Rahman, Bazlur
Rahman, Bazlur (1941-2008) Journalist, freedom fighter, children's organizer, was born on 3 August 1941 at Charniamatpur village under Phulpur thana of mymensingh district. He passed the matriculation examination from Ganabardi School of sherpur district (1956), IA (1958) from Anandamohan College of Mymensingh, BA (1961) from Barisal Brajamohan College and MA (1962) in Economics from the University of Dhaka.'
Bazlur Rahman's professional career started with journalism. He joined the daily Sangbad in 1961 as assistant editor. He also served as the assistant editor of daily Ittefaq for some time during the decade of 1960s. Bazlur Rahman was a politically conscious journalist. He was involved with the politics of Communist Party and National Awami Party during the 1960s. At this juncture, he also served as the founder editor of the weekly Ekota, mouthpiece of the Communist Party.
Bazlur Rahman participated in the 1971 liberation war and also edited the Communist Party mouthpiece Muktijuddha during the period. He was appointed the general secretary of ‘Bangladesh Afro-Asia Solidarity Council’ for the period 1973 to 1975. On the other hand, he also served as the acting editor of the daily Sangbad during 1973-75. The ‘Bangabandhu Parishad’ was constituted in 1980 and he was a leading founder-member of this Parishad. He served as the senior vice-president and acting president of National Press Club between 1980 and 1994. He was a founder-member of ‘Bangladesh-Soviet Friendship Society’. He discharged the responsibility of vice-president of this organization from 1982 to 1990.
He was involved with various bodies and organizations related to the news media. He was the president of the Bangladesh chapter of International Journalists' Association (1984) and was appointed a member of the board of directors of 'Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha' and 'Bangladesh Press Council'. He discharged the responsibility of acting chairman of the Press Council during 1998 and 1999.
Bazlur Rahman was closely involved with different welfare-oriented initiatives in the fields of journalism, politics and culture throughout his life. He was the chairman of the country's reputed children's organization 'Khelaghar'. He used to edit the 'Khelaghar' page of daily Sangbad, which demonstrated his deep curiosity about juvenile psyche.
He was a student of economics and wrote many articles on this subject after entering the political and journalistic arena. Most of his writings were not published in book form. In this regard, mention should be made of the book Bangladesher Arthonitir Halchal: 1974-1987 published in 2010. Thirty-nine essays were included in the volume, which discussed various problems in contemporary economics. Poverty was the principal theme among the problems discussed in these articles. He died in Dhaka on 26 February 2008. [Muhammad Saiful Islam]
