Veteran politician, Liberation War organiser Pankaj Bhattacharya passes away

Veteran politician and Liberation War organiser Pankaj Bhattacharya has passed away.

The 82-year-old Oikya National Awami Party (NAP) president breathed his last while undergoing treatment at a Dhaka hospital early Monday (24 April).

Pankaj was admitted to the Health and Hope Hospital in Panthapath on 17 April due to pneumonia, Sammilita Samajik Andolan general secretary Saleh Ahmed told the media this morning.

As his overall health condition deteriorated, he was put on life support on Saturday morning (22 April), he added.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has expressed profound shock and sorrow at the death of Pankaj Bhattacharya.

In a message of condolence, she prayed for the salvation of his departed soul and conveyed deep sympathy to the bereaved family.

Besides, Bangladesh Samajtantrik Dal (Basad) and Shujan shared separate condolence messages for the veteran politician.

Born in August 1939, Pankaj grew up in Noapara of Chattogram's Raozan.

He became a vice president of the East Pakistan Students' Union in 1962 and then became the student organisation's executive president.

He served as a deputy commander of the NAP-Communist Party-Students Union Special Guerrilla Force during Bangladesh's Liberation War in 1971.

Pankaj became the general secretary of the NAP after the Liberation War.

He was one of the founding leaders of Gonoforum led by Dr Kamal Hossain and a presidium member of the party. Then in 2013, he founded Oikya NAP.