Haider Anwar Juno no more

Valiant freedom fighter and a doyen in the country's leftist politics Haider Anwar Khan Juno died yesterday at a city hospital.

He was 75.

"Haider Anwar Khan Juno died at 1:25pm at Gonoshasthaya Nagar Hospital," Monzur Moin, a leader of Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB), told The Daily Star.

Haider Anwar, younger brother of presidium member of CPB Haider Akbar Khan Rono, had been suffering from different old age-related complications.

He left behind his wife, a son and a daughter and a host of friends, relatives and admirers to mourn his death.

After contracting pneumonia following a heart attack, Haider Anwar was admitted at Dhaka's Square Hospital on September 15.

He tested positive for coronavirus couple of days later and was put on life support on the 24th of that month, said Monzur.

Haider Anwar was born on December 29, 1944, in Kolkata.

His father Hatem Ali Khan was an engineer and his grandfather Syed Nausher Ali was a prominent politician in British India.

Haider Anwar attended St. Gregory's School in Dhaka and completed his higher secondary education from Notre Dame College.

He got enrolled in the Department of Theoretical Physics in the University of Dhaka, from where he attained honour's and master's degrees with first class.

A member of the East Pakistan Students' Union, the student wing of the East Pakistan Communist Party (EPCP) (undivided), he was imprisoned for his participation in the 1962 Education Movement against the anti-people education policy proposed by the notorious Sharif Education Commission, which was appointed by the autocratic regime of Field Marshal Ayub Khan, then President of Pakistan.

In 1966, Haider became the vice president of the East Pakistan Student Union (Menon), the student wing of the pro-Peking EPCP (M-L).

In 1969, the Biplobi Chhatra Union (Revolutionary Student Union) was formed and he was its founding president.

He was one of the key organisers of the 1969 mass uprising against the autocratic regime that forced Ayub Khan out of power.

He was the leader of the cultural organisation Kranti, which operated among workers and peasants in rural and industrial areas.

He was also in the central body of the Co-ordination Committee of Communist Revolutionaries of East Bengal, the pro-Peking party, which was one of the communist organisations waging guerrilla warfare against the Pakistani armed forces in the 1971 Liberation War.

In Shibpur of Narsingdi, a district in eastern Bangladesh, Haider Anwar and his comrades organised their guerrilla base and confronted the Pakistani army.

He took part in at least five frontal military actions himself, in all of which the Pakistani forces had to retreat.

During the nine months of the Liberation War, Shibpur stood liberated as the Pakistani forces could not manage to enter the area, where Haider Anwar was the Second-in-Command of the guerrilla force.

After liberation, as the Co-ordination Committee reorganised itself as the Leninist Communist Party, which operated through its legal front -- United People's Party--, he was a member of the central body of both the organisations.

Later, retiring from active party politics, he became fully active in the cultural front.

He was the lifetime president of the Gono Shangskriti Front (People's Cultural Front), a platform of people's cultural organisations following anti-revisionist politics. He was also the general secretary of the Bangladesh-Cuba Solidarity Committee.

He had authored several books.

In 1975, he authored a two-part book on physics for undergraduate students in Bangla.

"Ekattorer Ronangon: Shibpur" is a recollection of his involvement in the guerrilla warfare waged during the Liberation War.

"Agun Jhora Shei Dingulo" is his autobiographical sketch. His work of fiction, a novel, is "Shomoy Duhshomoy".

Different social, political and cultural organisations have expressed deep shock at the demise of Haider Anwar.

He will be laid to rest today at Banani grave with state honour.

His first namaz-e-janaza was held yesterday at Taqwa Mosque at the city's Dhanmondi after maghrib prayers, said Monzur Moin.

His body will be taken at the central shaheed minar at 10:30am today for common people to pay their respects.

Later his second namaz-e-janaza will be held at the Dhaka University Central Mosque.