Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s nuclear scientist husband Wazed Miah passes away

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s nuclear scientist husband Wazed Miah passes away

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s nuclear-scientist husband Dr M Wazed Miah died at the city’s Square Hospital yesterday after fighting for life for last few days. He was 67.
He was suffering from kidney and cardiac problems. Recently, he had undergone angioplasty at Singapore National Heart Centre.
His physician Dr Sarwar Hossain told reporters that Dr Wazed’s condition had “deteriorated fast” from 2pm and he breathed his last at 4:25pm. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was present at the time of his death.
Sheikh Hasina’s younger sister, Sheikh Rehana, and other family members of Wazed were also present there to see him for the last.
Hearing the death news of Wazed Miah, cabinet members, MPs and leaders and activists of different political parties rushed to the hospital and his home to see Wazed Miah’s body.
National leaders, including President M Zillur Rahman, and Leader of the Opposition Begum Khaleda Zia, condoled on the death of the eminent nuclear scientist and Prime Minister Hasina’s husband.
Speaker Abdul Hamid Advocate, Deputy Speaker Col (retd) Shawkat Ali and Cabinet members also expressed condolences on the death of Dr Wazed Miah.
Dr Wazed left behind his wife Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, one son, one daughter and a host of relatives and admirers to mourn his death. His son Sajib Wazed Joy is a computer engineer and lives in Washington and daughter Saima Wazed Putul lives in Canada.
His body was taken to his Dhanmondi Sudhasadan residence in the evening from the hospital.
As the body was taken to Sudhasadan, hundreds of people from different walks of life thronged there to get a glimpse of Dr Wazed.
BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia, leaders of different political parties and eminent persons also visited the residence of Sheikh Hasina and consoled her.
Later, Wazed’s body was taken to the mortuary of the Square Hospital at about 9:45pm.
A condolence book will be opened at PM’s official residence Jamuna at 11am tomorrow (Sunday) for three days for diplomats and representatives of donor agencies to register their condolences on the death of Dr Wazed.
His first namaz-e-janaza will be held tomorrow (Sunday) at 10 am at Baitul Mukarram national mosque. The body will lie in state there, before the funeral prayer, for people to pay their last respects to the late scientist.
Thereafter, his body will be flown by a helicopter to his ancestral home at Pirganj in Rangpur district.
He will be laid to eternal rest at his family graveyard beside his parents after a second janaza there.
Dr M Wazed Miah was born on February 16, 1942 at Fatepur village of Pirganj upazila in Rangpur district. He was the youngest among four sons and three daughters of late Abdul Kader Miah and late Moyzunnesa.
In 1956, he matriculated with first division from Rangpur Zila School and stood second on the merit list at the ISc examination from Rajshahi Government College in 1958.
He obtained second position in first class at honours examination in Physics department of Dhaka University in 1961 and stood first-class first at Master’s in 1962.
In his student life in DU he was elected vice-president of Fazlul Haq Hall on Chhatra League ticket in 1961. He was arrested for participating in anti-education commission movement in 1962.
After completion of his education, Wazed joined the then Pakistan Atomic Energy Centre in Lahore as scientific officer.
Wazed obtained PhD from Durham University in 1967 and married Sheikh Hasina, the eldest daughter of father of the nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, on November 17 the same year.
Dr Wazed was the chairman of Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission during his professional career.
He lived a quiet life after retirement. He was also known among his friends and relations as ‘Sudha Miah’.
Dr Wazed authored many books, including Fundamentals of
Thermodynamics and Fundamentals of Electromagnetics and some memoirs on Bangabandhu and Bangladesh.

Posted By
Habibullah Mizan
Department of International Relations, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh
Sub-editor
The Daily New Nation, Dhaka, Bangladesh