Awami League presidium member and former home minister Advocate Sahara Khatun MP passed away (Innalillahi wa inna ilahi rajiun) in Bangkok. She was 77 years.
She breathed her last on Thursday (July 9) while under treatment at Bamrungrad Hospital in Bangkok, Thailand. Sahara Khatun had been suffering from kidney and respiratory complications. She was airlifted to Bamrungrad Hospital on last Monday (July 6).
Awami League deputy office secretary Abu Sayem Khan told Barta24.com that she died at around 12:26 pm (night) local time in Thailand.
Sahara Khatun was born in 1943. She was a member of the presidium of the Awami League, the founding president of the Awami Bar Council and the general secretary of the Bangladesh Mahila Parishad. She was also a member of the International Association of Women Lawyers and the International Women's Alliance. She started her career as a lawyer in the Bangladesh Supreme Court.
Sahara Khatun became involved in politics during her student life. She is a Member of Parliament for the Eleventh Parliament. She was elected Member of Parliament three times in a row from Dhaka-18 constituency. She was appointed as the first woman Home Minister and Minister of Posts and Telecommunications in the Government of Bangladesh.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has expressed deep grief over the death of Advocate Sahara Khatun.
In a condolence message, the Prime Minister said Sahara Khatun, as a soldier of Bangabandhu's ideology, had worked all her life in the struggle for restoration of democracy and realization of rights of the people.
Sheikh Hasina further said that in her death, the country and the nation lost a skilled woman leader and an honest public leader. I lost a tried and trusted comrade.
The Prime Minister prayed for the salvation of departed soul of the deceased and conveyed her deepest condolences to the bereaved family members.