BNP Vice-chairman Shah Moazzem Hossain passed away

Seasoned politician Shah Moazzem Hossain passed away on Wednesday night. He was 83. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Vice-chairman breathed his last at 9:30pm at his Gulshan residence, confirmed Shayrul Kabir Khan, a member of the party’s media cell, adding that he had long been suffering from old age-related health complications.

Shah Moazzem left behind a son, a daughter and a host of relatives and well-wishers to mourn his death. His wife Saleha Hossain died in 2009.

Details of his namaz-e-janaza or burial are yet to be finalised.

BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman and Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir expressed shock at the death.

Moazzem had an active role in the six-point movement of 1966 and the 11-point movement of 1969, and was also one of the organisers of the Liberation War.

His political journey started in his student life. He was arrested and imprisoned when he was just a ninth-grader, during the Language Movement in 1952. He spent almost 18 years in prison between 1952 and 1970.

Shah Moazzem was an elected general secretary of Dhaka College Students' Union. He later became the general secretary of East Pakistan Chhatra League. He also served three terms as its president.

He had an active role in the six-point movement of 1966 and the 11-point movement of 1969 and was also one of the organisers of the Liberation War.

The veteran politician was elected as a member of parliament in the 1970 and 1973 elections. After independence, he was the first person to be elected as the chief whip in Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's Parliament. He was elected chief whip for the second time after the 1973 elections.

In the 1980s, Shah Moazzem became the secretary general of Jatiya Party, a minister in Ershad's government, deputy leader of parliament, and deputy prime minister. He was later removed from the party in 1992.

He then joined BNP in 2006.