DHAKA, Feb 20, 2020 (BSS) – Prime Minister’s Protocol Officer-II Md Abu Zafar Raju, son of former Awami League lawmaker and freedom fighter late Abdul Jabbar who got the “Ekushey Padak-2020” (posthumous) in the Liberation War category, today received the award on behalf of his father.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina distributed the prestigious award among the recipients as the chief guest at a function at Osmani Memorial Auditorium in the capital this morning.
A total of 20 eminent persons and an organisation got the award this year for their outstanding contribution in their respective fields.
Born on November 17 in 1945 at Kulaura Thana in Moulvibazar district under the greater Sylhet division, Jabber formed ‘Sangram Committee’ with hundreds of students and common people to mobilise support for the country’s War of Liberation in 1971 in response to the call of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
He joined the front-fighting against the Pakistani occupation forces in the battle fields directly under the Sector No. 4 as the deputy commander of the Moulvibazar Sub-Sector under the Sector No. 4 of Bangladesh Liberal Force or Mujib Bahini.
The organiser of the War of Liberation served jail for holding rally and showing placards during a ‘Provat Feri’ (morning procession) on February 21 marking the Language Movement in 1952, student movement in 1962 and protesting the brutal killing of Bangabandhu along with his most of the family members in 1975.
Jabbar played a vital role in all democratic movements, including the movement for education in 1962, Six-Point Movement in 1966, Mass Uprising in 1969 and the anti-autocrat movement in 1990.
The veteran freedom fighter was elected as a member of parliament with AL’s ticket in 1979.
Jabbar breathed his last due to a cardiac arrest on August 28, 1992 at the age of 47.