Veteran Awami League (AL) leader Principal Motiur Rahman passed away due to old-age complications on Sunday night. 

Motiur, also freedom fighter and a recipient of the Ekushey Padak, breathed his last at 11:00pm while undergoing treatment at Nexas Cardiac Hospital in Mymensingh. He was 81.  

The AL leader served as religious affairs minister after the party assumed office for the second time in a row following the national election in 2014.

President Mohammed Shahabuddin and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina expressed profound shock and sorrow at the death of Motiur Rahman.

In a message of condolence, the President recalled the contribution of Motiur Rahman to the country’s Great Liberation War and promoting different educational activities.

“The death of this Ekushey Award recipient is an irreparable loss to the country . . . The nation will remember him with respect for long,” he said.

In a separate message, the Prime Minister said Motiur Rahman, also former president of Mymensingh district AL, was a dedicated leader of the party.

Sheikh Hasina said Motiur Rahman, who led the Mymensingh district Awami League for more than three decades, served as a trainer of freedom fighters and was a successful organiser of the Great War of Liberation.

He was awarded Ekushey Padak in 2022 for his outstanding contribution to the War of Liberation, she said.

“The death of Principal Motiur Rahman is an irreparable loss to the party, and I lost a faithful political companion at the demise of him,” the PM added.

Both the President and the Prime Minister prayed for eternal peace of the departed soul and conveyed his deepest sympathy to the bereaved family.

Besides wife, Rahman left a son, three daughters and a host of relatives and well-wishers to mourn his death.

His body was taken to the premises of Mintu College so that people of all walks of lives can pay their last respects. 

His namaj-e-janaza was held at Anjuman Eidgah Maidan at Mymensingh after Asr prayer on Monday.

Earlier, Motiur was also elected parliament member from Mymensingh sadar constituency as AL candidate in 1986 and 2008.

He was also awarded Bangabandhu Padak in 2000.

Rahman, who was in-charge of a youth camp at Meghalaya state of India during the liberation war, also directly participated in the war.

He also served as a principal of Shahid Alamgir Mansur Mintu College.

Leaders from different political, social and cultural organisations, including Awami League and Chhatra League, rushed to his residence upon hearing her death news.