Panna Kaiser, former lawmaker, widow of Martyred Intellectual Shahidullah Kaiser and mother of actress Shomi Kaiser, breathed her last on Friday. She was 73.
She was undergoing treatment at the United Hospital in the capital and passed away on Friday morning, according to her daughter Shomi Kaiser.
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Panna left behind her two children - daughter Shomi Kaiser and son Amitav Kaiser, a banker.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has condoled her death.
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Respectfully revered as the “Shaheedjaya” (widow of a martyr), Panna Kaiser was born in May 25, 1950 at the Barura Upazila of Cumilla in the then-Pakistan.
She completed her Master's in Bengali Literature from Dhaka University in 1969. Later, she taught Bengali Literature at the Badrunnessa College in Dhaka.
Panna Kaiser became a presidium member of the country's largest children's organisation "Khelaghar". She had been the chairperson of the presidium of the organization since 1992.
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She got married to Shahidullah Kaiser, a writer and a journalist on February 17, 1969, who was abducted from his home on December 14, 1971 by the paramilitary Al-Badr and has been missing since then.
In 1996, Panna Kaiser was selected as one of the 30 reserved seats for women to serve as a member of parliament.
For her exclusive research works and write-ups, Bangla Academy conferred her with the prestigious Bangla Academy Literary Award in 2021.