Sports Reporter:
President Mohammed Shahabuddin and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday paid glowing tributes in memory of Mohammad Hanif, the first elected mayor of the undivided Dhaka City Corporation and former president of Dhaka City Awami League, on his 17th death anniversary.
In separate messages, they prayed for eternal peace of the departed soul.
In his message, President Shahabuddin said born to a sophisticated Muslim family in the Old Dhaka on April 1 in 1944, Mohammad Hanif was a close associate and adorable to Father of the Nation Banga-bandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
Starting political career at the hands of Bangabandhu, Hanif was a tested leader of Bangladesh Awami League, he said.
President Shahabuddin said Hanif was very successful in every sphere of his political career because of his honesty, sincerity, devotion and strong leadership quality.
Hanif played an important role in every movement and struggle of Bangalees for independence and Lib-eration War, he said.
The president said Hanif worked for wellbeing of the people until his death with staying unwavering to Bangabandhu’s ideology.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, in her message, said Mohammad Hanif was a close associate of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
As Bangabandhu’s personal assistant, he discharged his duties with sincerity and loyalty since the an-nouncement of six-point demand, the charter of freedom of Bangalee nation, she said.
Hanif played a leading role in the struggle for the independence of Bangladesh, the great liberation war, anti-autocratic movement and the struggle for the restoration of democracy, she said.
She said the anti-liberation forces under the direct patronage of the then BNP-Jamaat coalition govern-ment carried out a grenade attack on August 21, 2004 with an attempt to assassinate her.
“On that day, Mohammad Hanif and other party leaders saved me by creating a human shield. Many sprinters of grenades pierced various parts of his body including brain. He received critical injuries, she said.
Although, he recovered a little bit after a long treatment, he died with a sprinter inside his brain, the Premier recalled.
Hanif will remain alive forever in people’s hearts with profound respect and love for him as a devoted, tested and patriot leader of Bangladesh Awami League or Bangladesh, she said.
The Premier hoped Hanif’s struggling life and work will encourage the new generation political activists with the spirit of the Liberation War and patriotism, she added.
