People pay homage to Zafrullah Chowdhury at Shaheed Minar

People from all walks of life are paying homage to Gonoshasthaya Kendra founder and freedom fighter Dr Zafrullah Chowdhury at the Central Shaheed Minar in the capital. His body was taken to the Shaheed Minar premises at around 10:30 pm.

Dr Zafrullah’s body has been kept on a temporary stage there. His family members, including wife Shirin Haque, are also there at the Shaheed Minar premises.

Hundreds of people are thronging at the Central Shaheed Minar to see him for one last time. They queued in lines with flowers in hands to pay respect to the valiant freedom fighter. Several organisations are also paying tribute to him.

Earlier, Dr Zafrullah’s body was taken to the Shaheed Minar premises in the morning. At the time freedom fighters took his body down from the vehicle and carried him to the temporary stage.

People will be able to pay respect to Dr Zafrullah Chowdhury till 1:00 pm at the Shaheed Minar. After that, his body will be taken to the Suhrawardy Udyan from where his first first namaz-e-janaza will be held at around 2:30 pm.

Dr Zafrullah Chowdhury’s body will be taken to Gonoshasthaya Kendra on Friday. People will be able to pay homage to him there from 10:00 am. After that, Dr Zafrullah Chowdhury’s second namaz-e-janaza will be held there after the Jumma prayer.

Zafrullah Chowdhury breathed his last at 11:00 pm on Tuesday while undergoing treatment at the Gonoshasthaya Nagar Hospital in Dhanmondi. He was 81 years old. He had been suffering kidney complications for a long time.

Dr Zafrullah Chowdhury was a vascular surgeon and public health expert. He along with others set up Bangladesh field hospital in India for injured freedom fighters and the Bangladeshi refugees during the Liberation War.

Dr Zafrullah also played a pivotal role in formulating the Bangladesh National Drug Policy in 1982.