People from all walks of life paid their last respects to former Chief Justice Muhammad Habibur Rahman, whose dead body has been kept at the central Shaheed Minar.
The former chief advisor to the Caretaker Government died on Saturday night at the age of 85.
His body was brought at the central Shaheed Minar around 11.30am on Monday.
Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu, Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Rashed Khan Menon, National Human Rights Commission Chairman Mizanur Rahman and lawyer Dr Kamal Hossain turned up to pay their last tribute to the former Chief Justice.
Inu said, “He (Habibur Rahman) had the ability to observe despite advanced age. He would come up with valuable suggestions during crisis. He was not only a great judge, but also a researcher and writer.”
The Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal President thinks the nation would forever remember Habibur Rahman’s role to the transition from military rule to democracy.
“He missed the opportunity to play a crucial role in the journey towards democratic process from militancy,” Inu said.
Workers Party President Rashed Khan Menon said Justice Habibur Rahman was respectable to all as a language movement hero and torchbearer of progressive thinking apart from being a Chief Justice or Chief Adviser to the Caretaker Government.
“We will be deprived of his guidance. He will remain alive through the 70 books he authored,” he said.
Dr Kamal Hossain said, “We have lost a great man. He had gained people’s respect and practised progressive thinking. He never compromised on injustice.”
Dr Kamal said the demise of the former Chief Justice was a irreparable loss for the nation.
NHRC Chief said Justice Habibur Rahman had loved the country and its people.
His death had created a irreplaceable loss, Mizanur Rahman said.
Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid, Cultural Affairs Minister Asaduzzaman Noor, former Foreign Minister Dipu Moni, Sammilito Sangskritik Jote President Nasiurrin Yusuf Bachchu, Dhaka University Vice Chancellor AAMS Arefin SIddiqui and other noted citizens paid their last tribute to the former Chief Justice.
Three Namaj-e-janazas of Habibur Rahman will be held on Monday, his daughter Rubaba Rahman said.
The second Namaj-e-janaza will be held at the Supreme Court, his former workplace, after the body is taken from the Shaheed Minar.
The third Namaj-e-Janaza will be held at Gulshan’s Azad mosque.
Then he will be buried at the Banani graveyard, Rubaba said.
Habibur Rahman retired from the Supreme Court as the chief justice in 1995 .
He served as the chief adviser to the caretaker government in 1996 that oversaw the seventh national elections.
