Badruddin Umar refuses to receive Independence Award 

Noted writer and intellectual Badruddin Umar has refused to receive the Independence Award, after being nominated for the country’s highest civilian award. 

The government has nominated eight eminent individuals, including Badruddin Umar, for the Independence Award-2025, in recognition of their outstanding contributions at the national level.

In response to the news, he said in a statement, “It is not possible for me to receive this award.” Jatiya Mukti Council secretary Faiezul Hakim sent the statement to the media. Badruddin Umar is president of the council. 

The eminent writer expressed his intention to refrain from accepting government and private awards, as per his longstanding practice.

“Since 1973, I have been awarded from many government and non-government organisations, and I accepted none of those. Now, the interim government announced to give me the Independence Award. I thank them for this, but it is not possible for me to receive this award too. I am informing it through this press statement,” he said.  

Apart from him, other nominees are commander-in-chief of the liberation war MAG Osmani, scientist Professor Jamal Nazrul Islam, BRAC founder Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, poet Al Mahmud, one of the designers of the central Shaheed Minar Novera Ahmed, legendary musician Azam Khan, and Abrar Fahad, a student of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) who was killed by banned student organisation Chhatra League in 2019.

The Independence Award is the highest civilian honour in Bangladesh and is conferred annually by the government to individuals and institutions for their significant contributions to different fields.