Priyabhashini: End to a symbol of Liberation War

Noted sculptor and freedom fighter Ferdousi Priyabhashini passed away in a city hospital yesterday. She was 71.

She had been suffering from multiple complications, including kidney ailment, diabetes, high blood pressure, orthopedics and heart disease. She had been admitted to Labaid Hospital late last month where she breathed her last around 12:45pm.

Priyabhashini left behind her three sons, two daughters and a host of relatives and admirers to mourn her death.

President Abdul Hamid, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Cultural Affairs Minister Asaduzzaman Noor expressed their deep shock at her demise.

Her body will be taken to the Central Shaheed Minar for people to pay their last tribute from 11:00am to 12:00noon tomorrow.

She will be buried at Mirpur Martyred Intellectuals Graveyard after her namaz-e-janaja at Dhaka University's central mosque the same day, reports UNB.

In his condolence message, the president said, "The contribution of Priyabhashini in the country's Liberation War will be remembered forever."

Hasina described her death as an irreparable loss to the field of sculpture, adding, "The nation has lost a valiant freedom fighter."

During the Liberation War, she was abused by Pakistani occupation army and its local collaborators.

She was 23 at the time. After getting freed from the clutches of her tormentors towards the end of the war in 1971, she stood by the women abused like her and spoke of her ordeal in public, unlike most others who buried their agonies deep inside them because of the social stigma associated with it.

She was recognised as freedom fighter in 2016 and received Swadhinata Padak in 2010.

She was born on February 19, 1947, in Khulna. Her biography “Nindito Nandan” was published in Ekushey Book Fair in 2014.

She started sculpting when she lived in Jessore during 1984-1988. She started to decorate her house with bamboos and other natural elements which attracted a lot of visitors.

Her first exhibition was jointly inaugurated by artist SM Sultan and poet Sufia Kamal, and emceed by late ambidextrous writer Syed Shamsul Haq.

“Ferdousi Priyabhashini always upheld the spirit of Liberation War in her art work as well as in her everyday life. She was an active voice for the trial against war criminals. We have lost a vital voice of our Liberation War,” said Cultural Affairs Minister Asaduzzaman Noor.