War hero Nooruzzaman laid to rest

People from all walks of life pay their last respect to sector commander Lt Col (retd) Quazi Nuruzzaman (Bir Uttam) at the Central Shaheed Minar in the city yesterday. Photo: STAR

Veteran freedom fighter Lt Col (retd) Quazi Nooruzzaman (Bir Uttam) was laid to eternal rest with full state and military honour in city's Banani Military Graveyard yesterday.
Nooruzzaman, commander of sector-7 of the War of Liberation in 1971, passed away due to old age complicacies at a city hospital on Friday.
He was buried around 6:30pm following two namaz-e-janazas -- one at Dhaka University Central Mosque after Zohr prayers and another at Central Army Mosque inside Dhaka Cantonment after Asr prayers.
Assistant military secretaries of both the president and prime minister paid last tributes to Nooruzzaman on behalf of the president and prime minister at the cantonment.
Earlier, his body was kept on Central Shaheed Minar premises around 10:30am where freedom fighters, political leaders, cultural activists, academicians and people from all walks of life paid their last respect.
Awami League leaders led by Matia Chowdhury, Tofail Ahmed and Sahara Khatun and BNP leaders led by party's Acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir paid floral tributes on behalf of their respective parties.
Sammilita Sangskritik Jote President Nasir Uddin Yusuf, Language Movement Veteran Abdul Motin, Dhaka University Vice Chancellor Prof AAMS Arefin Siddique, noted educationalist Prof Serajul Islam Chowdhury, National Human Rights Commission Chairman Prof Mijanur Rahman, lawmakers Rashed Khan Menon and Mostafa Jalal Mohiuddin, noted Barrister Amirul Islam, Filmmakers Tareq Masud and Catherine Masud, Theatre personality Mamunur Rashid, cultural personality and lawmaker Asaduzzaman Noor, cultural personality Aly Zaker and family members of Nooruzzaman also paid last respect on deceased's coffin at Shaheed Minar.
Dhaka University Teachers' Association, Muktijuddha Kendriyo Command Council, Sammilita Sangskritik Jote, Liberation War Museum, Sammilita Samajik Andolan, Bangladesh Udichi Shilpi Gosthi, Ganoforum, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal, Workers' Party of Bangladesh, liberation war affairs ministry, Dhaka city unit of Awami League, Ain O Shalish Kendro, Ganosanghati Andolan and Ganotantrik Biplobi Party also paid their tributes.
Chiefs of the three services also placed wreaths at the coffin in cantonment to pay their last respect.
After his burial, army personnel presented a guard of honour and a gun salute honouring the sector commander. Later, a national flag and a flag of Bangladesh Army were handed over to the family members of Nooruzzaman, said ISPR sources.
Meanwhile, Ekatturer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee expressed profound shock at the death of Nooruzzaman, a founder of the committee.
The committee issued a joint statement signed by the committee's Advisory Council's President National Prof Kabir Chowdhury, Central Executive Council President Justice Guhlam Rabbani, Executive President journalist Shahriar Kabir and General Secretary Kazi Mukul expressing sympathy to the bereaved family.