Bangladeshi passenger dies in Maitree Express
A Bangladeshi passenger fell ill and died after boarding the Maitree Express on his way home.
Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Monday visited writer Muhammed Zafar Iqbal, who was stabbed by an attacker at a university last week and was hospitalised.
Iqbal, known for his secular activism and science fiction writing, was stabbed in the back of his head by an assailant on the Shahjalal University of Science and Technology campus in Sylhet city Saturday.
The writer suffered six knife injuries to the head, back and left hand. He was taken to Sylhet’s MAG Osmani Medical College following the attack but was later brought to the Combined Military Hospital in Dhaka by an Air Force air ambulance on Hasina’s instructions.
Hasina went to see Iqbal in the afternoon and “instructed everything possible be done for him”, said her Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim. Karim said Hasina also talked to the family members of Iqbal, including his wife Prof Dr Yasmin Haque, as well as the members of the medical board formed for better treatment of the noted writer and educationist, according to Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS), the country’s national news agency.
“The Prime Minister was at the hospital for nearly an hour. She also spoke to the medical board formed for his care,” Karim was quoted as saying by bdnews24.com.
Doctors said Iqbal was out of danger and “will take some time to recover”.
The attacker, a madrasa student named Faizul Hasan, was caught by teachers and students and beaten. He was later taken into custody by the police.
The 24-year-old madrasa student dubbed the famed writer as an “enemy of Islam”.
Hasan’s parents were also detained by the police late Sunday from Sylhet city’s Madina Market area.
Witnesses said Iqbal came under the attack just when he was returning to ICT Bhaban of the campus after attending an academic festival of his Electronics and Electrical Engineering (EEE) department in the university’s central auditorium, BSS reported.
Students from the EEE department staged a protest against the attack, as per a report on www.dhakatribune.com.
(With inputs from agencies)
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