Poet Daud Haider dies in exile in Germany

Poet Daud Haider, known for penning "Jonmoi Amar Ajonmo Paap", has died.

The poet passed away at a retirement home in Germany’s Berlin at the age of 73 on Saturday night.

His niece Shawonti Haider, an associate professor at the Department of Mass Communication and Journalism at Dhaka University, told bdnews24.com: “Uncle died at 9:20pm local time. We can provide the details later.”

After leaving the country in 1974, Daud spent a few years in Kolkata and then went to Germany in 1987. He has lived there ever since.

A lifelong bachelor, Daud had been suffering from different physical ailments. In December last year, he fell from the stairs at his Berlin home and hit his head. He was admitted to the ICU at that time.

After receiving treatment at the hospital, the poet returned home but did not return to his regular life.

Daud was born on Feb 21, 1952, in Pabna. He was a poet, author and journalist. His poem "Kalo Shurjer Kalo Jyosnai Kalo Bonnyai" was published in the Dainik Sangbad on Feb 24, 1974. He was then accused in a case over "hurting religious sentiment". A protest movement broke out against him, and police arrested him on Mar 11 that year.

The poet was eventually released on May 20 that year, but the then government could not provide him security. The next day he fled to Kolkata on a Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight almost empty-handed.

Daud wrote that he had carried only Tk 0.60, two books of poetry, a pair of shirts, pants, a pair of slippers and a toothbrush with him.

“I had no options. The extremists would have killed me. Maybe the government wanted me dead as well,” he wrote.