Tributes for Ahmed Rafiq at Saheed Minar today

Language Movement activist Ahmed Rafiq will be taken to the Central Shaheed Minar on Saturday, where people from all walks of life can pay their last respects.

The tribute ceremony, organised by the Ahmed Rafiq Foundation, will begin at 11am.

Afterwards, in line with his final wish, his remains will be donated to BIRDEM Hospital for use in medical training and research, the foundation said in a statement on Friday.

A mourning procession will accompany the coffin from the Shaheed Minar to Ibrahim Medical College Hospital for the formal handover.

Rafiq died at BIRDEM Hospital at 10:12pm on Thursday. He was 96.

He had been suffering from diabetes, high blood pressure, chronic kidney failure, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, electrolyte imbalance, bedsores, and a lung infection.

Born on Sept 12, 1929, in Shahbazpur, Brahmanbaria, Rafiq completed his higher secondary education at Horganga College in Munshiganj before enrolling at Dhaka University to study chemistry.

Due to residential issues at Fazlul Haque Hall, however, he transferred to Dhaka Medical College.

Rafiq participated in the 1952 Language Movement, working closely with students from different campuses. He was the only student from Dhaka Medical College to have an arrest warrant issued against him in 1954.

Though he earned an MBBS degree, Rafiq chose to focus on writing rather than pursuing a career in medicine.

In 1958, he published his first book, Shilpo Songskriti Jibon (Art, Culture, and Life). Rafiq received numerous accolades, including the Ekushey Padak, Bangla Academy Award, and Rabindra Sahitya Award for his contributions to literature.