UNB, Dhaka :
The 36th death anniversary of Dr. Aleem Al-Razee, a celebrated jurist, parliamentarian, educationist and philanthropist, will be observed today with due solemnity in the country.
A legendary figure, Razee was at the forefront of all political struggles and socio-cultural movements unleashed in the country to win democracy, human rights and freedom of expression of the people.
As an independent member of the then Pakistan National Assembly during 1965 to 1969, Dr. Razee played a sheet anchor role not only in defending freedom and democracy but also in pleading the cause of the then East Pakistani Bengalees who were subjected to unjust domination, discrimination and deprivation by the ruling elites of the then West Pakistan in all walks of life.
His forceful portrayal of the growing disparity between the Bengalees and non-Bengalees and the prediction in 1965 that Pakistan could disintegrate along the East and West divide fuelled demands for an independent Bangladesh that eventually kindled the spark of liberation war culminating in the emergence of a new nation state of Bangladesh.
Razee was a leading honorary defence counsel in the historical Agartala Case in 1967 in which Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and others were charged with treason against the state of Pakistan. In the face of intimidation and life threats, he defended the accused in a landmark trial that lasted till 1969.
