National flag’s 1st designer Shib Narayan Das passes away

Valiant freedom fighter Shib Narayan Das, who had designed the first flag of Bangladesh just before the independence, passed away this morning while undergoing treatment at a city hospital. He was 78. "Das breathed his last at 9.25am at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) in the city," said a release here today. On April 1, Shib Narayan Das was admitted at the Samorita Hospital with respiratory ailment and later shifted to the BSMMU following advice of the physicians, it added. "My father's body has been kept at the BIRDEM mortuary as his body will be donated here and his cornea will be donated to Sandhani, a voluntary organisation run by medical college students that manages blood and organ donations," said his son Arnob Aditya Das. He is survived by his wife, a son and numerous admirers, relatives, well- wishers and colleagues to mourn his death. Shib Narayan joined politics following the language movement hero Dhirendranath Dutta. He partic ipated in the education movement of 1962 and was imprisoned. The Liberation War of the country was started first with the flag containing the country's map that was designed by Shib Narayan Das who was then student leader of Bangladesh Chhatra League. The Bangladesh flag was first hoisted in front of the Arts Building of Dhaka University (DU) on March 2, 1971 by the student leaders. On June 6, 1970, a group of Chhatra League leaders had designed the flag at the room no-118 of the then Iqbal Hall, now named as Sergeant Zahurul Huq Hall, of the Dhaka University for the 'Joy Bangla Bahini'. In a condolence message, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal-JASAD President Hasanul Haque Inu and its General Secretary Shirin Akhtar expressed profound shock and sorrow at the demise of one of the prominent flag designers and conveyed deep sympathy to the bereaved family. Source: Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha