The 11th Jatiya Sangsad on the third day of its eighth session on Sunday unanimously adopted obituary references on the deaths of former minister and sitting MP from Sirajganj-1 constituency and technocrat state minister for religious affairs Advocate Sheikh M Abdullah.

Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury moved the obituary references with brief resumes on them.

The speaker expressed deep shock over the deaths of the senior ruling party politician, former minister and sitting lawmaker of Sirajganj-1 constituency Mohammed Nasim and technocrat state minister for religious affairs Sheikh M Abdullah.

The parliament also expressed profound shock over the death of two noted politicians of the country who had made a lot of contributions in their long political carriers.

Expressing deep shock and sorrow at the death of Awami League Presidium member Mohammed Nasim who also was chairman of parliamentary standing committee on the Ministry of Food, the parliament leader and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said she has lost her trusted co-fighter.

Sheikh Hasina prayed for the salvation of the departed soul and conveyed her sympathy to the bereaved family members.

Awami League leader and former Health Minister Mohammed Nasim, who suffered a stroke while undergoing treatment for coronavirus, passed away at a city hospital on Saturday. He was 72.

He breathed his last at Bangladesh Specialized Hospital around 11:10am, according to the obituary reference of the Jatiya Sangsad.

On June 5, the former minister underwent a successful surgery after his condition worsened following the stroke while undergoing treatment.

Since then, he had been in coma.

The condition of Nasim, Awami League Presidium member and convener of the 14-party ruling alliance, deteriorated again on Friday evening and the 12-member medical board formed for his treatment held a meeting through videoconferencing in this regard.

The ruling party leader tested positive for coronavirus on June 1.

Nasim, son of M Mansur Ali, one of the slain four national leaders, was born on April 2, 1948 in Sirajganj.

He graduated in political science from Jagannath College in Dhaka.

Nasim also served as home and public works, posts and telecommunications minister during the Awami League government’s 1996-2001 tenure.

He was appointed public works, posts and telecommunications minister in June 1996. He took over the home ministry as well when Rafiqul Islam was removed in March 1999.

The House also moved an obituary motion on the death of another ruling party leader technocrat State Minister for Religious Affairs Sheikh M Abdullah who died due to cardiac arrest at the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) last night at the age of 74.

Sheikh Md Abdullah was born on September 8, 1945 in Kekania village on the bank of the Madhumati river in Gopalganj.

He is survived by two wives, 11 children and a host of relatives, well-wishers and friends to mourn his death.

Abdullah was the second among four brothers and three sisters.

Sheikh M Abdullah was appointed as the State Minister for Religious Affairs on January 7 in 2019.

He was first elected as the student union vice president of Khulna Azam Khan Commerce College motivating with the ideology of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

He participated in the mass upsurge movement in 1969 in the continuity of the six point movement held in 1966. Abdullah participated in the Liberation War involving directly with the vital front organization Mujib Bahini in 1971.

After the assassination of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and most of his family members on August 15 in 1975, Sheikh M Abdullah played an important role to organize the district Awami League as the general secretary of the district unit of AL.

Abdullah operated electoral process efficiently on behalf of the party president Sheikh Hasina as her election agent every time. He had been a member of the board of governors of the Islamic Foundation for a long time and he was also a director of the state-run Agrani Bank during the period of 1996 to 2001.

Treasury bench lawmakers Begum Matia Chowdhury, Habib E Millat, Mrinal Kanti Das, deputy leader of the opposition in parliament Golam Mohammad Qauder, Jatiya Party leader Kazi Feroz Rashid and Workers Party leader Mostafa Lutfullah, among others, participated in the obituary motion discussion.

The House conveyed deep sympathy to the members of the bereaved families and prayed for the eternal peace of their departed souls. The MPs observed a one-minute silence in the House as a mark of respect to the departed souls.

Later, a munajat was offered seeking eternal peace of the departed souls of the deceased.

As convention, the speaker adjourned the sitting of the House after the munajat as mark of respect to sitting MP Mohammad Nasim.