talent” who remained committed throughout his life to secularism, progressive values, social justice and the spirit of Bangladesh’s independence.
Recalling his former teacher at the University of Dhaka, the minister said visiting Prof Huq always felt “like sitting under the shade of a peaceful banyan tree,” where conversations centred on the country, its people and the struggles of the oppressed.
Referring to the 2015 killing of Prof Huq’s only son, publisher Faisal Arefin Dipon, by religious extremists, the minister said the grieving father responded with remarkable dignity rather than vengeance, calling it an example of rare moral greatness.
He also pledged to preserve the late scholar’s ideals and legacy through initiatives by the Ministry of Cultural Affairs.
Bangla Academy Director General Prof Mohammad Azam called Prof Huq “one of Bangladesh’s foremost essayists, thinkers and literary critics,” noting that he remained closely associated with the academy even after becoming its president.
Azam announced that Bangla Academy will organise a national memorial programme and publish a commemorative volume on Prof Huq’s life, work and intellectual contributions.
Following the tribute ceremony and the first funeral prayer at Bangla Academy, Prof Huq’s body was taken to the Central Shaheed Minar for public homage. It will later be taken to Aparajeyo Bangla, followed by a second funeral prayer at the Dhaka University Central Mosque before burial at the Martyred Intellectuals’ Graveyard in Mirpur.
