FBCCI mourns death of Sahara Khatun

Sheikh Fazle Fahim, president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FBCCI) has expressed deep sorrow over the death of former home minister and Awami League leader Advocate Sahara Khatun, MP.

Praying for eternal peace of the departed soul and conveying his deepest condolences for the bereaved family, Fazle Fahim stated, "Her death is a grave loss for the nation. We mourn such a great loss."

Advocate Sahara Khatun was the first female home minister of Bangladesh. She was the praesidium member of Bangladesh Awami League and the founding president of Bangladesh Awami Ainjibi Parishad. 

Apart from being a successful politician, she practised at the Supreme Court of Bangladesh as a lawyer, he added.

Sahara Khatun served the nation as home minister after the Awami League came to power in 2009.  She later served as minister of posts and telecommunications.  During her third term at the National Parliament, she represented Dhaka-18 constituency.

Khatun was the first elected female secretary in Awami Leauges's history for Dhaka Metropolitan Zone.  She was also elected as office secretary and general secretary of Mahila Awami League and played the role of vice-president of Nagar Awami League.  She has also been elected as an Assistant Secretary of Law in the Central Committee of Bangladesh Awami League and later as the Law Secretary. 

In 2009, she was elected as a member of the praesidium of the central committee of the Awami League.

Additionally, after independence, Sahara Khatun was nominated as a member of Mahila Samiti. She became a life member of the Family Planning Association, Dhaka Bar Association, Gazipur Bar Association, and Dhaka Taxes Bar Association.  Khatun was also a member of the Bangladesh Supreme Court Bar Association and served as director of International Alliance of Women.

Advocate Sahara Khatun breathed her last at 11:25 pm (Bangladesh time) on July 7 in Thailand's Bumrungrad International Hospital where she was flown on July 6 for better treatment.

She was 78.

Khatun was born in Kurmitola in Dhaka on March 1, 1943 to Abdul Aziz and Turjan Nesa.