Gaffar Chowdhury to be laid to rest in Mirpur Saturday

Abdul Gaffar Chowdhury

Dhaka, May 27 -- Prominent Bangladeshi-British writer and columnist Abdul Gaffar Chowdhury will be laid to rest at Martyred Intellectuals Graveyard in Mirpur on Saturday.

Gaffar Chowdhury's final journey will start from London in a Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight and the body will reach Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 11am on Saturday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said.

Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Haque will receive Gaffar Chowdhury's mortal remains at the airport on behalf of the Bangladesh government.

His body will be kept at Central Shaheed Minar from 1pm to 3pm for the government to give a guard of honour and the people to pay their last tributes.

His Namaz-e-Janaza will be held at Dhaka University Central Mosque at 3.30pm and then the mortal remains will be taken to National Press Club for the journalists to pay homage at 4pm.

Gaffar Chowdhury will be buried at Martyred Intellectuals Graveyard in Mirpur at 5.30pm.

Gaffar Chowdhury went to London in 1974 for his wife's treatment, thanks to Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

On May 19, the veteran writer died of a cardiac arrest at a hospital in London. He was 88.

The Bangladeshi-British community and other admirers paid their last respects to Gaffar Chowdhury -- best known for writing the lyrics of "Amar Bhaier Rokte Rangano" -- following his first Namaz-e-Janaza held at London's Brick Lane mosque the next day - UNB