Tributes paid to Yasser Arafat

Awami League leader Jillur Rahman speaks at a memorial meeting organised jointly by Bangladesh Muktijoddha Sangsad and Palestine Repatriated Freedom Fighter Council at the Central Shaheed Minar in the city yesterday. PHOTO: STAR

They said Arafat died physically, but his immense contribution to the establishment of an independent Palestine can never die.

The meeting was jointly organised by Bangladesh Muktijoddha Sangsad and Palestine Repatriated Freedom Fighter Council at the Central Shaheed Minar in the city.

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Paying tributes to Yasser Arafat, Jillur Rahman, acting president of Awami League (AL), said Arafat is the name of revolutionary leader who never compromised with anti- liberation forces on the question of independence.

The four-decade struggle of Arafat would never go in vain, and the Palestinian people must get an independent Palestine state, he asserted.

"Yasser Arafat was the first international leader who extended his unconditional support for the people of Bangladesh during the liberation war," said AL presidium member Tofail Ahmed.

AL presidium member Abdur Razzaq said the people of Bangladesh would continue to support the Palestinians in their just struggle for independence.

"We have to be motivated by the spirit of Arafat to topple the anti-people government of our country," said Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury, another AL presidium member.

Bangladesh Workers Party President Rashed Khan Menon said Arafat is a source of inspiration for Bangladeshi people who are repeatedly oppressed by the anti-liberation forces.

Ziaul Kabir Dulu, chairman of Palestine Repatriated Freedom Fighter Council, said Bangladeshi freedom fighters numbering seven to eight thousands went to Palestine in 1982 to fight for its independence.

ASM Abdur Rob, former vice-chancellor of Dhaka University AK Azad Chowdhury and Dhaka University Teachers' Association President AAMS Arefin Siddique also spoke.