Kingdom pays condolences to late Bangladesh president

On behalf of Custodian ot the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah and Crown Prince Salman, deputy premier and minister of defense, Riyadh Gov. Prince Khaled bin Bandar personally conveyed condolences on the death of Bangladesh President Zillur Rahman to the Bangladesh Ambassador Mohamed Shahidul Islam in Riyadh yesterday.
The governor, who signed the condolence book at the Bangladesh mission in Riyadh, conveyed the condolences of the king and the people of Saudi Arabia to the government and friendly people of Bangladesh.
“On behalf of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's leadership, government and people, I extend our deepest condolences and sincere sympathy to the People's Republic of Bangladesh’s leadership, government and people on the death of President Mohamed. Zillur Rahman,” the governor wrote in the condolence book.
Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister for Protocol Affairs Alauddin Al-Askary, signed the book on behalf of Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal.
Others who signed the book include the ambassadors of India, China, Malaysia, South Africa, Myanmar and Gambia. In addition, representatives from the Embassy of Sri Lanka, Singapore, Cuba also signed the condolence book yesterday .
The condolence book will be kept open through Monday at the embassy premises.
At a condolence meeting held in Riyadh on Friday, Ambassador Islam said that the country has lost a great son of the soil. He described the demise of President Zillur Rahman as an irreparable loss to the nation. Members of the Bangladesh community from all walks of life were present at the meeting and paid tribute to the late leader.
President Rahman,who died in Singapore on March 20, was given a state funeral in Dhaka on Friday. The country declared three days of national mourning following the death of President Zillur Rahman, who enjoyed respect from across the political spectrum.
Rahman was elected president in 2009 after the Awami League-led grand alliance formed government.
A close associate of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the nation’s founding father, his role in rebuilding the Awami League after Mujib’s assassination in 1975 and in 2007 when Sheikh Hasina was in jail during the military-led interim government, was laudable.
The passing makes him only the third head of state — the others being Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and General Ziaur Rahman — to have died in office. Born in 1929, he was destined, like many others of his generation, to be drawn to the widening whirlpool of Bangla nationalist politics through the Language Movement of 1952.