People from all walks paid tribute on Sunday to celebrated author, poet and playwright Alauddin Al Azad, who died aged 77 at his home in Uttara on Friday. The coffin was taken to the Central Shaheed Minar Sunday morning before being carried to the Bangla Academy.

Azad's family will take the body for burial in the martyred intellectuals graveyard at Mirpur in the late afternoon, relative Mustafizur Rahman, a former BTV director general, told bdnews24.com at the Shaheed Minar. But, he said, permission for burial in the Mirpur graveyard had not yet been received. "The coffin will be interred after we receive the permission from the authorities, or it will be taken back to the BIRDEM mortuary for the night."

Azad's body was earlier brought from the BIRDEM hospital to the Shaheed Minar at 11:15 am. The first visitor to pay last respects there was wife Prof Jamila Azad, followed by other close relatives laying wreaths on the coffin.

Former state minister Obaidul Kader paid respects on behalf of prime minister Sheikh Hasina, followed by education minister Nurul Islam Nahid, CPB president Manjurul Ahsan Khan and Dhaka University vice chancellor AAMS Arefin Siddique, among others.

Educationists Mustafa Nurul Islam and Prof Mansoor Musa, dramatists Hasan Imam and Rashid Haider, poets Abdul Hai Shikder and Abu Saleh, journalist Swapon Saha and representatives of leading cultural organisations as well as Dhaka University students also paid tribute. Jamila Azad was seen standing beside the coffin all along.

The education minister, paying his last respects, said "Alauddin Al Azad was my teacher when I was a student of MC College, Sylhet. He was a progressive person and his creativity was manifest in so many forms." "The nation has suffered an irreparable loss at his death."

Prof Mustafa Nurul Islam spoke of Azad's poem 'Smritir Minar'. "It inspired the nation at a critical juncture of history in 1952 when the police had pulled down the first Shaheed Minar." "A star went out at his demise. I'm heart broken. Our generation will march ahead upholding Azad's creations, his literary achievements."

Azad, an award winning man-of-letters, received many accolades over his long life, including the Ekushey Padak in 1986 and the Bangla Academy award in 1965. Renowned as a poet and novelist, Alauddin was also celebrated as a skilled playwright, essayist, story-teller and educationist.

Born in Dhaka in 1932, Alauddin excelled from an early age in Bengali language and literature, becoming a professor in later life. He also served as first secretary of the Bangladesh High Commission in Moscow. Alauddin's major works include Tais Number Tailchitra, Shiter Shesh Raat and Basanter Prothom Din.

His best known plays are Moroccor Jadukar, Dhanyabad and Mayabi Prahar. Azad succumbed to an age-related condition at his home on Friday. His family said he had struggled to deal with the death of his only son last year.

- bdnews